The credits of a show wrap up on the Tv sitting on the dresser near the foot of the bed, and when the last line crosses the top of the screen, a loud commercial starts playing waking the two teen girls that had fallen asleep.
"Shit, we missed the ending," Marie says as she rubs her eye with her one free hand.
"I noticed that you fell asleep," Nazz says as she sits up from using Marie's shoulder as a pillow. "But you looked so cute that I couldn't help but let you sleep."
The two teens had spent the Wednesday afternoon watching Tv in Nazz's room but had fallen asleep as they cuddled on her bed.
It's been over a year since the night Marie and Nazz talked in Nazz's backyard, and a lot has happened since then. Marie has accepted her sexuality and does like like Nazz, though she is not sure if she is Bi or full lesbian, some boys still look cute to her, but Nazz always comes in first in who is the cutest.
They've been taking things very slowly, intimacy is something hard for Marie, but Nazz is fine with taking things as slowly as Marie wants. They are still "in the closet" about their relationship, Marie doesn't care what people think about her, she just wants to be left alone about her and Nazz's relationship. Marie knows if they were out, Nazz being as popular as she is, would lead to most of the school trying to learn all they can about their relationship.
Marie did tell her sisters about her and Nazz being a thing, resulting in Nazz being dragged over to the trailer park to be questioned by Lee and May. They wanted to make sure that Nazz wasn't manipulating Marie in any way and that she was going to treat Marie right. It took a whole afternoon, and Nazz staying for dinner, for Lee and May to accept that Nazz is on the up and up when it comes to Marie.
"Did you want to stay for dinner?" Nazz asks as she gets off the bed to turn off the Tv.
Marie uses her fingers to try and brush her hair back into order. "I can't, Ma is taking the night off for a family night."
"Oh." Nazz is a little sad that her time with her girlfriend is going to be shorter than she'd hoped. "What time did you need to get home?" She asks, letting that sadness slip away.
Marie looks at Nazz's alarm clock. "Um, in like thirty minutes."
Marie opens the door to Nazz's backyard, but stops and turns around to Nazz. "Thanks for having me over." She says to Nazz behind her.
Nazz smiles, "Always happy to." She says as if it was a rare event for her to be over, Marie spends so much time at Nazz's home that Nazz's Mother figured out the two teens were dating well before Nazz told her.
Marie leans in and gives Nazz a quick kiss. "See ya at school, Princess."
Nazz blushes at the nickname Marie has given her. Marie gave her this nickname a few months into their relationship when Nazz came to school in a pink dress with yellow trim. The dress was a gift from her grandmother, who was in town visiting, and Nazz had no choice but to wear it to school.
Nazz actually likes the nickname, it is a very Kanker thing in her mind for Marie to playfully tease her. But she does get her back when Marie and Nazz sneak in some alone time at school. Even though they are keeping their relationship a secret, they're far friendlier to each other at school leading to the use of a cover story of Nazz and Marie hitting it off as friends, gaining Nazz "friendship privileges" to use the Kanker Sisters restroom in the school. But it is just the lie that works to cover for Marie and Nazz being able to freely show affection to each other at school, even if it's in the oldest restroom in the building.
Marie leaves the yard through the gate in the fence into the back alley of the cul-de-sac and starts a well-walked path to the end of the alley where a tall wooden fence separates the cul-de-sac from the Park n' Flush trailer park.
Years ago, the Kanker sisters worked some of the nails out of the fence so now, if you know which ones, you can swing two of the boards open and climb right through the fence with little to no effort.
Marie gets home just as her mother's old truck pulls up next to the family trailer.
"Hey, Ma," Marie says as the truck door opens, revealing the stocky red-haired mother of the Kanker sisters.
"Evening Marie, you just get home?" Ms. Kanker asks as she climbs out of her truck.
Marie takes a big plastic bag held out by her mother without a thought. "I did."
"At your friend, Nazz's again?" Ms. Kanker asks, closing the truck door with her hip before walking away from the truck.
Marie follows her mother. "I was, yeah." Marie hasn't come out to her mother yet, she isn't sure how her mother would react when she found out and is waiting for the right time to tell her.
Marie thinks she has been careful enough to not give her mother any clues about her relationship with Nazz, but her mother is not an idiot, she has a strong hint that Nazz and her daughter are more than just friends. "It's good to hear you're making friends."
Ms. Kanker brought home a bucket of KFC for dinner, and the four Kankers sit around the round table talking and eating.
"Did you do your homework?" Ms. Kanker asks as she takes a bite out of a fried chicken leg.
May stops mid-way to her mouth with a spoon full of corn. "No, we were going to wait for Marie."
Marie's eyes grow wide. "I didn't know you wanted to do homework with me. Nazz and I did some of ours, but I can do the rest with you." She feels guilt fill her, Marie has done more and more homework with Nazz and less and less with her sisters over the past months.
Lee knows how happy her sister is with Nazz, and she understands that her sister being happy is worth missing out on sister time. "Don't worry about it, you can bus tables tomorrow while we do homework." She says, giving her sister more of an order than a suggestion on how to make amends to her sisters.
Marie hates busing tables, but Lee is still the eldest, and the boss of the sisters, so she accepts her fate without a word.
Later that night, the sisters are settling down for bed in their shared room. The room is mostly the same as it was, bunk beds for Marie and May, and a single bed for Lee. But the sisters have added privacy curtains to Marie and Lee's bed, getting the idea from May hanging a bed sheet around her bottom bunk. For Marie, they nailed sheets to the sealing around her bed, and for Lee, they used two-by-fours to make bed posts around her bed to hang curtains around.
The lights were off in the room, but May had recently copied Marie and hung Christmas lights around the top of her bottom bunk, and they were still plugged in. With the Christmas lights on, some light is coming up along the wall to Marie's bed, illuminating the pictures she taped to the wall. They're Polaroid pictures taken at special moments over the past two-ish years.
One is the sisters riding in the back of their mother's truck, the sisters have sunglasses on and their hair flying in the wind. Another is of the Kanker sisters and their mother at their grandparent's for Christmas. And one is of the three sisters at the beach, having fun in the ocean. Above the pictures was a full spread picture of Marie's favorite car, a silver 1967 Ford Shelby Mustang GT 500 Fastback, that she cut out of a car magazine. While Marie loves that car, the magazine page is also a hiding place for her favorite picture. Her favorite picture is one that May took without Marie knowing, leading to May getting punched several times in the arm, and is a picture she doesn't want to share with anyone, keeping the memory contained in it all for herself. The picture was taken the same day that the sisters went to the beach, but this picture is of Marie and Nazz hiding behind a large boulder watching the sunset while Marie rests her head on Nazz's shoulder.
The Kanker trip to the beach was during the last week of the last summer vacation they just had as a way to send off their last summer vacation ever, they were starting their senior year of high school that year. Nazz had gone off to cheer camp for the majority of the summer break, it was mandatory for the varsity cheer team, leaving Marie and her with only writing letters to each other as a way to communicate all summer. But Nazz surprised Marie by showing up at the beach, leaving camp a day early under the ruse that her mother needed her home to help take care of her grandmother.
Having Nazz show up and surprise Marie sparked a new and deeper level of affection inside Marie for Nazz. While she isn't sure what this feeling is, she knows it draws her to her girlfriend even more than before, so she doesn't care what it's supposed to mean.
Marie stands in front of her mirror in the Kanker Sisters' restroom the next day. It was just after lunch and she was fixing her hair. It was windy that day and sitting outside as she and her sisters ate their lunches messed up her hair.
She is holding a pair of black hair clips in between her teeth as she runs a brush through her hair. "I'll see you later, Tammy." Marie hears a voice say from outside the door of the restroom.
Another voice could be heard, but Marie can't quite make out what was said.
"Cause it's closer, and I'm cool with the Kankers." The first voice says in response to a question.
Marie clips the hair clips into place as the sound of the door opening fills the restroom, followed by the old door closing on its own. Turning around, Marie spots the only non-Kanker that uses the restroom and smiles. "Hey, Nazz," Marie says, excited to see her girlfriend.
Nazz returns the smile. "Hey, Marie." She didn't think she'd find Marie in the restroom, but she was happy to have.
Marie meets Nazz halfway and they share a hug and a quick kiss. "How's your day been?" Nazz asks as the two teen girls touch foreheads as they continue their embrace.
"It's been alright," Marie closes her eyes, letting the warm and fuzzy feeling in her stomach fill her whole body, "Got to watch May ask Ed to go see some movie about a spider guy."
"Ooo, you think they'll start dating?" Nazz asks, getting excited from hearing the small bit of gossip.
The report assignment that led to Marie and Nazz becoming a couple, also led to May and Ed starting a tentative friendship. It was a slow-burn start to their friendship, May would ask Ed questions about the comic she saw him reading that day. But the more May asked questions and just sat there and listened to Ed talk, the more Ed became used to being around May.
"Na," Marie says as the girls break their embrace. "I think May is happy with just being friends with Ed."
Nazz shrugs. "His loss then. Cause dating a Kanker," She leans in and kisses Marie. "Is a very fun time."
Marie blushes and kisses Nazz herself. "How are you this adorable?" She says as she cups Nazz's face. "It has to be a lot of work."
Nazz leans into one of Marie's hands. "I do it all for you, Darlin." She adds a southern accent to the end of her line, resulting in Marie laughing.
"Where did that come from?" Marie asks once her laughter subsided.
"I watched a western with my Mom last night after dinner, and I guess I picked it up from there, why do you hate it?" Nazz responds.
"Not at all."
They share another kiss, this one longer than the ones they've already had. "Do you have plans after practice today?" Marie asks once they break the kiss.
Nazz shakes her head. "Nope, why? Want to come over later?" She asks.
"I was actually wondering if you wanted to come over to my place, Lee is going to cook, and she wants extra people to try her cooking."
Nazz likes that Lee and May accepted her not just as Marie's girlfriend, but as a friend of their own. "I'd love to." She says. "And I'd love to talk more, but I did come in here to pee, so…" She inclines her head at the stalls, trying to give her girlfriend the hint that she needed to use the facilities.
"Oh!" Marie had forgotten that they were in a restroom and that Nazz was surprised to see Marie when she walked in. "Right, sorry. I'll see you later then."
Nazz gives Marie one final kiss, "See you later, Darlin."
Later that night in the Kanker family home, Marie and Nazz are sitting on the old family couch, Lee sits on a chair brought into the room from the kitchen, Ms. Kanker sits in her recliner, and May washes dishes in the other room as the evening lineup of sitcoms plays on the Tv.
The meal Lee made wasn't anything too extravagant, spicy pulled chicken on white rice with vegetable sides, but she had nothing to worry about, all those that tried her cooking liked it.
The room was quiet, say for the Tv and the sound of dishes being washed coming in from the other room, by Ms. Kankers request. She was getting tired and wanted to start winding down for the night.
The Kanker sisters are used to this request from their mother, but Nazz is still a newer sight to be seen in the Kanker home, so she is starting to get antsy from not saying anything. But Nazz is not a bad houseguest, so she suffers in silence with her head resting on Marie's shoulder, enjoying her time with her girlfriend as best she could.
But Marie is also getting antsy, but not for the same reason. Marie would very much like to kiss her girlfriend but doesn't want to show that level of affection in front of her mother, she thinks her mother is unaware of her relationship with Nazz after all. But she is letting her guard down, letting Nazz rest her head on her shoulder is a dead giveaway that something is going on between the two teens.
"Marie." Ms. Kanker says, looking at her wristwatch. "It's getting late and it's a school night, I think your friend should be getting on home."
Once past the fence, Marie and Nazz join hands for the last leg of the walk to Nazz's yard.
"Have you heard back from any of the schools you applied to yet?" Marie asks as they walk down the alley.
"No, but it is still really early, and I'm still not sure what I want to go to school for, AND I only just sent out the application for that scholarship." Nazz swings their joined hands as she talks. "What about you though, have you given any thought to what you want to do after graduation?"
"Well… I did think of one thing I thought might be fun."
"Oh, tell me. Please." Nazz almost begs.
"I was thinking, what if I became a mechanic?" Marie had been mulling this thought over in her head for weeks, and it felt oddly relieving to say it out loud to Nazz. "I'm liking the Auto Mechanics class I'm taking, last semester was the first time I ever got a B, and the teacher says it's a "growing field"." Marie quotes her teacher to Nazz.
They stop at Nazz's fence just as Marie finishes. "Hmmm." Nazz looks at Marie, thinking about something very deeply.
"What?" Marie asks, confused by Nazz's actions.
"I'm trying to picture you in overalls and covered in engine grease, and all I can say about what I'm imagining is… hot." Nazz isn't bluffing her girlfriend, she does think Marie would look attractive as a Greasemonkey.
"Oh really?" A sly grin grows on Marie's face as she moves closer to Nazz.
With lightning-fast reflexes, Marie has Nazz pinned to the fence by her shoulders. "Then I think it's settled then." Still holding Nazz in place, Marie embraces her, giving her the long kiss she's been wanting to give her all night.
Nazz excitedly returns the kiss, and the two teen girls let their affection for each other take control.
Marie moves her hands from Nazz's shoulders to her face, cupping her cheek as she so enjoys doing when the two embrace.
Nazz on the other hand, lets her hands roam, first grasping Marie's hips, and pulling her closer to herself. She then moves to Marie's back, sliding her hands up under Marie's black sleeveless shirt, before moving up to her sides. Nazz's fingertips touching her skin feels like small jolts of electricity jumping between Nazz's fingers and Marie's skin, causing Marie's heart rate to rise. But as Nazz's fingers start to move further up Marie's body, Marie comes to her senses and stops Nazz's upward expedition under Marie's shirt.
Marie grabs Nazz's wrists through her shirt. "Not yet, not out here." She whispers as they end the embrace.
"Ok, sorry," Nazz whispers as the two teens touch their foreheads. "I didn't mean to get carried away."
"It's ok, Princess." Marie kisses Nazz on the cheek. "Soon I promise, I'm just not ready yet."
Physical signs of affection have always been an issue for Marie, a therapist might be able to connect it to abandonment issues she has from the two fathers that were in her life leaving her mother when she was young. And while Nazz is fine with waiting and taking this at Marie's pace, she sometimes forgets in the heat of these rare moments when the two of them are truly alone.
"Good things come to those who wait." Nazz kisses Marie on the cheek, "And I'll wait as long as you need me to."
Marie hugs Nazz, "You're too good to me." She says, squeezing tight. "I should probably get going back home."
"Yeah, ok." The two teens finally separate. "Good night, Marie," Nazz says with a warm smile on her face.
Marie returns the smile, the same warm and fuzzy feeling she had earlier in the day coming back. "G'night, Nazz." She says before turning to walk away immediately. If she doesn't leave right then, she knows she'll stick around for several hours, and incur the wrath of her mother on a school night.
Nazz watches her walk away until Marie is swallowed up by the darkness of the night. Only then does she reach over and unlock the gate to her backyard and walk in.
Up in her room, Nazz changes out of her clothes and into her pajamas, all the while lost in thought about Marie. While Nazz has known Marie for several years, this past year and a half have taught her more about Marie than she ever knew.
Just to name a few of the things that she's learned, she never knew that Marie likes cars and not just in a "they look cool" sense, she genuinely enjoyed the under-the-hood part of them. That Marie is a natural redhead under that blue hair dye. And that Marie has a big soft spot for cats and would love to have one of her own someday.
All this, on top of, even more, grew Nazz's affection for Marie from a high school romance to something deeper, something she can't quite admit to yet, but a deep feeling that drives her to be around Marie whenever she could.
Walking over to her desk to turn off the light for the night, Nazz sees an envelope sitting there. There is no labeling on the envelope, but she knows what's inside it, and she has a question that has to be asked if the contents are to mean anything or just a hundred-dollar waste.
"Tomorrow," Nazz says as she turns the light off. "I'll ask her tomorrow after school," she vows, turning the light off.
The following day after school, Nazz quickly changes out of her cheer practice clothes, she is still sticking to her plan, and if she wants to catch Marie before she has to go to work, she has to hustle.
"See you girls later, bye," Nazz yells into the locker room as she dashes out, her backpack not fully closed.
The years of her running for exercise gave Nazz the ability to reach the entrance to the Park n' Flush just as Marie was exiting it.
"Oh, hey Nazz." Marie is surprised to see Nazz, the afternoons that Marie works are usually afternoons that Marie wouldn't see her.
"Hey, looks like I caught you just in time." Nazz is a little out of breath, but she catches it quickly.
"For what?" Marie can't stand around and talk, so she starts walking down the street.
Nazz walks with Marie as she talks. "I was hoping I could walk with you to work, so we could hang out and talk for a bit."
Marie smiles. "Oh, sure." She is happy to spend even a few minutes with her girlfriend.
Looking around, Nazz sees that the street is empty, a few cars are on the road, but no other people are walking, so she takes a chance. "Hey, Marie." She looks around again double checking. "No one is around, and this street is always empty, do you wanna hold hands as we walk?"
Nazz, the most confident person in the neighborhood, was nervous as the words came out of her mouth.
Marie is surprised by this request, but that didn't stop her from contemplating the request. When the two girls are alone, Marie is comfortable showing affection, but they are outside, where someone could see them. 'But, I never see kids from school on this road and none of the adults even look at me as I walk by.'
She looks at her hand, looks around the street, and then looks at Nazz and smiles as she laces her fingers with Nazz's.
Nazz's heart jumps into her throat as her fingers entwine with Marie's and a big smile covers her face.
To her surprise, Marie didn't feel any worrying feelings as she held Nazz's hand, in fact, she felt the exact opposite. Holding Nazz's hand out in public filled her with the warm fuzzies, and she feels a sense of self-pride that she is holding her girlfriend's hand outside.
Having walked for a couple of blocks, Nazz decides it's time to ask Marie what she intended to do when she set out after practice. "So this is nice, right?" She asks, holding their joined hand up. "Being together outside."
Marie squeezes Nazz's hand. "Yeah, it's nice."
Nazz looks at Marie, the sun catching in Marie's blue hair gives her the willpower to push through with her question. "Wouldn't it be nice, to do this all the time?"
"What do you mean?" Marie raises an eyebrow at Nazz confused.
"I know you don't want people sticking their nose into our business, but graduation is just a few months away, and I was hoping." Nazz stops walking, lets go of Marie's hand and takes her backpack off.
"What are you getting at?" Marie asks as Nazz opens the small pocket on the front of her backpack.
Nazz takes an envelope out. "That you'd like to go with me," She opens the envelope as she talks. "To Prom, as my date." She holds a pair of tickets the size of dollar bills out.
Marie looks at the tickets eyes wide. "You… You're asking me, ME," She points to herself in disbelief. "To go to prom with you, as your date?"
Nazz nods. "I wouldn't want to go with anyone else."
"I... I don't know what to say." Marie is in shock.
Nazz takes one of the tickets and holds it out to Marie. "You don't have to give me an answer now, and I won't be upset if you say no. So think about it, and let me know."
Marie is still stunned, but her head is filled with thoughts about Nazz's request. "I… I'll think about it, I promise. But, I think I need to be alone now."
Nazz understood. "Right, I'll see you Monday at school." unable to help herself, Nazz leans over to Marie and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning on her heels and leaving. "Bye Marie." She adds with a wave.
Marie was so lost in thought as she walked, that she didn't even realize that she had reached the diner until the distinct smell of the grease trap hit her nose.
As far as Marie knew, the grease trap had never been cleaned in years. It was a comforting smell to Marie, familiarity is comforting to her.
"Afternoon Marie," the older woman behind the register says as Marie walks through the main entrance of the diner.
"Afternoon," Marie responds as she walks around behind the counter. "How's business?" she asks, looking around the dinner.
The Diner was built, according to the owner, shortly after the second world war, and the decor was never changed. The booths are hardwood, stained several shades darker from years of people getting in and out of them. There are a handful of people eating in them now, all regulars.
The counter is empty, say for the other worker who is rolling silverware in paper napkins. "Marie." the other worker, another older woman, says.
"Tammy." Marie doesn't like Tammy, and Tammy doesn't like her.
"You're on dish duty," Tammy says.
Normally Marie would try to argue about the assignment, but today she was happy with the solitude that the sink offers.
'Prom,' Marie thinks as she scrubs a plate. 'With Nazz.' She mulls this line over and over in her head. 'A lot of people, like all the others in our grade, would be there. That's a lot of people, too many people with too many questions.' She drops the plate into the rinsing sink. 'But, it was nice holding hands on the walk here. More of that feeling would be nice. And not having to sneak away to be with her would be nice too.' She uses what she is sure is a toilet brush to clean some cups. 'I guess if we talk about it more, figure out the deets, it wouldn't be too bad.' She goes back to her sponge for another plate. "I guess I should tell Mom at least."
Later that night Marie is walking home from the diner with her headphones on. She still uses her tape deck to listen to her mixtapes. This tape is one that Nazz made for her and has some songs that she usually wouldn't seek out herself, the songs on the tape were different, but Marie finds herself liking them more than she originally thought she would.
Tuning the corner around a different trailer Marie sees her mother sitting outside of the Kanker family trailer in an old plastic lawn chair, smoking a cigarette and sipping from a can of beer.
"Hey, Ma," Marie said when she saw her mother.
"Evening Marie, how was the diner?" Ms. Kanker asks, tapping away ash from the end of her cigarette.
"It was the same as always, did you enjoy your day off?" Marie responds.
"I tried, slept most of the day, and then your sister came home with talk about wanting to go into the city with some guy to some book store for something I didn't understand."
"I'm guessing it was May," Marie says as she sits down next to her mother. "And I bet she wants to go with Ed to a comic book shop."
Ms. Kanker only responds with a nod of her head.
"May and him have been hitting it off lately, hard to believe they're such good friends already." Marie leans back in the lawn chair and looks up at the stars, most of them are hidden by the various street lights in the trailer park.
"So they have." Ms. Kanker says before turning to look at Marie and adding; "But not like you and that Nazz girl."
Marie looks at her mother as worry sets in. "What do you mean?"
Ms. Kanker cracks her back by just flexing her shoulder blades. "I might be out of touch with kids these days, but I can tell when someones are more than just good friends." Before Marie could respond and attempt to keep her mother from saying something bad about Marie and Nazz, Ms. Kanker holds up her hand to stop her. "Let me finish." She lowers her hand. "I had a feeling something was up with you two for a while, you've had more pep in your step. You were happy, and as a mother, your daughter being happy is the most important thing you could hope for," Ms. Kanker smiles. "If you being with Nazz makes you happy, then that's all I care about." She takes a drink from her can before adding; "One less of you three I have to worry about getting pregnant before you finish school."
"I…" Marie is at a loss for words, she didn't think this conversation would be this easy, or that her mother would initiate it. "Thanks, Mom." is all that she could think of to say.
"No problem Marie, just make sure you don't let anyone try and put you down for being yourself. Kankers submit to no one, remember." Ms. Kanker says, quoting the family motto at the end.
Having her mother know and be perfectly fine with her being in a relationship with Nazz, gave Marie one of the best nights of sleep she's had in a long time, and because of that Marie had her response to Nazz's question.
She rarely sees Nazz alone in the morning, so with the hood of her hoodie pulled up, she slips a note into Nazz's locker through the vent at the top asking her to meet her in the Kanker restroom after the first period.
Marie arrives at the restroom faster than she ever did in the past three years out of excitement to see Nazz. Luckily she didn't have to wait long, for Nazz was just as eager to see Marie as she was to see her.
"Hey, I got your note," Nazz says as the door to the restroom closes.
Marie closes the distance between them without a word and kisses Nazz, holding her cheeks as she does. "Yes," she says once the kiss was broken,
"Yes? Yes to what?" Nazz has a feeling she knows what question she was getting an answer to, but she wants to hear it from Marie.
"Yes, I'll be your date to prom," Marie says as Nazz's face begins to glow with joy.
"Eeeee." Nazz takes Marie's hands and jumps once out of joy. "I'm so happy! We're going to have so much fun. We'll need dresses, but I know a place. We could get our nails done and our hair. Oh, we could even do our makeup really fancy, I bet you'd look amazing with some eye shadow." Nazz was excited, and it showed.
"Ok ok, slow down. I don't want to make a big deal out of this, we don't have to do all of that." Marie waves her hands around, gesturing to all the ideas Nazz had just suggested.
"Ok, but we gotta get dresses at the very least," Nazz responds.
Marie didn't regret agreeing to go with Nazz to prom, the idea of dancing with her excited her, but seeing the fliers and posters popping up around the school as the weeks went by was making her realize just how many people there is going to be at the event, and thinking about all those people was giving her some social anxiety. And that anxiety was starting to snowball into classic Kanker anger.
Opening her locker after lunch hour, Marie finds a folded piece of paper that's been slipped into the locker through the vent. "My place after school Friday. Drop your bag at your place first." the note reads in Nazz's handwriting.
Marie assumed that Nazz just wanted to spend the afternoon together, so she was surprised to see Nazz waiting outside her house with her purse over her shoulder.
"Hey, Marie," Nazz says, walking the last few feet to Marie, unable to wait any longer. She gives Marie a quick kiss on the cheek, causing both teens to blush slightly.
"Hey," Marie responds, smiling wide as that fuzzy feeling she's been having inside of herself flares up. "Are we going somewhere?" She asks, eyeing Nazz's purse.
"We are." Nazz motions for Marie to start following her as she starts walking away from her house. "Prom is a little over a week away, and we've got shopping to do."
[Authors note: I have no idea how accurate this next part is going to be, so please just go with it, I've never done any shopping like this]
Nazz didn't tell Marie where they were going, but she had a pretty good idea. Peach Creek's mall has shops for almost everything, but there is only one place in town where you'd be able to find dresses fit for a prom, and that is the shop Marie is following Nazz into.
"These all look…" Marie looks at the dresses hanging from racks or hooks on the wall.
"Amazing?" Nazz finishes Maries thought for her. "Come on, let's find some to try on."
"Not my style." is what Marie was going to say, but she didn't and let Nazz have her fun.
Without a second thought, Nazz leads Marie all over the store by the hand, stopping at various racks to look at the dresses and commenting on the fabric or their style. One out of every five or so Nazz would pull off the rack and hold it up to herself or Marie, before either returning it to the rack or hanging it over her arm, and that was around one out of every three she kept.
Marie was feeling increasingly out of place as they went around the shop, and was reminded how much Nazz and her were from different walks of life. She is starting to feel annoyed by how controlling Nazz is being. Only once Nazz had dragged Marie around the whole shop twice had she finally accepted that she'd found all the dresses that are up to her standards did they head to the back to the dressing rooms to try them on.
"I wanna try this one first." Nazz holds up a dress from the middle of her pile. "And I think you should try this one, I think the color goes great with your eyes." She holds out a different dress to Marie.
Marie takes the dress, a rich forest green with spaghetti straps that hangs just above her chest. "I don't know, Nazz, this seems like too much." Marie feels uncomfortable showing as much skin as the dress would reveal.
"Just try it on," Nazz says before disappearing into one of the changing stalls.
Marie just stands there, looking at the dress in her hands. It is very flashy in her opinion, and Marie isn't a flashy person. She also isn't very big on being told what to do by anyone, and Nazz isn't an exception to this. All of this, on top of the Kanker anger that was building because of the social anxiety, lit the short fuse on the bomb that is ready to go off.
Nazz pulls the curtains aside, revealing the much more elegant dress she'd chosen for herself. Its straps are wider than the one she chose for Marie, doesn't hang as low either, and the color starts as pink at the top fades into purple, and then fades into royal blue. "Why didn't you try it on?" She asks.
"Because." Marie doesn't look up from the dress.
"Because why? You'd look great in a nice dress like that dress." Nazz walks the few steps to Marie, holding the hem of her dress up off the floor.
Nazz's choice of words was not what Marie needed to hear, and that was all Marie needed to pop. "I thought you didn't care about how I look." Marie looks up at Nazz, "I thought what kind of clothes I wear don't matter?" Marie's anger is rising.
"I- I don't, they don't. You know this." Nazz has no idea where this anger of Marie's is coming from.
"Then why all this?" She tosses the dress to the floor and gestures to the rest of the shop. "You know I don't like anything like this. Why are you trying to change me?"
"That's not what I'm trying to do."
"Then what? Why go through all this effort for something you know I don't like?" Marie is flustered with anger.
"I just want everyone to see you like I do." Nazz is getting flustered and starts talking without thinking. "I want to show everyone how amazing the girl I love is." She covers her mouth with her hands just as the words leave her lips.
All of the anger Marie was feeling was gone, she was stunned cold.
Nazz's eyes grow wide "I- I…" She has no idea what to say.
Marie can't handle this and just turns and starts to walk away from Nazz.
"Wait, Marie." Nazz starts to follow her. "Stop, please, and talk to me." Marie was moving faster than Nazz could, and she was out the door before Nazz could get to her.
Marie somehow found her way home from the shop and is laying in her bed, reliving the moment Nazz told her she loved her over and over in her head. She has no idea how to process this information and just starts to shut down.
Nazz stands there looking at the door to the shop, mortified. She never intended to tell Marie she was in love with her yet, she wanted to wait till the moment felt right. But the cat was out of the bag, and Marie just walked away from Nazz and her unplanned confession.
"Shit." She says as she sinks to the floor, ignoring the rest of the people in the shop. "Fuck fucking fucks." She starts to feel tears form in her eyes, "I fucked everything up."
Nazz worries that if she went looking for Marie she'd only cause more problems, so she returns home with the dress, the shopkeeper made her buy it because she sat on the floor in it, and tries to get on with her weekend as if it was normal hoping that she'd see Marie Monday at school.
But Marie never came to school Monday or Tuesday, and on Wednesday Nazz hears that Lee brought in a note saying Marie had gotten food poisoning over the weekend and was going to be out for the week.
This made Nazz worry that Marie was actively avoiding coming to school because she was there, that Marie didn't want to talk to her or even see her in passing, and that hurt Nazz deeply in her heart. "I broke my own heart because I couldn't be patient with her." She says as she hid in the Kanker restroom. "I told her the truth, and pushed her away…"
Having promised her friends that she'd be there and that the tickets were nonrefundable, and rumor is that she was getting a lot of votes for prom queen, Nazz went to prom hoping to have some kind of fun with her friends.
She got compliments on her dress, turned down several requests to dance, and told Kevin to leave her alone the moment he showed his face.
Nazz sat in one of the chairs against the folded-up bleachers of the school gym watching her friends dance with their boyfriends, feeling envious of the couples. Leaning her head back, Nazz closes her eyes and lets out a defeated sigh, the dance was half over, if Marie was going to show up, she would have done so.
"Attention students." The music stops and the voice of the school principal comes through the speakers. "The votes have been counted and- SCOTT ANDERSON stop that this instant," he interrupted himself to yell at a student doing something inappropriate. "As I was saying, the votes have been counted and we have the results of our Prom King and Queen." A wave of excitement rolls over the students. "First off, Prom King." he opens an envelope. "And the winner by popular vote is Kevin Barr!" A round of claps and cheers erupts as Kevin makes his way up to the stage.
"Next, our class of two thousand and six Prom Queen is…" he pauses for the dermatic effect. "Nazz Van Bartonschmeer!" Another round of claps and cheers fills the gym as Nazz looks around at everyone looking at her surprised.
"Me?" She gets up from the chair. "Really?" She walks up to the stage as the students continue to cheer for her.
The principal places a plastic crown on her head before turning back to the rest of the students. "Your prom King and Queen." he gestures to Nazz and Kevin before moving out of the spotlight that turned on over the two teens.
"Did you do this?" Nazz asks through her teeth to Kevin as she smiles and starts to wave
Kevin leans closer to Nazz. "Na babe, people always want the quarterback and cheer captain as their royals."
Nazz hated that explanation, and she would have rebutted the statement, had her eyes not spotted a head of blue hair entering the gym.
Jumping off the stage, an impressive feet in heels, Nazz pushes her way through the crowd, ignoring everyone until she reaches the back of the gym, where Marie stood looking around.
"Hey," Marie says, smiling at Nazz.
Nazz is at a loss for words, she had left the other ticket at the door for Marie, hoping that maybe she might show up, but she didn't think she would, so she just takes in the sight of Marie as her brain works. She is dressed in a more Marie-style dress, black with red that is only visible in the right lighting with sleeves that were removed by hand, she has blue eyeshadow on causing her eyes to pop, and she wore rose red lipstick.
"Marie, I…" She pulls her into a hug, holding her tight. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to push you, I just got worked up too much and over-excited. I promise to never push you like that, just please tell me that yo-" She is cut off by Marie breaking the hug.
"We can talk later ok," Marie says before looking over her shoulder, the students all got bored of watching, what they assumed, is just a pair of friends patching up and going back to enjoying the night themselves. "But for now, can I dance with my girlfriend?"
Nazz wanted nothing more than to just kiss Marie then and there, but she restrains herself and just nods before leading Marie out onto the dance floor.
Marie and Nazz dance together, not keeping track of the passing of time, Marie isn't even caring about the looks other students were giving the two girls or the hushed comments that drifted their way, all that is important to Marie is the look of excitement and joy on Nazz's face.
But eventually, Marie's continuing failure to dance to any of the songs, something that Nazz and her kept laughing at, burned up all the energy, and feeling in her feet, so they found a way out onto the lunch quad where a few other students were relaxing and getting fresh air and find an empty bench off in a corner and sit.
"Marie, I'm sorry I upset you, I just-" Again Marie stopped Nazz mid-apology.
"Let me talk, ok?" It was a statement more than a question. "I don't know who my dad is, or Lee's, and I barely remember May's, but I do remember the stories Ma would tell us of the heartbreak all three of them put her through. I guess those stories made me very cautious with my own heart. So you telling me you loved me like that triggered all kinds of defenses inside me. I was worried I was in one of Ma's stories, I didn't get out of bed for a whole day, I was so worried." Marie starts to fiddle with her hands, finding the words she needed hard to form, but Nazz takes her hand, laces their fingers, and gives her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"I thought it would be safer for myself to end things, to break my own heart than to let it happen to me. But then May being May, kept bugging me, trying to find out what was wrong with me, and she eventually got me to talk. I told her everything, about how I felt and what I was worried about, and do you know what she said?" Nazz just shakes her head. "She said she thought we'd already told each other we loved each other. She told me that seeing how relaxed I've been, and how much more full of life I am with you in my life gave her that thought. And then I started thinking about that too. How happy I am with you, how every time I'm even just next to you I feel butterflies in my stomach, how much I want you in my life, and… how much I love you too."
Nazz's eyes start to water with tears of joy, and she wipes at them with the back of her hand. "Marie… I." She is at a loss for words, and Marie picks up on it.
Marie lets go of Nazz's hand and stands up from the bench. "Come here." She holds her hand out and Nazz takes it, getting pulled up from the bench and into Marie's arms.
Marie cups Nazz's face and kisses her, again not caring if she is seen by other students.
They break their kiss and Nazz says with a big smile on her face; "I love you, Darlin."
Marie giggles at the nickname Nazz has chosen for her. "I love you too, Prin-."
"Ha ha! Look at the dykes!" Someone yells at Marie and Nazz, cutting Marie off.
Marie lets go of Nazz, turns on her heel, and marches over to the student that just insulted Nazz and her. The student, now realizing that he just insulted Marie Kanker, starts to stumble backward in an attempt to get away from Marie, but they have no such luck.
Marie grabs the cowering boy by the collar of his shirt. "What the fuck did you just call my girlfriend?" She demands.
"I'm- I'm su-su-sorry." The boy is on the verge of tears from fear alone.
"No. Say it. I want to hear you say it again." Marie glares at the boy with eyes full of anger.
"I… I ca-ca-called you a-a d-d-dyke." Snot starts to run from the boy's nose as tears stream from his eyes.
Marie, content with the fear she instilled into the boy, drags him over to Nazz, who is waiting by the bench for Marie. Nazz knew it was best to let Marie act on her Kanker urges at certain times, and this was definitely one of them.
Marie drops the boy at Nazz's feet and moves to the side. "Tell her you're sorry."
"I-I'm sorry." the boy chokes out.
Nazz looks at Marie and then at the boy. "Sorry for what?" Nazz demands.
"For ca-calling you a d-d-dyke." The boy looks up at Nazz, hoping for leniency from her.
But Nazz isn't going to show any, Marie has rubbed off on her a little. "Now why would you say such a mean thing? You ruined our moment, you know."
"I'm sorry."
"I asked," Nazz lifted the boy's head by the chin. "Why did you call us that?" She demands.
"Cause… cause I saw you two kissing, an-an-and thought it wo-would be fun-funny." The boy gasps for air as he continues to cry.
Nazz lets go of the boy's face and moves as if she was going to stand.
*Smack*
Nazz slaps the boy across the face, sending him to the ground. "Don't you ever insult my girlfriend like that again." Nazz stands up for real this time. "And tell all your little friends that if they do, then it's me they will have to deal with." Nazz turns to Marie, who didn't think Nazz would go that brutal with the boy. "Do you want to go back inside and try dancing some more? I think I hear some slower musing playing."
"That," Marie says as they join hands and walk away. "Was hot." She gets a quick giggle out of Nazz. "I'm serious, that was the most badass thing I have ever seen you do, I think I'm more in love with you now because of what you just did."
Later that night, after more fumbling and failing at dancing, Nazz and Marie are sitting outside at the front of the school with Nazz's friends. It's late and the few that came with dates are off with them, leaving a handful of Nazz's friends. A few of Nazz's friends had hunches that something was going on between Nazz and Marie, but they didn't want to mention anything because they either feared Marie too much or respected Nazz enough to not intrude on her personal life.
Marie only knows a few of their names, so she isn't joining in the conversations unless asked, but she is perfectly happy just leaning against someone's car, holding Nazz's hand, as Nazz talks to her friends.
"It's getting late, do you all wanna get something to eat?" One of the girls asks, looking at the small watch on her wrist.
A yes in one form or another came from all the girls one at a time in a circle until it came to Nazz to answer.
Nazz looks at Marie. "What do you think, you hungry?" she asks her girlfriend.
Marie could eat, but it's one thing to be outside in the open with all these basically strangers, it's another to be inside a building with them. "Na." She shakes her head. "You can go, but I think I'll go home instead."
Instead of going with her friends, Nazz wanted to go home too. So Nazz and Marie get a ride from one of Nazz's friends, but unfortunately, there wasn't enough room in the car, so Nazz got to sit on Marie's lap, something Nazz is enjoying.
"Here we are." the girl driving says. "That'll be $10.50" She jokes, getting a few laughs from the crowded car.
Nazz opens the back passenger door and climbs out of the car with her heels in hand, she didn't want to hurt Marie with them, so she took them off before getting into the car. She turns around to offer Marie a hand to help her get out, but as Marie climbs out, they both lose their balance and stumble several feet. They both laugh at each other as they regain their footing.
"You two ok?" one of Nazz's friends asks from the car.
"Yeah." Marie says as Nazz still giggles, "We're good." She waves the car full of people off.
"See ya later," Nazz says to her friends as the car drives away.
As the car leaves the cul-de-sac, Nazz turns to Marie. "I hope you had fun tonight." She says as they instinctively walk to the front door of Nazz's house.
Marie stops Nazz and pulls her into her arms. "I had more fun than I ever thought I could." She gives Nazz a quick kiss. "Love you, Princess," she says before kissing her again.
Nazz rests her forehead against Marie's. "I love you too, Darlin."
They hold each other in their arms, just enjoying the warmth and comfort they both give off, but eventually, Nazz pulls back.
"So, my mom is not going to be home tonight," Nazz says. "And I was wondering, if you'd like to spend the night, with me." there is a hint of nervousness in her voice, and Marie catches the nervous tone in her voice.
Marie hasn't slept over at Nazz's since they did their history project, but things are different now, she has no worries about spending the night. "I don't see why not, I'd just have to call my place and let them know."
The next morning light coming through the hastily closed curtains wakes Marie. She is laying in Nazz's bed, her arms around Nazz, with the bed sheets wrapped around them, binding them together. Marie blinks her eyes as her pupils adjust to the light, but as soon as the light no longer hurts, she nuzzles her face back into Nazz's back, the memories of the night before coming back to her. Once inside Nazz's house, the two teens continued their kissing, which escalated in intensity, leading them to end up in Nazz's room, and eventually on Nazz's bed.
Her first time being intimate with Nazz was nothing like she thought it would be, yet she wouldn't change anything that had happened and will probably have less willpower to stop her girlfriend when she gets frisky in the future.
She kisses Nazz on her back. "I love you," she whispers to her girlfriend. "Thank you for being in my life." She adds before letting herself drift away into a light sleep.
Hours later Nazz is the one to wake, not because of the sunlight coming into the room, but because she has a circadian rhythm that wakes her up at 7 am. But Nazz isn't moving, even though she wants to, having Marie's arms holding her close has locked her in place.
"Mmmmm." Nazz snuggles into her girlfriend's warm arms, wanting to just stay in bed with her.
But Marie was barely asleep, so Nazz's little movement and noise woke her. "You awake?" She asks.
"Mmmm, no," Nazz responds.
Marie kisses Nazz's bare shoulder. "Well, I need to pee, and you've got my arm pinned."
Nazz grabs the pinned arm with both of hers. "But I'm so comfy, I don't want you to go."
"And I don't want to pee your bed, so," Marie uses her other arm to roll Nazz over. "Let go please."
"Mheee." Nazz fake wines as she rolls face down.
With her arm free, Marie scoots over to the side of the bed, the sheets staying with Nazz as she does, and is hit with chills from the cold morning air.
Marie quickly runs over to Nazz's dresser, regretting not putting on more than just underwear the night before, and pulls on one of her pajama shirts. "Fuck it's cold this morning." She says rubbing her arms for warmth.
Nazz rolls over, cocooning herself in the sheets. "Should have stayed in bed, it's nice and warm here." She teases Marie. She gives Nazz a playful glare before walking out of the room.
With Marie out of bed, Nazz decides it's time for her to get up as well. It takes her a moment to free herself from the bedsheets, but she eventually untangles herself and she too is hit by the morning cold. She dawns one of her pajama shirts and ventures out of her room.
Once she is done in the restroom, Marie returns to Nazz's room only to find that Nazz has left. "Hey, Nazz," Marie yells into the house. "Where'd you go?"
"I'm in the kitchen," Nazz responds.
Marie finds Nazz leaning against the counter, drinking a glass of orange juice. "Hey, want a glass?" Nazz asks, offering Marie a different glass than the one she's drinking from.
"Thanks," Marie takes the glass and leans against the counter next to her. She kisses Nazz on the cheek before taking a drink from the glass of orange juice.
"No problem." Nazz takes a drink before letting out a sigh and leaning her head against Marie's shoulder. She likes the feeling of waking up next to Marie, and she would very much like for it to be a recurring event.
"Hey, can I ask you a kind of silly question?" Marie asks as she looks into her glass.
Nazz looks up to Marie. "Always." She says.
"When did you know? That you loved me?" Marie feels her cheeks grow red, there are still some hurdles to clear to get used to talking about feelings.
"When I got the care package from my mom when I was at camp last summer." Nazz closes her eyes. "When I found the switchblade and the letter you hid under the cookies. Your letter about the knife was for my safety in case anyone; "tried to mess with my Princess"." Nazz finger quotes the line Marie wrote in the letter. "Reading that letter showed me how much you care about me, and made me realize how much you mean to me."
Marie feels her heart swell. "Nazz, that is-" She is cut off from telling Nazz how much she means to her by the phone on the wall rigging.
*ring ring ring*
"Hold that thought." Nazz leaves her juice on the counter and walks to the phone
*Ring ring ring*
The phone rings again just as Nazz takes it off the wall. "Van Bartonschmeer house." She says into the receiver. "Oh, hey, yeah she's here, hold on." She holds the phone out to Marie. "It's Lee, and she sounds kind of mad."
Marie walks over and takes the phone from Nazz. "Hello?"
"Marie!" Lee yells at her through the phone. "Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to come home last night. Mom needs all of us to go into work, the diner is packed."
"Shit, I completely forgot to call, sorry." Marie had meant to call the night before, but completely forgot the moment Nazz and her got into the house.
"Whatever, just get your ass into work asap." Lee hangs up the phone on her end.
"Fuck," Marie turns to Nazz. "I gotta go to work, I guess the diner is busy."
Nazz frowns. "Do you have to? I was hoping we'd spend the day together."
"I do, my Ma would kill me if I don't." Marie runs her hand through her hair in frustration. "I'm gonna have ta go home first, I need to get some normal clothes to wear."
Nazz's face lights up. "No, you don't, I have some stuff you can wear."
Naaz's shirts were still tight on Marie but were still wearable, but all the blue jeans Nazz owns are a size too small for Marie. So Marie had to use a belt to keep the jeans on, she couldn't button them, and felt a wedgie coming on with every step.
"I am never wearing your pants again," Marie says as Nazz and her walk down the side of the road hand in hand.
"You say that, but…" Nazz takes a quick look behind Marie. "I rather enjoy what they are doing for you."
Marie pushes Nazz with her shoulder. "You are such a perv, how did I ever fall for you?" She asks playfully.
"My playful wit, willingness to accept you for you." Nazz smiles. "And my killer ass." She lets out a quick giggle.
"Oh my god," Marie blushes. "You are the worst."
"I'll drop your stuff off at your place later," Nazz says as Marie and her kiss goodbye outside of the diner. "Have a good day at work, Darlin."
Marie blushes, she still feels a little shy kissing in public. "I'll try." Marie smiles at Nazz.
Once she was inside the diner, Marie was hit with an apron that was thrown at her. "What the heck?" She asks as she looks around for the person that threw the apron at her.
"I don't want to hear anything," Ms. Kanker says from behind the counter. "Get that on and get to table 15."
Grumbling, Marie ties the apron around her waist as she walks through the diner. The diner is really busy, every table is filled, and most of them are teens in fancy dress.
'Are these all people from prom last night? Is everyone from the prom here?' Marie wonders as she pulls a pen and a server's notepad from the apron pocket.
"Hello, are you ready to order- Oh! Hey Double D." Marie is shocked to see her ex-boyfriend, his current girlfriend, and his two best friends.
"Hello, Marie," Edd says with a kind smile on his face. "Yes, I believe we are."
This is the first time either of them has interacted with each other since Marie broke it off with Edd, and it is as awkward as she thought it was going to be.
"Right." Marie clears her throat. "What can I get you?" She asks, finally remembering what she is supposed to say.
She takes the table's order, and as she's hanging the slip in the line she says; "Tony, please let me wash instead of serve." She begs the older man running the grill.
"No way Marie," the man named Tony says. "My nephew is way too out of it to be out on the floor." He points with his spatula to the guy at the sink. Tony's nephew is in his 20s, looks like he's not showered in weeks, and his eyes are red.
"Fucking shit dicks." Marie hangs her head in defeat, she didn't want to have to talk to any of the people that might have seen her at prom the night before, and she didn't want to have to talk to Edd.
"What is a heart you crushed out there?" Tony asks, half joking.
"Yeah, kind of." Marie turns around and rolls her shoulders, accepting her fate.
Marie did her best to avoid Edd's table, but Eddy and Ed drank more soda than anyone else in the diner, so she had to keep coming by to refill their glasses, but at least they were not harassing her in any way. 'Double D probably told them to behave.' She figures as she walks by with a pater full of food for another table.
"Excuse me, Marie," Edd says after Marie finishes at the other table. "Could we get the check, please?"
Marie turns and instinctively says; "Yes, one moment." not realizing at first that she was talking to Edd.
She heads over to the register and adds up the cost of the table's meals on the old adding machine. She transfers the information to her server's notepad and then tears out the page. Just as she was about to walk over to the table, she sees that Edd is walking to the register.
"So, how have you been, Marie?" Edd asks as he reaches the register.
Marie holds the check out to him. "I've been good, you?" She asks, trying to continue the small talk.
Edd takes the check. "I've been good too. I got into my first choice school." He says proudly before pulling out his wallet.
"Oh, cool, congratulations," Marie remembers him telling her about the long list of schools he wanted to go to when they were together, and his dream school was a hard one to get into.
"Thank you." He says smiling. "Did you apply to any schools yourself?" He asks as he takes a few bills out of his wallet.
Marie shakes her head. "Na, not my kind of thing." She didn't want to tell him about her mechanic idea, it was too personal to share with him.
"That's fine." He holds the money out to her. "What about Nazz? Did she get into any school?"
Marie didn't think he would bring un Nazz, 'Shit, did he see us last night?' She wonders. "Not that I've heard." She taps a few keys on the register.
"I see." Edd looks away from Marie, to see if anyone is watching them. "Well, I'm sure she will," He looks back to Marie, satisfied that no one is watching them. "I'm happy for you Marie, you deserve to be happy." He says talking quieter while taking his change.
"What?" Marie asks, confused and worrying about where this conversation is going.
Edd lowers his voice more. "Last night, at prom, I saw you and Nazz together." He clarifies.
"Oh." Marie worries more. "What did you see?"
Edd puts his wallet away. "I saw two people that are clearly happy together. And that's all that matters." he moves to walk away from Marie but stops to add one more thing. "Eddy is going to have a graduation party, you and your sisters should come."
Marie is a little stunned at how accepting Edd was of Nazz and her, "Uh, sure, I'll tell them."
"See you around Marie," Edd says before turning to return to his friends.
"Yeah, see ya." She says as she watches him walk away. 'It wasn't so bad.' She thinks as she returns to the floor. 'If I can handle him knowing, then I think I can handle anyone knowing I'm dating Nazz.'
"And it's not like I haven't cold-clocked a jerk before." She says under her breath as a longing to see Nazz hits her as she walks.
AN: Chapter three is almost done, still need to edit it, but it's going to be shorter than the other chapters of this story.