Thank you all for sticking with me and for your support, you guys ar great!
Special thanks to Eich(enchanteob on Tumblr) for her faith and help, if you haven't read her stories, please do.. They're amazing!
I hope you enjoy this new chapter, reviews and constructive critisism are always appreciated.
"So, Tutankhamen was only 9 years old when he became a farao?"
Seth asked the blonde, disbelief shining in his wide eyes.
"Yes!" Gail nodded excitely. "And he died when he was only 19".
The girl explained to the boy, who was sitting crossed legged on her bed.
"Wow! That's really young, do you know how he died?", Seth asked as he pulled his knees up so he could rest his chin on them.
Gail was quite interested in this particular subject. When the ancient Egypt had been asigned to her and Seth she had been so focused on the fact she would have to do a project with him, that she hadn't even took a moment to think about the actual subject they had gotten.
It was only when the blonde had forced herself to sit down in front of the computer to do some research that she had realized things could have been worse. At least she would enjoy reading about the ancient Gods and the Pharaos.
She had spent hours going from link to link, trying to read a little bit about all the dinasties and some of its rulers.
Either way, she had no problem in talking about this subject and went on enthusiastically.
"First they thought he was murdered, but after reinvestigating his death in 2009 they discovered some things that indicated that he most likely died as a result of a knee infection".
Gail spun her chair around away from the computer and saw Seth's intense gaze on her. "What?", the girl asked suspiciously.
Seth blinked fast as he came back to reality. He had been captivated by the dark blonde girl while she was passionately talking about the topic of their project.
"Nothing" he answered as he nervously averted his gaze, trying to focus on anything that wasn't Gail in the room.
Gail crossed her arms. "Then why are you staring at me like that?" she demanded rather then asked the boy.
"Uhm, n-no reason. I, I just think it's cute how interested you are in this project". Seth replied uncomfortably while he plucked at the hem of his shirt, looking at his movements as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.
Gail blew out an exasperated breath and rolled her eyes at him, barelly remembering he wasn't going to see her gesture.
"Seth, don't even think about calling me cute, or I might have to scratch your eyes out".
She groaned and the freckled faced boy muttered something that Gail could only dicipher as "I'm sorry".
The girl shook her head before adding. "Seth, there's something I need to get off my chest."
Gail was quiet for a moment gathering her thoughts on what she wanted to say, while the boy kept on playing with a loose thread on his shirt. "I don't know why you have the idea in your head that it's okay to harass Holly with questions about if she's willing to share me with you, but lets get one thing straight here".
She paused a minute before she went on. "There is nothing to share. Even if there was a choice to make, it would always be her. She's my best friend, and you're a douchebag who gave me a hell of a hard time back in primary school."
Seth had been looking down at his hands the entire time Gail was speaking but when he finally met the girl's eyes, he did something Gail would've never expected.
"I'm sincerely sorry for bullying you Gail." He lowered his head, seeming genuinely ashamed of his past behaviour. "You are actually pretty cool now that I got to know you".
Gail could see the sincerity his eyes, she knew he meant every word and after a few moments of silence, she rewarded the boy with a small smile. "I forgive you, but don't expect anything more then that". She replied.
Seth nodded and got up from the bed. "Well, I better go home, or I'll be late for dinner", the boy said when he walked past Gail.
He opened the door, turning around to look at the blonde with a small smile of his own "I'll see you in school tomorrow?". Gail gave him a nod as he walked out of Gail's room.
The girl got up from the chair by her desk and let herself fall on the bed. "Well that was weird", she muttered to herself staring at the ceiling.
The next day at school, Seth tried to avoid Gail as much as he could and she couldn't say she wasn't happy about that. Ever since Holly had told her about what he'd said at Steffie's party she had been even more uncomfortable than usual around the boy, and the conversation they had had the day before hadn't helped with the matter either.
She was glad she didn't have to deal with all the awkwardness and simply enjoy her day.
During lunch, she and Holly had made plans to hang out that afternoon, after Holly's dance class. The brunette girl was quite an amazing dancer, and because there was a big dance show coming up she had to practise extra hours.
Holly had suggested they could meet afterwards but the blonde had asked if she could pick her up from her dance class to make things easier. But to be honest she just didn't wanted to wait that long to spent time with her best friend.
Hence why Gail arrived 15:45 at the theater, fifteen minutes before the end of rehearsal. She thought about waiting outside but decided against it, so the blonde went inside to sit down in one of the red seats in the middle of the theatre instead, watching as Holly danced with the rest of the group.
The brunette had been selected by the choreographer to do a solo part in this dance show, and she was about to go over her piece once more before the end of practice.
It was a modern dance, accompanied by an acoustic song that Gail had never heard before. It sounded a little dramatic but it sparkled her curiosity.
She watched the brunette sway to the music with such elegance that it completely captivated her. The music and the movements of the girl had Gail completely enraptured.
When Holly finished her dance, she noticed Gail's presence in the room and smiled towards her friend. The other girl was still staring at Holly on the stage when she realised the brunette's gaze was on her. A rush of fluttering feelings shot trough her stomach and the blonde felt her face getting hot. "What the hell was that?", she shook the confusion from head mind and stood up from the chair to walk towards Holly.
When she stopped a few steps away from her friend, Holly was changing into her street shoes. "So, I take it that your dreamingly look was an approval of my solo?" The brunette asked without looking up.
Gail's face flushed immediately and she shifted awkwardly in her place.
"Y-Yeah it was pretty good", she replied.
At this, Holly raised her eyes. Noticing her friend's flushed cheeks and smirked while she finished tying her shoelaces.
"What about a milkshake at Alfredo's to start our weekend with?" Holly asked the other girl. "After that maybe a movie at my house?"
"Absolutely!" Gail nodded enthusiastically, "It's happy hour today between four and five, two milkshakes for the price of one!", she beamed happily.
Alfredo's milkshakes were the best ones in that part of the city -if not in the entire city-, and the girls went there after school at least once a week ever since they had started High School together. It was a little tradition.
When the two friends arrived at their favourite diner, one of the waitresses gave them a friendly wave, instructing them to take a seat and saying that she would come to take their orders in a minute. This was more a formality than anything else, though, Jacky had been serving them for so long she could probably tell what they were going to order before they decided themselves.
"Traci asked if we want to go ice skating with her and Steffie tomorrow at the rink on the big square". Holly said after they had picked a table and opened their menus.
After a few minutes of silence, the brunette put down her menu and stared at Gail, noticing that the girl had been far to engrossed into deciding which milkshake she was going to have, to hear the actual question.
"Gail!". The blonde's head shot up as she looked startled at Holly.
"Sorry, you was saying?".
The brunette shook her head slightly and smiled at her friend. "Do you want to go ice skating tomorrow with me, Steffie and Traci?", Holly repeated herself, crossing her arms over the table and leaning on them.
"Oh, yeah sure. As long as we get a hot coco with marsmellows after", Gail replied with a smirk on her face before turning back to the list of milkshake flavours.
The ice rink was fairly crowded. It was a Saturday afternoon, afterall, and there were a lot of kids around, enjoying the weekend with their parents as well as some other people having fun on their day off.
The smell of hot chocolate and waffles hung in the air, the sky was grey and it looked as if it was about to start snowing any minute.
With Christmas only a week away there was a big tree full of lights in the middle of the square and several stalls were scattered across the plazza, selling things like candy and soup, hot chocolatte and waffles. In a corner there was a photoboot for kids to take pictures with Santa and somewhere in the distance there were speakers playing christmas songs.
Even with risking getting caught by the snow, it was easy to see why so many people had chosen to spent their Saturday in a place like this.
Traci, Steffie and Holly were already skating in the rink when Gail arrived.
She leaned against the railing to watch Traci teaching Holly to make a proper pirouette. The blonde's smile grew when she saw Holly's happy face after she managed to spin around a few times without falling.
"Care to join us or are you gonna keep on staring and stay here?", Gail heard the voice next to her say. She turned her head to the left and saw Steffie grinning at her.
"I haven't decided yet, you're all gonna suck comparing to me and I wouldn't want to do that to you losers", the girl bit back and averted her gaze back to the rink.
Steffie scoffed at the girl next to her and adjusted the beanie on her head, her beautiful dark curls cascading over her shoulders.
"Well little miss perfect, we'll pale in comparison to you anyway so why don't you just get on the ice and have some fun with us?". Steffie said staring at her, not waiting for a reply before she skated backwards and away from the dark blonde girl.
Gail blinked, speechless, she wasn't used to getting her snark throwed right back at her. A small smile formed on her lips and she looked over at Steffie.
"You coming Gail? Or aren't you so awesome after all?". The girl shouted from the rink. "Oh, you just wait and see", Gail murmered to herself as got on the ice, skating towards Steffie and stopping right in front of the girl by sliding sideways over the ice. Steffie raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed by the blonde and dusted the ice off of her jeans. They both laughed and skated towards their friends.
The four girls spent the rest of their afternoon on the ice, and by the time they had decided it was time to go home, most of the rink was already empty. Traci suggested they got hot chocolate with marsmellows before heading home and the other three girls had happily agreed. The temperature had dropped a little and now that they had stopped moving around the cold was starting to settle despite their coats.
"I only got 5 marsmellows Holly, you got 7!", Gail pouted and added "You have to give me one of yours". The brunette scoffed and looked surprised at her best friend's pouting face. "So cute", Holly thought to herself, before she replied "I have to give you one of mine? You can at least ask nicely Gail".
Before the blonde had a chance to comply to the request, Steffie held a spoon with one of her marsmellows close to Gail's mouth, smiling at the pouty face in front of her.
Gail hesitated a brief moment before opening her lips and accept the offered treat. "Mmm, this is so good. This one is a girl of my heart, nerd", the blonde said to Holly as she winked at Steffie.
This action didn't go unnoticed by the brunette, who felt a sudden ache in her chest that she couldn't quite explain. It was like she was hot and cold, short of breath and with a lump in her throat, all at the same time.
Holly didn't know what to say and so she simply looked down at her feet.
Gail saw her friend's reaction and instantly felt bad. She took a step back from Steffie and looked nervously towards Traci, who took a sip of her hot coco as she observed the situation silently.
"Well, I'm going home", the dark skinned girl said.
When nobody said anything she looked over at Steffie -who lived only a few blocks from her house- and asked "You coming?". The girl nodded and said her goodbye to Holly, then turned towards Gail and smiled at the blonde. "Thanks for the fun afternoon. I really enjoyed it".
Traci's eyes went from Steffie to Gail to Holly and back at Gail as she frowned, silently questioning the blonde about what was going on. When she realized Gail was as lost as her, she simply started to follow Steffie as the girl walked away.
Holly shifted from one foot to the other awkwardly, before looking into the blonde's icy blue eyes. Gail cleared her throat and looked towards the now almost empty ice rink.
"Sooo...care to teach me how to make a pirouette?", she asked meeting Holly's gaze.
The corners of the brunette's mouth curled up lighty. "You sure about that Gail? You might break something", she chuckled and then head back towards the ice.
Gail smirked and shook her head as she followed her friend, disposing her empty cup in one of the trash cans as she went.
The girls had spend another hour on the rink, practising their pirouettes. Holly had explained the blonde what to pay attention too in order to keep her balance, just like Traci had done to her earlier. Gail turned out to be a natural and had picked it up fairly quickly, only losing her balance a few times.
When night fell, the two girls were still enjoying their time together, their laughs filling every corner of the not abandoned ice rink. It was only when Gail's phone buzzed in her pocket that they realized how late it was. The girl's mother had called to let her know she was getting late for dinner but instead of leaving immediately they decided to have one more round before going back home.
"Come on nerd, you can do better then that!", Gail told the brunette when she finished a sloppy pirouette. "My feet hurt, I've been doing this all day", Holly whined causing the other girl to raise an eyebrow, she wasn't used to a whining Holly. That was usualy her thing.
Gail grabbed Holly's glove covered hands and started skating backwards towards the exit. The brunette sighed and followed her friend out, earning a mischievious smile from the girl. Holly furrowed her brows. "What are you smiling at?"
The dark blonde girl grinned at her and let go of Holly's hands, "Lets just go home you wuss", she nudged the brunette and increased her pace.
Holly gasped and then shouted, "Oh you did not just say that to me!" before starting to pursue her friend. Gail skated as fast as she could, but it wasn't fast enough to escape the brunette, Holly had been skating far more often then she did.
Shortly after she had fled away from Holly, there was a tug at Gail's jacket and the blonde lost her balance. She fell down on her shoulder and remained on the ice, motionless.
"Oh my god! Gail are you okay?". Holly let herself fall on her knees and cradled her friend's face in her hands. "Gail, look at me", the brunette said to the blonde, while brushing her hair away from her face. The panic was evident in her voice.
Gail started giggling and opened her eyes to see her best friend's beautiful face.
"You're an ass, you know that? You scared the shit out of me!", Holly reprimanded the blonde, and slapped her arm.
"Auw! Easy nerd, I just fell on that arm", Gail said as she sat up and looked into worried chocolate eyes. Her breath got caught in her throat when she studied Holly's face, and she tried to swallow the lump in her throat.
"Don't do that ever again Gail", Holly sighed and added "I thought you had seriously hurt yourself". The worry in Holly's eyes, the serious tone in her voice, and the warmth that was soon spreading over Gail's chest and neck became too much in that moment.
Before she knew what she was doing, before she had time to think about it, Gail stroked Holly's cheek with the back of her fingers. Watching chocolate eyes shifting from surprise to relief before Holly's eyelids closed because of the action.
She placed a lose string of hair behind Holly's ear and allowed her eyes to shift to the brunette's lips, imagining what it would feel like to have those lips pressing against hers.
When she realized where her mind was taking her, Gail shook her head and retrieved her hand.
The dark blonde stood up, ignoring the surprised look on her friend's face.
"I, uhm, I, I need to go home, my, my parents are waiting for me". Gail offered Holly a hand to help her get up.
The brunette took the offered hand and nervously looked into Gail's eyes. "Uhm, yeah, we should go", she replied and skated towards the exit without waiting for Gail to follow.
The other girl stood still, watching the retrieving form of her best friend vanish into the darkness of the night. The beautiful nerd for whom she suddenly didn't have just friendly feelings anymore.
When she couldn't see Holly's silhouette anymore, Gail took a deep breath to compose herself and started to follow the brunette towards the exit and towards home.