Hi. My name is Alice White and I'm a student at Blackwell Academy. Looking at me, one might think I'm there purely for the athletics. Tall and tan and fit and all that, though most people are kinda distracted by the birthmark I've got around my eye. And I mean I am a star on the track and field team – go Bigfoots! – but I actually came here for the music program. Track and field is just how I get enough money to pay for this damn place. Still, I'm good enough at it to have earned myself the nickname March Hare. I looked it up one time and I'm not sure if I completely approve of the implications, but I suppose it's too late now. If I didn't have such a down-to-earth roommate I'd probably get aggravated with how stuffy Blackwell can be.

Oh, right! My roommate. So obviously anyone who hears that I room with Kate Marsh gives me this kind of pitying smile and they think that I'm such a good person for putting up with her. Never once do they stop to think that she's the one putting up with me! Kate's easy to live with, as long as you like tea and violin music. She keeps the room tidy and makes little noise. The day I got broken up with by my girlfriend back home, I was expecting her to judge me for being gay, but she just wrapped this fluffy comforter around my shoulders and said I should cry it out for as long as needed. She made me something called 'oolong' tea. Ever since, I've taken to calling her 'mom'. Affectionately, obviously.

This isn't really about her, but she's involved, so obviously it helps to mention this. The subject of my attention as of late has been another student. I didn't really notice her at first. You'd think a girl with dark skin and green hair would stand out, even at an art school. But more often than not, she was hidden away in that dorm she shares with Max Caulfield. Or at least, that was what I thought.

I was in the midst of a run when I noticed her working outside with Samuel. He was mowing, and she was working with a trimmer. Sometimes while I was at practice I would notice her dutifully planting new flowers or raking up leaves. It was strange, since I was sure I'd seen her in class before, so it wasn't as if she was some new staff member.

After a while, I finally stopped being such a dingus and put two and two together. That girl was Max's roommate, and Max was friends with Kate. I came back to the dorm, from yet another run where I spent way too long staring at Mystery Girl. It's amazing I never fell flat on my face during those days, never watching where I was going. I did my best to be casual as I wiped the sweat from my face with a towel. "Hey, Kate... Um, when you hang out with Max, does she ever like... bring along that roommate of hers?"

"Oh! You mean Lisa? Not much. If we hang out in their room, Lisa's usually outside working somewhere. Max has extended invitations to her when we go into town, but she hasn't been too keen on joining us."

With just a few sentences, I had already learned fair amount, some good, some bad. Her name was Lisa – good. She wasn't very social – bad. But still, even just a little something to go on already had me feeling better. But Kate, with her adorable kindness, managed to cut right to the core of the issue. "Do you have a crush on her?"

I hurried to drink more of my water, turning away from her as though there was something interesting on my desk. "Wh-! What is this, middle school? I asked you one question about her! Why does that mean I suddenly have a crush?"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it like that. I guess maybe I had already assumed that the two of you would get along. And you're single now. But obviously, I've made a mistake." She spoke so coolly, one could be forgiven for thinking that Kate Marsh wasn't insanely clever. But she could be, when she wanted to. "You know, now that I think about it, I see her out there a lot. Seems like she's never really taking good care of herself. I don't know, I bet she'd even appreciate a bottle of water once in a while. Whoops, there I go, thinking out loud!" She laughed brightly to cover for herself. I probably should have realized what she was doing, but I think I fell for it.

So. I took her some water. It was a simple enough idea, and technically speaking there was no way to screw it up. The issue was that I became so obsessed with the idea of giving her that refrigerated bottle of water that I didn't figure out what else I would say to her. I managed to get as far as extending the bottle to her and saying "You look like you could use a drink."

To my relief, she actually did take it from me with a grateful smile. "Thanks!" To my surprise, she uncapped it and dumped half the contents right onto her face and head. Even if I had anything in my brain worth saying, it would have been lost now. "Wooh! I needed that. Early fall sunlight can really surprise you."

I stood there for a moment or two in idiotic silence as I tried to process the fact that she was, in fact, talking to me. Willingly. Happily, perhaps. It was going well, but still, one false step away from failure. "Uh, yeah. I was kinda wondering about that. You're a student... why are you slaving away out here in the dirt?"

Lisa stood and pulled her hair back into a lazy ponytail. I wanted to believe that it was because she was interested in talking more and not just because it was rude to stay knelt down in front of a flower bed. "I could ask you the same thing. You're on one of those fancy running scholarships, right? And besides, considering how many times I've seen you out running on your own too, you also do it because it's fun. Well, there you go."

I hate to admit that I almost didn't follow the mental math because I was too busy freaking out because she recognized me and paid attention to me! "Huh, so then like... you uh... you garden and stuff?" Jesus, I'm still so embarrassed about that one. Like obviously, Alice. Duh.

Still, if she thought my question was dumb, she didn't say anything. "Work study. I help Samuel around the place with whatever needs doing. And yes, I had something of a green thumb growing up that I inherited from my mom. There was always something growing around the house, though that's only because we had our own tiny greenhouse and we lived in a town with decent winter weather."

"Must be weird, working with Samuel. Guy seems... odd." The words came up so easily, and I immediately regretted saying it. It made me sound like a bitch. Or worse, a Vortex club asshole.

She just shrugged and smiled amiably, drinking more of her water. "Nah. Well, I mean, yeah. But it's not bad. I think it's fascinating, all the stuff he says about how nature works and the spirits that surround us and... I dunno, he's a character, and a really kind soul as well." Lisa took the now-empty bottle of water to dispose of in a nearby bin before she turned back to me with that same inviting smile. "Speaking of kind souls, what's your story? Do you bring water bottles to every dehydrated kid around Blackwell?"

Lisa really didn't hold back with that question, and I immediately regretted not coming up with some kind of decent excuse. Because now I was stuck standing there, rubbing my neck and glancing around me awkwardly. "No, I just see you around all the time." I wasn't off to a great start since that basically made me sound like a stalker. "I-I mean from running all over campus. And it's been especially sunny lately and... I dunno, just seemed like a good thing to do?"

Apparently something I said was particularly funny because she began to giggle, attempting to hide it behind her hand, as if that did any good. "Alright, alright... So. What're you up to later? It's just that my roommate is going out on a date with her girlfriend later and I'm not really interested in third-wheeling with them or anything. Unless you've got a Vortex party to get to or somethin'?"

There was a lot of info compacted into just a few sentences, and it took me a few seconds to decide in what order to address it all. "Um, yeah, no, I'm about as far from Vortex as you can get, thanks. No money, no style, no interest in drugs or whatever." I understood the assumption – the tall, pretty, athletic girl just had to be in the club right? I get it. But I went to a garbage school in a garbage town and had to push myself all the way to state level to get noticed for a scholarship.

However, all that was just personal information that could be sorted out later. There was something else we had to tackle first. "So Max has a girlfriend?"

Lisa nodded, sure in her assertion. "I mean, not actually. That's just... a crappy joke I make sometimes. She's friends with this Kate girl and they spend a lot of time together. I guess I just assume if it hasn't happened yet, it's going to happen eventually. Never mind that Chloe girl she keeps talking about. And it seems like Victoria Chase is basically eye-banging her every chance she gets, though she'd kill me for saying so."

"Not that I want to call you a liar, but I room with Kate. She's... I mean, she's the furthest thing you can get from a bigot, but she's also christian. Like really christian."

"There are gay christians. Besides, read the story of King David and his 'friend' Jonathan. Or the intimate relationship between Ruth and Naomi. Trust me, if Kate starts feeling the call of the wild, ain't nothing gonna get in the way." Lisa actually winked at me, which was momentarily brain-destroying, and I realized we were kind of idly walking back to the dorms. "But you never answered my other question. Are you doing anything tonight? Max has a killer movie collection and I'm getting kinda bored of not having an excuse to steal any of them."

"...uh, yeah, I-I can movie." What can I say? I word good.

Lisa giggled again, bright and full of life, heading for her room. "Cool. I need some time to clean off the dirt and all, but come by whenever. I'm flexible."

I did my best to not think about that 'flexible' thing and hurried to take my shower before Lisa and I ended up having some kind of awkward second meeting in the bathroom. Back in the room, I still couldn't shake the conversation. As I slipped into some jeans and put on my favorite Bigfoots hoodie, I decided to try and carefully prod the subject with Kate. "So, doing anything interesting with your Friday, Kate?"

"Yes, actually. I'm going to get some dinner with Max at a diner in town – the... Two Whales? And then we're going to see an art film at the theater."

"Mmm, sounds like a good time." I hoped I sounded casual when I said that. Because somewhere inside I was maybe doing a little flip of joy on her behalf. Because that damn sure sounded like a date to me. "So uh... So then things are going good? With you and Max? Should I make myself scarce when the two of you get back? Or are you gonna be in her room instead? I don't want to get in the way." I just couldn't help myself.

Kate didn't make her own life any easier, because she immediately turned an almost impossible shade of red and started fidgeting with her little gold cross necklace. "No! N-No, of course not. We're just friends, going out and doing things that friends do!"

Laughing – but at least feeling bad about it – I moved over to my bed and taking a seat on the edge of it. "Okay, okay, calm down. I meant that in a good way. But if you're not going out, that's fine too!"

She was still focusing most of her visual attention on the necklace as she continued to play with it. But finally she glanced in my direction with what I wanted to see as a hopeful smile. "I mean... We didn't say that it... wasn't a date either? I-I don't know. Max is really casual about things and it would feel weird if I suddenly started making a big deal out of it." This was so weird, I'd never seen this side of her before. The only person Kate went gaga over was Jesus. But here she was, getting butterflies about someone like any other teenager.

"I'm about to give you some very terrifying advice, but... if you ever decide you want to know, you basically just have to ask. And if Max is really that laid back, then just keep it easy-going. All you gotta do is say 'hey, is this a date?' and that's it. If she says no, but you still want to keep hanging out, then you keep hanging out! Easy peasy."

There was a sudden knock at the door causing Kate to jump slightly, emitting a frankly inhuman, high-pitched noise. "Easy peasy... Um, even if things do go well, you won't be... exiled or anything."

I chuckled, embarrassed as I remembered my own night's plans. "It's cool, I'm not really sure what my own evening has in store for me. I uh... I guess maybe I have plans with... y'know... Lisa?"

"Hah, of course you do. The Lord works in mysterious ways," she said before opening the door and stepping out, cheerfully greeting Max in the hallway, and slowly the sound of the most flirtatious conversation I've ever heard drifted off into the distance. Oh yes. Truly god moved in a strange manner.

I could only put off my own anxiety for so long before having to head out as well. I double-checked myself in the mirror for the millionth time then walked the long road to... next door. I knocked, and after some awkward shuffling, Lisa opened the door for me with a bright smile. "Hey there, stranger! Long time no see. C'mon." She made way for me to step inside, closing the door after me before leading the way to the movie collection we were pilfering from. "Obviously, I had to get permission for this, but I still like to imagine I'm one of those terrible roomies who steals your stuff all the time without warning. I may have also teased her a bit about her date."

"Yeeaahhhh, I maybe sorta kinda asked Kate about her and Max and... Well, her reaction was... adorable. Frankly."

"Convenient we're hanging out then. If one of us gets kicked out of our room, we know somewhere we can crash for the night. God, I wish I could be a fly on the wall for whatever it is they get up to." Lisa traced her index finger along the row of DVD cases before plucking one, seemingly at random. She set the movie into her dinky ragged little player before flopping onto her bed, very pointedly making room for me next to her. "Well, maybe we can double date or something." She began to pat the spot next to her, though without any hint of humor or flirtation, just expecting I would join her.

Unable to conjure anything intelligent, I just settled next to her on the bed. I wasn't agreeing and I wasn't disagreeing. It was a Schrodinger type of situation. Lisa seemed to be just fine with that.

I let as much of the movie go by as I could. I must have made it half an hour or so before I finally broke the silence. "So were you serious or...?"

She looked at me, obviously confused, for a moment. "Serious about what?"

"About the... date... thing..." To my embarrassment, that didn't completely clarify things. It was my own damn fault. With my last girlfriend, I was so smooth, the one to initiate everything, the one to ask her out, all that romantic stuff. But something about Lisa's easiness and confidence just completely floored me every time.

"The Max/Kate thing or the you/me thing? I mean, yes to both, either way. But I just want to be sure, too, I guess." And of course, she was just as invincibly casual as she had been earlier that day.

"Okay. Well. Good. Then me too. I'm serious, I mean. Or I'm glad. Whatever." Still not as smooth as I could have been, but I was grateful for whatever I could actually manage to bullshit my way through. Somehow, Lisa actually managed to flawlessly slip an arm around her body, as lanky and awkward as it could be. I instantly nestled in against her.

As it turned out, I fell asleep right there, and Max spent the night in my dorm with Kate.

"I told you they'd get along. And you said Alice would try to chew her up." Kate sat back, brushing a few errant bits of eraser off the page and admiring her sketch. There on the page was the immortalized image of Alice sleeping underneath Lisa's comforting leaves. She heard the telltale click of Max's camera and laughed softly. "Anyways, that's how it starts. What do you think?"

Max was flicking her photo back and forth, a familiar and oddly comforting sound. "Undeniably cute and very... you. But why are we in the story?"

Kate shrugged and smiled. "Because it's my rabbit and your plant. And it makes sense that they would connect through us."

"And our whirlwind romance? That was like... way sooner than it actually happened."

Kate didn't necessarily like to think about the circumstances that ultimately contributed to them dating. Even if that meant also being together with Chloe and Victoria, there were parts of it that were decidedly not great. "Because... I didn't want it happening in a world with all that dark stuff. Because I still wish I had just told you how I felt about you sooner."

Max snuggled up to her and immediately all those memories became little more than vapor in the back of her mind. She held up the photograph she'd just taken alongside her own drawing and they both marveled at the accuracy. "Yeah, I get that. But I think all things considered, we turned out pretty good." She kissed her gently on the cheek before being interrupted by the familiar sound of water reaching a boil.

It was tea time.