"How long, Tif? How long have you been...feeling this way?" she asked me, taking a bite of her pizza.

"Ok, don't think I'm some kind of creepy stalker person but...a few months at least. I just...I thought if I told you...you'd hate me forever."

"Tif...I could never hate you.." she placed her hand on mine and smiled at me. I could feel my face burning red. I was a little..embarrassed. And extremely shocked as well as relieved that she felt the same way. I sure as hell wasn't gonna be able to sleep tonight.

"Hey, after this,do you think your mom would let me stay at your house for a little while until my mom gets home?" I asked her.

"I'm sure she won't mind. I know I don't." I was still shaking from earlier. I couldn't believe she actually felt the same way. After all the times I thought I knew for sure that she'd hate me if I told her, that turned out to be wrong. And man was I happy for that.

"What about you?"

"Me what?"

"How long have you had feelings for me?" I asked her.

She blushed. "Almost...a year,Tif."

My eyes opened wide. "What? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Because I thought you'd hate me,too."

"Well...now we know what we really feel."

We both got up, and went to the car, heading for her house.

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. This may sound creepy and weird but I love the way Aeris' house smells.

"I'm gonna call my mom so she doesn't bitch to me once I get home."I said. Aeris whined.

"I don't want you to go home..."

"Heh, trust me I don't wanna go either..." I dialed the number.

"Hey mom. I'm at Aeris' house. How long can I stay?"

"H-honey...I'm at a meeting right now..just stay,okay?"

"Mom...what's going on? Oh god...MOM...DON'T tell me you're with that bastard again! Fine, if you get pregnant, I'm not taking care of it!" I slammed the phone down. "My mom...is with the most hateful, sick freak in the world right now...she told me to stay."

"Well..I guess we have that 'hateful sick freak' to thank..." she took my hand and gave me a hug. I shifted nervously.

"Aeris...where are you're parents?"

"They're both at work. They should be back soon. We could just go up and talk if you want."

"Yeah.." we both went upstairs and sat in her room.

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"Ok..first off...what're we gonna tell everyone?" she asked.

"Everyone as in...everyone at school? Ok, the only people I care about finding out at school is our friends. Everyone else can just shove it up their--"

"Right, I know what you mean. But...isn't there a way that word can get to our parents?"

"The only way is...Reno. And, he's my brother so if he threatens to tell, I threaten to tell my mom about aaallll the girls he's screwed and we're good. That should definetly shut him up." She laughed.

"When should we tell Yuffie...Zack..?" I asked her.

"Whenever you're ready. But I think...the sooner the better. It's best not to keep it locked up forever, right?"

"Right...I'm okay with tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah...is that...?"

"That's fine,Tif. I just want them to know so we can...show our feelings without being afraid."

"Me,too...I just...I still can't believe everything that's happened today. I'm so happy." She put her hand on my face and ran her fingers through my hair.

"So am I,Tif."

This whole situation was one huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I can feel everything getting easier for me from here on. I just hope nothing screws it up. The phone rang.

"Hey, Zack!!"

"Tifa? Hey, you're at Aeris'?"

"Yeah...so what's up?"

"I was gonna come by."

"Come over for a little!" Aeris yelled into the speaker.

"Wow...two chicks eager for me to come over,huh? Doesn't sound bad to me." He said.

"Heh..ok, we'll see you."

"Bye." I hung up the phone.

"Hm..why's Zack coming over? He do that often?"

"Hm...jealous?" she giggled.

"Maybe..."

"He just stops by once in a while to say hi. The bad part about this is that I know he likes me and he's awfully adorable...but, I've got you and I'm not giving that up." she told me. I gasped.

"We should tell him when he gets here! The sooner the better,right?" I took her hand and went out the door where we both waited for Zack to get there.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We spotted a dark shadow with...spikey hair...carrying an ipod that was turned up so loud that we could hear it in the silence of the night.

"Get your ass on over here.Zack!" I laughed. He started jogging a little.

"You guys sounded pretty desperate for me to be over here, what's up?"

"Alright, we've got some things to tell you. Sit down. Hand me the ipod."

"Jeez, am I in trouble or something?"

"No. But you can't hear us with that thing turned up all the way. Ok...Aeris?"

"Ok..Zack. We're gonna tell you. But do not tell anyone. Not even Yuffie or Cloud. We'll tell them. Ok? Um...Tifa, how do we do this?" she whispered. I looked around nervously, this was tough...

"Uh..." I grabbed her hand and put our arms in front of Zack. Aeris laughed. "Ok,ok. Uh..." I hugged her all while still holding her hand.

"I think I'm missing your point...Ok,wait. Hand holding...hugging. WAIT...WAIT...you guys are...WAIT...You're gonna be sisters??!! Whoa I didn't know your mom was re-marrying so soon Tifa!" said Zack.

"Zack...are you serious..." I slapped his head.

"It should be obvious by now."

"Oh!!!!...hehehehehe..." he giggled deviously.

"What the hell?"

"T-that's...hot." he said.

"Finally caught on?" I laughed.

"How long has this been going on and you not telling me this nice little detail?"

"It just happened today."

"Sweet! I'm the first to know?"

"Congragulations." I said sarcastically. "But if you say anything...well... you've seen me kick ass before. I'd look out."

"Ok, why would I tell? This is between you and Aeris. And me. Man am I lucky..." He put his arms around Aeris and I and pulled us in.

"Heh, sorry Zack but we will no longer be the victims of your flirting. We're taken." said Aeris.

"Are you guys gonna leave my ass out here to freeze? I'm coming in to warm up. And don't take that pervertedly,either because that's not what I meant."

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"So...how're you gonna tell your parents?"

"I'm not even concerned with that right now. It just started. We need sometime to think about that. All we're worried about right now is you guys knowing. Then...we can worry about our parents." I answered. Just then, Aeris' mom and dad came through the door. They were talking obnoxiously not really using proper english, clearly drunk.

"Zack!! Tifa!! So wonderful to see you again! Come here!" her mother stumbled across the room and tripped, landing in Zack's arms.

"Mom...you and Dad go upstairs and go to sleep. My friends don't wanna see some drunk weirdos come in and hug them." Aeris said, grabbing their arms and taking them up.

"She's got some crazy parents. Heh, I think it'd be a good idea to tell them when they're drunk. Maybe they'd shrug it off and except it...I just...don't know how my mom will react. I know if my dad were still in our lives, he'd support me with every choice I made, considering how his past was. But no...my stupid mother had to move out and now she's out sleeping with some nasty...ugh..just forget it. I may never tell my mom."

"Well you know,Tifa. You've got friends who support you and Aeris all the way. Remember that. We're here when you need us. But unfortunately, I gotta get home,ok? You can call if you need anything. I'll be up all night." He waved and walked out the door, ipod in hand.

"Whew...I am back from taming the beings of hell...they are CRAZY when they're drunk. But now they're gonna be sleeping and/or throwing up all night so no worries." said Aeris. I laughed and gave her a hug.

"Thanks for letting me stay. It's not just because I have to, considering my mom is out and she never gave me a house key but...I want to stay. I'm happy I'm here with you..."

"Trust me, I'm thrilled you're here too,Tif." she took my hand and we went upstairs, hearing her parents already starting to get the alcohol out of their systems.

Knowing her house well, I raided her closet to look for pajamas and clothes for school the next day, all with her permission of course. She was the only girl I knew with the same interest in clothing style as me. I picked out a pink tank top and black sweat pants to wear to sleep. For school, I got black knee-high socks, a red skirt and a white button up shirt with a black tie. Her outfit was exactly the same only her skirt was black and her shirt was light red. At our school, students had to wear uniforms. So we both took the required clothing and made it more interesting. More color and things like that. All the other girls looked...really boring and preppy. I know I didn't want to look like them.

"It's freezing in here." Aeris ran and shut the window them yanked out extra blankets out of the closet and threw them on the bed. I turned on the T.V. and flipped through the channels. Why am I doing this? One, there's nothing good on. And two, I finally know how Aeris feels and I'm finally with her. I shut the T.V off and patted the spot next to me on the bed, signaling for her to sit next to me. She looked into my eyes.

"What're you thinking about..?" she whispered.

"You...who else?" she smiled and held my hand. "What about you?"

"I've got no one else to think about but you,Tif." I was nervous. Who wouldn't be in this situation? She was holding my hand. We were sitting on the bed and it was awfully dim in the room. And now she was slowly leaning towards me, like she did in the car earlier today. She paused then moved again until our lips met. I never thought my first kiss would be with...a girl. Well, it wasn't exactly the first time we kissed. It was the second. But today in the car was more of a little...peck. This was more like a kiss. She slowly pulled away, her face still inches from mine. I smiled at her and she smiled back.

"I don't wanna go to school tomorrow...I'd much rather stay in bed with you all day."

"Me too, Tif." she pulled the covers over us and layed down with me. We both layed on our sides, looking at eachother still holding hands until we both drifted to sleep.

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My eyes opened slowly in the morning and were greeted with the view of Aeris' pretty face, her features gentle and relaxed as she slept. Once my vision completely adjusted to the light, I looked at the clock and it read...

"Oh sh--! Aeris! We are sooo late!" she woke up and looked at the clock, then shot out of bed in a panic to get ready.

"Ok..my parents are gone..why didn't they wake us up?!"

"I guess they forgot due to their hangovers." I said pulling on my outfit then tieing my boots. Once we were both dressed and groomed, we got in the car and went to school.

The halls were very quiet. By now we'd be in...math. What a beautiful way to start the morning. We walked down to the classroom and the door was locked so I knocked on it lightly. The teacher looked over and in a look of dissapointment, opened the door for us.

"Ladies, you're late. The next time is a detention." I wanted to yell, right in her face, "I can't help that I fell asleep with my girlfriend and forgot about school!" I would never say that though. That would be the stupidiest mistake of my life, even though it's true. Just laying next to her made me forget about the world around us, if only for a little while. We took our sits and completely ignored the looks from other students. Thank god it's almost lunchtime. Until then, I'll just write down some answers and take some notes until class is over.

The bell rang and all the students jumped out of their sits and rushed out the door to lunch. We left our books and started walking down the hall. I slowly reached for her hand and proudly continued walking with her. Zack, Yuffie and Cloud were all up ahead so I had to let go. Yeah, we were telling them today. There he was. The devil himself. Reno. He came up ad grabbed me.

"Hey little sister, where the fuck were you all night? Mom kept calling me and getting all bitchy thanks to you."

"She's the one who told me to stay at Aeris' house because she was out with...I don't even know his name all night! So her bitching is not my fault. Maybe she was high or drunk. Who cares? Get off me!" I yelled pushing him off. I took Aeris' arm and ran down to lunch followed by Cloud, Yuffie and Zack.

"I had no idea your mom was that bad." said Aeris.

"Yeah! First she gives us permission to do what we want, then she goes out and sleeps with lots and lots of men then takes out her anger on us because the

bastards leave her...You know what? I've said too much,I'm sorry." We all sat at the table and completely ignored the stares from all the other...beings who think it's ok to judge based on looks.

"Ok,well. Yuffie,Cloud. You've been our friends for awhile so you deserve to know what we have to tell you." I said looking at Aeris. Yuffie put her math homework aside looking deeply interested and Cloud looked up from his book.

"Well...T-Tifa and I are...we're...together." she confessed, taking my hand. Cloud closed his book and smiled.

"Who would've thought it? I wish you happiness." There was silence.

"Y-Yuffie?" I looked at her. Shock and confusion lay in her eyes with tears forming.

"Yuffie..."

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To be continued...