Time kept moving, and they only got further into spring. Terezi wasn't sure if hanging out with Gamzee was making her feel better or not. His affection certainly wasn't gentle, and Terezi was still self-conscious about this enough to continue keeping it a secret. But if nothing else, she and Vriska were on speaking terms again. It wasn't going unnoticed, either.
"Soooooooo, you're awfully busy after school these days," Vriska said one day as they walked through the halls. Terezi looked down at her feet. In truth, she'd been hanging out with Gamzee. And they always met at the weirdest places—empty classrooms, under the bleachers at the football stadium, and the oddest occasion of all, the time Gamzee told her to meet him in the parking lot behind the grocery store, the one that led into the pipes near the Arroyo. Terezi knew perfectly well why. They'd made something of an agreement to keep whatever this arrangement was on the downlow, lest word get out. She knew that Gamzee knew that if Karkat knew, the shit would absolutely hit the fan. But even so, Terezi couldn't help but feel that Gamzee was… ashamed to be seen with her? But bringing it up would only mean trouble. So when Vriska asked, Terezi didn't say anything. What was there to say, anyway?
"Yeah, been kinda busy, I guess," she murmured.
"What, hanging out with Karkat?"
"No."
Vriska stopped prying, then, and Terezi was grateful. She didn't even know what to make of things; how could she begin to explain it? As Vriska and Terezi walked to class, they passed by Gamzee, who was headed the other way, and he shot a sort of lopsided grin at Terezi. "Hey, hang on, Vris, I'll catch up with you."
"Uh, okay," Vriska muttered before continuing on her way down the hall. Terezi ran over to Gamzee, who had paused at his locker.

"Hey Gam, did you want to hang out tonight? There's this podcast I think you might-"

"Not today, Ter. Got some motherfuckin' business to take care of." For some reason, his rejection stung. For weeks, before Terezi and Vriska reconciled, Gamzee had been her only source of any positive attention, and even after the Scourge Sister reunion, Vriska was still self-absorbed, attention focused on her own problems, and Terezi… maybe she was relying too much on Gamzee wanting her around, but she really couldn't help it, so hearing that even Gamzee was tiring of her was like a dagger to the stomach.

"Ok, well… I can ask my mom if you can come over for dinner this week," Terezi suggested. Even though she couldn't see the shift of Gamzee's expression, there was definitely a change in the atmosphere.

"I thought you understood we were keeping this quiet."

"Yeah, but…" Terezi paused, not sure what else to say, and then a question popped into her mind. "...am I your girlfriend?"

"What?"

"Am I… your girlfriend?" Terezi repeated, finding her voice was stronger that time.

"Let's not label anything," Gamzee murmured. The hallways were beginning to clear, everyone getting to their classes. Gamzee's voice was a lone, dry sound in an echoing hall. He closed his locker and started to walk away, Terezi still trailing behind him.

"I know… I know you don't want labels, but… I need to know what's going on between us; I need to know that I'm not just some joke to you." There was a silent, tense moment, then Gamzee let out a sort of low chuckle.

"Nah, not a joke. You're just lucky I even let you stick around." And before Terezi could even say anything else, the tardy bell rung and Gamzee disappeared down the hall, leaving her with a lump of embarrassment in her throat. She was only able to move again when a teacher came up from behind and scolded her for being late to class.

Terezi went through the rest of the day in a bit of a haze, feeling a deafening numbness worse than any hollowness she'd yet experienced. And yet, when Latula, or her mother, tried to ask what was wrong, Terezi would push them away. She would insist that she was fine. She'd always been the one to take care of herself, anyway, and her mom was beginning to get sucked back into work again. She didn't want to burden them with her emotional problems. She'd be fine. She didn't even pause to think about what Gamzee meant when he said he had business to take care of. She was trying not to think of Gamzee at all, but of course he messaged her, and of course Nora automatically read it out loud, so Terezi couldn't ignore it.

terminallyCapricious [TC] began pestering gallowsCalibrator [GC]

TC: hey ter
TC: some shit's going down
TC: and i might not be around for a bit
GC: What?
GC: What do you mean?
TC: i mean i motherfuckin up and fucked the shit up
TC: i can't say more than that
TC: don't come lookin for me
GC: :?
GC: Gamzee what's going on?
TC: just
TC: i gotta go

GC: Wait!

terminallyCapricious [TC] ceased pestering gallowsCalibrator [GC]

Terezi ran a hand through her hair, not rally understanding what had just happened. She certainly didn't know how to react. Everything was a mess. "Hi, I'm Terezi Pyrope, and my life is a walking disaster," she muttered bitterly to herself.
"You have one unread Pesterchum notification," Nora announced, since Terezi was in the app. Terezi furrowed her brow. The only reason Nora wouldn't have read it off already was if it was a group chat.

"Nora, who's that Pesterchum notification from?"
"Notification from: Group chat. Initiated by twinArmageddons."
Terezi hummed. She always hated sitting there for 20 minutes while Nora tried to read off all the messages. 9 times out of 10, memos were just Karkat bitching about something anyway, but this thought was proven wrong about an hour later when Dave messaged her, too.

turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering gallowsCalibrator [GC]

TG: hey so sols putting together a surprise party for aradias birthday
GC: Oh, is that what the memo was about?
TG: yup
TG: i wasnt sure if you saw it
TG: or heard it or whatever
GC: No, my phone AI won't read memos unless I ask her to.

GC: I have a hard time keeping track of who said what in those big group chats.
TG: makes sense
TG: well that was pretty much the gist of it
GC: Hm, okay.
GC: Thanks for letting me know.
TG: no problem
TG: is everything okay
GC: I'm just

Terezi paused. She wanted to tell Dave the truth, about everything, but she also knew it would just open up too many questions about Gamzee.

GC: There's just some shit going on.
GC: I'll be fine.
TG: yeah okay
GC: So when's the party?
TG: friday after school
TG: prospit park
GC: Okay, nice.

Terezi did manage to find some relief in talking to Dave, if only because it distracted her for a bit. Gamzee was indeed missing from school the next day, and for the rest of the week, and Terezi honestly didn't know what to make of it. She and Dave were both taking solace in the other's romantic shortcomings—or at least, it seemed that way. Terezi still hadn't told anyone about her and Gamzee, partially for worry of how he'd react if she started telling people. When Terezi was truly honest with herself, she was a little scared of Gamzee. He seemed to have grown a propensity for violence, and it was a little alarming, so the fact that he was gone was both a relief and somewhat distressing. It was clear he'd gotten into some kind of trouble, but to what extent, Terezi couldn't be sure. She didn't see him at school at all for the rest of the week, not until Aradia's birthday party that Friday, but both of them were keeping a distance. Terezi knew he didn't want things to be public, and she still hated that it seemed like he was keeping her away from him, but she didn't know what to truly do about it. Instead, Terezi was hanging out off to the side with Dave and Jade. Everyone was really sort of doing their own thing, apart from when Aradia arrived and they all yelled "SURPRISE!" They were all eating food and making conversation, but not all together. They were all off in groups of two or three, which suited Terezi just fine, to be honest. Even in the conversation with Dave and Jade, Terezi found herself acting as more of a bystander than an actual active participant. She was still sort of trapped in her own head thinking about everything that had been happening that year; with Karkat and Dave and Vriska and Gamzee, and her mom, so she just listened as Dave and Jade chatted.

"Hey, did I ever tell you that John thought I had a thing for you before we came out to him?"

"Did he really?" Jade laughed. "Whoa, can you imagine if you and I dated and Jake and Dirk dated?"

"I try not to think about it. Dirk would always want to go on doubles."

"Soooo, if you don't mind me asking, what do you think you identify as?"

Dave sighed. "I told Rose I'm pan and… that feels about right."

Jade just hummed in affirmation, while Terezi was absentmindedly poking her cane into the grass. From the gazebo, she could hear Vriska yell, "Hey fuckers, who wants to bet I can chug this whole bottle right now?!" Terezi smiled to herself a bit. Same old Vriska. It was kind of funny, even if nobody took her up on it. After another moment, that same voice was coming towards her. "Ter, Ter, guess what." Terezi looked up, furrowing her brow at Vriska.

"What, did you actually drink the whole 2-liter that fast?"

"What? No. John kissed me."

Terezi opened her mouth to say something, but just then, she heard another shout, this time from Karkat.

"HOLY SHIT! I'll be there as soon as I can." Terezi could only assume he was on the phone.

"Karkat, you FUCKER!" That was Sollux. "Can you not lose your shit for one day?!"

"Well excuse me, shithead. My dad just got shot."