I stood outside Nicole's house, bundled up in several layers. Snow was falling around me and I was shivering. I stared at her door, nervous about what would happen when I got inside. When I saw Nicole.

I took a deep breath and stepped up to the door. I swallowed nervously and then knocked.

"One second!" Nicole's voice came through the door.

I cleared my throat awkwardly and waited. After 30 seconds, Nicole opened the door. She looked at me and crossed her arms.

"Hey, uh. Can- can I come in?" I asked her.

Nicole stared for a second before looking away and nodding. "Yeah," she answered.

I gave a nod and she stepped aside to let me in. I walked through the door and moved out of her way as she closed it behind us. She looked at me before nodding towards the hall.

"Come on," she told me, leading the way to her bedroom.

I nodded and followed her, taking a deep breath. She opened her bedroom door and I walked in. Nicole followed and then closed the door.

"What do you want?" Nicole asked.

I looked at her. "Well, I- I just-"

"Just what?"

"Just wanted to tell you something..."

"Okay. So then say it."

Nicole seemed impatient. Like she didn't wanna deal with me any longer. I stared at her for a bit before deciding to take a leap of faith and practically threw myself at her, kissing her right on her lips. Nicole was clearly taken aback by my very unexpected action, stumbling backwards into the door of her bedroom. She kissed me back, making a quiet moaning sound.

She pulled away. "Wha- Waverly-" she spoke, not entirely sure what to say I'm assuming.

I looked at her. "Do you not want me?" I asked.

"No, no, I do! It's just- what about Champ?"

"I dumped him."

"You did?"

No. "Yes."

"Okay. Are- are you sure you wanna do this?"

I nodded. "I'm sure. I like you. A lot."

Nicole smiled. "Oh, I like you too."

She leaned in and kissed me, wrapping her arms around my waist. I wrapped my arms around her neck, holding her tightly as we kissed.

"Waverly! Goddammit, Waverly! Wake up!"

I felt a pillow hit me in the face. I groaned, reluctantly opening my eyes. I was in my room, Wynonna standing over me, holding one of my pillows. I squinted at her.

"What?!" I demanded, angry not because she'd interrupted my sleep, but because she'd interrupted my dream. A dream I so desperately wanted to be real.

"Time to get up. Come on. This is your first day back after getting suspended, alright, and you can't be late, Waves. Seriously," Wynonna told me.

I sighed. "Fine," I grumbled, getting up and out of bed.

Wynonna left the room so I could get ready. I can't lie, I was pretty scared to go back. What if I got kicked off the cheer squad? Or what if I see Nicole and she's still mad at me? What if I see Tiffany and she's still trying to jump Nicole's bones? Ugh. If I saw Tiffany throw herself at Nicole again, I'd probably get expelled. I got dressed, putting on makeup and brushing my hair. I pulled my boots on and grabbed my bag before heading downstairs.

"Wynonna, have you seen my-" Willa stopped talking and looked at me.

"What?" I asked, feeling nervous.

"You're going to school in that?" She asked me.

I looked down at my dress. "Yeah... Why?"

"It's snowing."

"Oh. Right. I guess I'll go change into something warmer, then."

I turned around to go back upstairs.

"Waverly, wait," Willa said, softly.

I turned back around and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"I-... I'm sorry. For- ya know- being so mean to you."

She was actually apologizing... How am I supposed to forgive her for this, though?

Willa continued. "Now that you know that you're not Daddy's, I think I should probably say that I've never felt like you were my sister. But Nonna loves you, so I should also apologize for everything."

"Wow... So you're only apologizing because of Wynonna. Of course." I let out a humorless chuckle as tears welled up in my eyes. "To think I actually thought you felt bad for all the horrible shit you've said and done to me."

I turned around and stormed back upstairs, running into my room. I fought back the tears.

No. No! I will not cry over this. I have cried over Daddy and Willa too many times. I won't cry again.

I sniffled and took control of myself, clearing my throat. I wiped away the couple of tears that managed to escape before checking my makeup to make sure it wasn't running. I put on a few extra layers of clothes and grabbed a scarf before leaving my room again.

"You know what, Willa? I'm done. You're being completely unfair to Waverly and it needs to stop!" I heard Wynonna snap.

"Why? She's not an Earp, Nonna. She doesn't belong here!" Willa shot back.

"Yes, she does! I don't know if you remember, but Mama gave birth to her! She's still our sister, regardless of if she's Daddy's or not!"

"Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that, Nonna. She doesn't belong here."

"Then I'll take her, and we'll get an apartment together. Move out of here. Then you won't have to worry about it."

"Fine then, go."

"Fine, I will."

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Wynonna shouted last.

I swallowed hard, standing at the top of the stairs, not sure what to do. Wynonna stormed over and froze when she saw me.

She cleared her throat. "Um. Come on, baby girl. You gotta go to school," she told me.

I didn't speak, I just nodded and followed her out of the house, completely silent. We headed to her truck and got in. As soon as both of our doors were shut, Wynonna sighed.

"I'm so sorry, Wave. I had no idea that Willa felt that way..." she told me.

I shrugged. "I did," I told her.

"Well, you know what? You and I are gonna go get a place of our own. Okay? And- and we- we won't have to deal with them. Ever again. I promise," Wynonna said. And she clearly meant it.

"But how, Wyn? We don't have any money."

"I-I know... Maybe you should just go stay with Gus and Uncle Curtis... at least until I get everything figured out, ya know?"

"Wynonna-"

"I got it, Waverly. I'm gonna take care of you. I swear on Wyatt Earp's grave." Wynonna said before starting the truck and heading towards the school.

We didn't talk about it the rest of the way there, but it was definitely on my mind. Tears welled up in my eyes as I walked down the hall, toward my locker. Champ rushed over to me as soon as I passed him, not noticing my clearly depressed state.

"Hey. Hey! Waverly!" He called.

I ignored him. I put my combination in and opened my locker, only to have him push it closed. He grabbed my arm and turned me around.

"Champ, please stop. Okay? I'm not in the mood," I spoke quietly, pushing him away from me.

"What's wrong?" Champ asked, noticing the tears that were now falling down my cheeks.

"Nothing. Family stuff. Just- I need to be left alone today. I'll talk to you after school." I muttered, wiping the tears away and turning back around to open my locker again.

Champ sighed.

"This isn't about that dyke friend of yours, is it?" He snapped suddenly.

I turned around and looked at him. "Why do you have to call her that?" I shot back.

"That's what she is."

"No. She's a lesbian, and she's my friend. You don't get to talk about her like that."

"Whatever."

"I'll talk to you later, Champ. I can't even look at you right now!" I practically yelled before shoving him away.

I grabbed my books and slammed my locker door before rushing toward my first class. I ran straight into someone, knocking both of us over, and causing me to drop all of my books. I yelped in pain, and so did the other girl. I opened my eyes to see Nicole under me.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" I exclaimed, getting off of her and helping her up.

"Ow. It's fine. Kinda funny how you keep running into me like that though," Nicole chuckled.

I chuckled. "Yeah, that is pretty funny, huh?" I responded, blushing a bit.

Nicole looked down. "Oh, let me help you-" she said, kneeling down to pick up my books. She stood up straight and looked at me again. "You've been crying..." she said softly, concern written all over her face.

I flashed a small smile. "Um. Yeah..."

"Are you okay?"

I looked down, tears filling my eyes again as they threatened to spill over. "U-um. Not- not really..." I glanced up at her, and immediately the tears started pouring out.

Nicole frowned. She put an arm around me and started walking, leading me somewhere else.

"Come on, Waves. It's okay," she told me as we walked.

She took me to the secret place where we ditched class and we sat together, though she mostly held me as I cried. Nicole didn't even ask me what was wrong. She just let me cry until I had cried so much that my head was pounding and I'd literally run out of tears.

I sniffled, wiping the tears from my face. "I'm sorry," I told her.

"It's okay." Nicole told me, rubbing my back in a soothing manner.

I shook my head. "Not for the crying."

"For what, then?"

"For when I was staying with you and your grandma."

"Oh, Waverly. I didn't mean that."

"But you were right. So I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Waves. Do you wanna talk about what's going on with you?" Nicole asked me.

I thought for a minute. Did I want to talk about it? Of course I did... but I didn't wanna unload all of my baggage onto Nicole like this.

"I'm sure you don't wanna hear about my crappy life..." I muttered, looking down.

"Hey... if you need to talk, then I'll listen. Always," Nicole promised.

I looked up at her. "Really?" I asked.

Nicole nodded. "Of course," she replied.

I sighed. There was a lot going on. Too much, in fact. Now would be a good time for me to pic and choose what I want her to know.

"There's just- there's a lot going on right now... A lot of... family issues... Personal... issues," I said timidly.

"It's okay. You don't have to tell me anything you don't wanna tell me," Nicole assured.

I nodded. "Well... My dad is a drunk, and my oldest sister hates me. I never knew why, until the day I came to stay with you... Um. Turns out I'm not exactly an Earp," I muttered.

"You're... not an Earp? What do you mean?"

"I... I guess my "dad" isn't really my dad... My mom must've slept with someone else when she got pregnant with me... Anyways, Daddy doesn't want me around, and neither does Willa, so Wynonna was gonna take me and get our own place, but we don't have any money... So she's gonna call our Aunt Gus and Uncle Curtis and see if they'd let me stay with them..."

Nicole frowned. "I'm sorry... That must be difficult to deal with..."

I nodded slowly, thinking of what to say next. I can't tell her about my feelings... Well, I could, but I don't think it's a good idea...

"Yeah... And on top of all that, I'm dealing with some kind of identity crisis, or something... I don't know how I feel anymore... I just know that I think I'm gonna break up with Champ," I told her.

Her expression softened. "You are?"

"Yeah... I mean, I don't feel anything for him... And over the past week, I've been noticing that I never really did have feelings for him."

"How come you didn't notice before?"

I shrugged. "I don't know... But I mean, it was pretty obvious... Or should've been, at least. The sex was terrible!"

Nicole made a face. "Oh, God. I did not need to know that," she said, laughing.

I laughed. "Sorry," I told her.

She shook her head, smiling at me. She looked away for a minute, seemingly deep in thought. She turned back to me.

"What made you notice that you don't have feelings for him?" She asked me.

I was caught a bit off guard, but I knew she was going to ask. I would've asked.

"Uh- well, um- I- I kind of... have feelings for someone else," I said simply. "And I've never had feelings for someone like this before."

I mentally scolded myself for my choice of words, because it made it really obvious that I meant her. Or, it was obvious in my opinion, at least. Nicole made no indication that she had any idea who I meant.

"Oh," she said.

"Yeah," I replied awkwardly. "We should probably go to class now..."

"Yeah, you're right," Nicole agreed.

We stood up and I took a deep breath before hugging her. She chuckled softly and hugged me back.

"Thanks for talking to me, Nicole."

"Sure, Waverly." She pulled away and shrugged. "What are friends for?"

She turned and walked away. I stood there for a few more seconds.

"Did I just get friendzoned?" I muttered to myself.

I shook my head before heading in the same direction Nicole had gone, my books in hand. There rest of the day was pretty boring, except for the times I saw Nicole. We didn't speak, or anything. I just saw her. We would share a smile and she would turn around and I glance at her every now and then. Sometimes I would even catch her looking at me. I started to feel even more confused than I was feeling before, but I brushed it off an paid attention in class. I need to pass if I want to graduate and study ancient cultures and languages.

Focus, Waverly.

The final bell rang and I grabbed my books, taking them back to my locker before heading outside to wait for Wynonna. Champ walked over, spinning his car keys around his index finger.

"Need a ride?" He asked me.

I sighed. Might as well. "Yeah, sure. Thanks," I answered.

"No problem."

It's gonna be a problem after I break up with you...

We walked to his truck and I got into the passenger seat, Champ getting into the driver's seat. We didn't speak to each other on the ride to the Homestead, but when he pulled up and parked, I decided to speak.

"Can you come in for a bit? I need to talk to you about something," I told him.

Champ nodded and turned the engine off. We got out of the truck and headed to the house. I unlocked the front door and led Champ inside. He closed the door behind us and stepped closer to me, attempting to grab my ass. I put a hand on his chest and pushed him back.

"Whoa! What are you doing?" I exclaimed.

"I thought you wanted to-" He started.

"No! I wanted to talk, Champ." I said firmly.

"Oh. You meant talk talk?"

"Yes!"

"Sorry... What did you wanna talk about, babe?" He asked me, clearly oblivious.

I took a deep breath, gathering up the courage to say what I wanted to say.

I looked Champ right in the eye and spoke very seriously.

"Champ... I wanna break up."