A/N – Penultimate chapter. One more to go. Not my favorite chapter, but time is running out. Must go finish that last chapter now…

Chapter 13

"Thank you for finally joining us, Ms. Nunez."

Alex glared at Simpson. Even if he didn't sound so patronizing or look so smug, she still would have offered him the same cold stare.

Seeing Paige seated between Marco and Hazel only pushed her mood further down. Could this day really get any worse? Paige caught her eye, giving Alex her most apologetic look, but she would have none of it and took the seat furthest away from her.

There was an email already waiting for her when she logged onto her computer.

Are you OK? Called you last night but no answer. Thought you were skipping today.

Alex sighed, finding it much harder to be mad at Paige than she thought. Bad evening, bad night, bad morning

Want to talk about it?

No

Are you mad at me?

No

I'll save you a seat in physics, OK?

OK

Alex's shoulders relaxed a little and the tiniest bit of a smile crept up on her bad mood. Thanks, she added, before turning her attention to Archie's fascinating lecture.

After class, feeling somewhat eased of her burdens, she joined Paige who was busy chatting with Hazel about the end of the year clearance sale at their favorite store. Her heart surged a little at the realization that Paige's eyes had followed her the whole way over.

"Hey," greeted Paige, loosely taking Alex's hand. Hazel stiffened up, but pretended to ignore her.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Hazel said. "I brought that magazine I was telling you about, the one with the hottest guys from 2005." She pulled it out of her bag and opened it up to the article. "Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Brad Pitt, and that new guy, Patrick Dempsey. All very hot. Who would you choose?"

Paige knew what Hazel was doing. She knew she was on a slippery slope. She squeezed Alex's hand. "Hello? Johnny Depp. Pirates of the Caribbean."

"You always did have a thing for him. What about you, Alex?" asked Hazel, her voice full of ice. It was not a question. It was an attack.

Alex wanted to fight back. But when she tried to think of an answer, she found herself at a loss. The first three choices had never done anything for her, and she had never heard of the last guy. Suddenly, she didn't care about fighting with Hazel. She just wanted out of that room. She fled in full panic mode, ignoring Paige's calls for her to wait.

She spent second period in the basement, brooding. Sure, she could have gone to class, or she could have tried to convince Paige to spend the time with her, but she needed to be alone. Thousands of thoughts were assailing her. Jay's words of warning were eating away at her, making little things, such as Paige's not having time for her yesterday, seem so much more than they really were.

The magazine only stirred up more trouble. She couldn't be a lesbian. She just couldn't. She had liked Jay. She was sure of it. But Paige had had an answer while she'd choked and fled. It was too much to think about, so she tried to remember the happier moments of her weekend, but looking back only brought fresh pain. How many times had Paige pulled away or cried or just generally been ill at ease about everything?

That girl did a number on her head. Falling for her in the first place had been traumatic enough. Everything she'd thought about herself had been turned on its head. But she'd kept her shit together for the most part. No one really seemed aware that she was going to pieces over Paige. But then it just sped up, out of control, the week before, until she couldn't keep her hands off of her…or her lips.

What if she had pushed her into this? Paige hadn't said anything yet about having had feelings for her before the movie premier. What if Paige was just curious, or worse, truly pitying her?

Maybe Paige would leave her, she thought. But she could never leave Paige. She didn't even want to think about it. Everything felt perfect when they were together, as if Paige were filling a void she never knew existed.

Maybe she really was gay after all. That thought was too much for her. She was still trying to wrap her brain around the fact that the girl she liked had actually accepted her advances, regardless of why. Did she really need to worry that she'd been wrong about her sexuality all this time?

God, why was life so fucking complicated? She needed something to hit. Luckily for all the inanimate objects down in the basement, Alex heard the faint sound of the bell and decided to head off to physics. Seeing Paige would surely make things better.

As she emerged, she ran smack into Nick Leary, a sophomore, a rising star on the basketball team, and an all-around asshole.

"Coming out of the closet?" he asked, cracking up madly with his friends.

Normally Alex would have responded with a simple "get lost" or a cold shoulder. But not today. She grabbed him by his shirt, and slammed him into the opposite wall. "Want to repeat that, dickwad?"

"Taking the butch lesbian thing to a new level by trying to beat up a guy?"

Alex dropped hold of his shirt and slammed the palm of her hand up into his chin, causing his head to crack against the wall. "Oh, there's no trying here. Just me kicking your ass until you beg me to stop."

Nick pushed her back by the shoulders, his basketball buddies forming a circle around them. Alex charged at him, but he blocked her punch, pushing her back again.

"You may be a dyke, but you hit like a girl."

"Wow, Nick. That was clever. You're about as stupid as you look, you know."

"Whatever. I don't need this. Especially from a queer." He started to walk away, but Alex wasn't through with him. She threw a sucker punch at his kidneys, making him cry out in pain. "You bitch!" he said, gripping his side.

"Finally a name I can live with," she said, her hands jumping, ready to fight. Nick got the message, standing up to his full height.

"I think the dyke really wants to fi-- "

Before he could finish, Alex had driven a quick punch into the side of his face. He grabbed her by the shoulders again, throwing her to the ground. Her head fell back with a thud, but she scrambled up again quickly, managing to get in another punch, this time with all her weight behind it, into his gut. He swung at her, but the two were pulled apart by a set of teachers. The bell rang again.

"I need to get to class," she said, still being held back, not fully understanding just what had happened.

"No, you need to visit the principal's office."

Her heart sank. Not only would she be missing Paige again but she was now at risk of detention, or worse, suspension. She was such a loser. Such a fuck-up. Paige wasn't going to like this.