A/N: What did I say about faster updates? :D This is a little faster than I had anticipated, but I got the idea for this chapter late last night and just had to write tonight. As always, thank you guys all for your reviews. This is another chapter that picks up right where the last one left off. This one goes into detail about just how Catherine and Sara came to be making out until sundown. Heh heh ;) I hope you guys enjoy it :)

The first kiss had felt like a dream. The first time their bodies met was electric.

Sara couldn't even begin to understand why Catherine had this sort of effect on her, let alone why she was standing here letting her kiss her in the first place. Her heart stopped for a moment before its violent pounding resumed. Electricity was shooting through every inch of her body and a very noticeable flush was beginning to creep up her neck.

She also figured that a great deal of tension (ie: arousal) must have built up in her nipples because suddenly she believed that she could quite easily put an eye out.

And the sensations weren't lost on Catherine, either. She didn't know what possessed her to kiss Sara-- it was like she couldn't stop her body from closing the inevitable distance between the two of them. The second their lips touched she let out a slight gasp; Sara's lips felt so smooth, like velvet, and that alone surprised Catherine simply from her rough-looking exterior. The next sensation she noticed was the taste.

Her first boyfriend had tasted like cheap cigarettes and a cross between feet and beer (needless to say he didn't last long).

The taste of Sara was sweet but unique. She tasted like strawberries and honeysuckle, yet there was a distinct musk that was driving her absolutely insane.

When they finally broke away, after what felt like hours spent in slow-motion, they both came back to reality. Sara scrambled to cover up the deadly spikes now peaking out of her shirt around her chest. In her haste she looked around for the first thing she could find and picked up the textbooks she had dropped. Sara had always had a flat chest, and up until now, she had never had any reason to wear a bra.

Catherine backed away far enough so that she could no longer feel the heat radiating off of Sara's body. But she quickly noticed that that hadn't helped, as it just gave her a better view of her firm biceps and the muscles along her abdomen.

"...I'm sorry," Catherine said after a minute. "I... don't know why I did that."

Sara managed a laugh despite the awkwardness of it all. "I didn't exactly say I minded."

Catherine's head snapped up at that, and suddenly she didn't feel quite as embarrassed. "You didn't?"

Sara shrugged a little, a silly smile on her face. All of her anger from before was gone. "It was better than the alternative-- if you had continued making me angry you'd be bleeding right now."

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Well then I'm glad I decided to act against my better judgment."

"Aren't you?" Sara grinned. Catherine felt butterflies dancing in her stomach at the sight of the adorable gap between her front teeth. It was one of Sara's only features that didn't make her look threatening.

"...Say Sara," Catherine tried to sound casual. "Would you like to continue the rest of our walk?" Under any other circumstances she would've bolted out of their the second she could for fear of ruining her reputation. But for now, she didn't. She didn't think Sara was someone who was going to blab it all over the school, and she wasn't quite ready for their time together to be over, yet.

Sara looked down at her shirt from behind her textbooks and saw that the coast was clear. Satisfied, she just shrugged. "Sure, whatever."

--

"You need me to help you carry those?" Catherine asked Sara, motioning to the textbooks she was lugging around. She had about three or four, and they had to be getting heavy.

Sara quickly shook her head. "No thanks." She had underestimated the effect that Catherine's presence had on her, and suddenly found that she needed them again.

"You sure?" Catherine asked, "I've got a backpack I could throw those in."

"Positive."

Catherine nodded, clearing her throat. They had gone back to small talk again. It was amazing how quickly everything changed when she was with Sara. Not even an hour ago they had gotten into an argument-- a heated argument-- and then ended up sharing a kiss. Now they were back to barely looking at each other.

Scrambling for conversation topics, Catherine recalled what Sara had told her about the fight earlier that day. She told her she didn't like being touched. That in itself rose tons of questions in Catherine's mind-- had Sara been abused? Did she just have a natural fear of physical contact?

"You look like you've got something on your mind," Sara broke the silence, which surprised Catherine.

Catherine smiled a little, shaking her head. She decided to lie. "Oh, it's nothing. I was just wondering what that was all about back there. The kissing and all."

Sara tried her hardest not to show the hurt in her eyes. Did Catherine regret it? Of course she regretted it, she then thought. Things like that didn't happen to people like her, especially not with people like Catherine. Someone who seemed perfect in every way and could have anyone they wanted. She would have to be out of her mind to choose Sara.

The self-degradation was hurting herself more than Sara would've liked to admit. She was used to hearing negative comments toward herself on a regular basis. But she didn't want to believe that Catherine was someone like that. She didn't want to believe that she could never be with Catherine.

"Do you regret it?" Sara asked her, starting to put her walls back up. She needed to be prepared before Catherine let her have it.

"What?" Catherine blinked. She finally turned to look at Sara and noticed the hurt in her eyes almost immediately, despite how hard she was trying to hide it. "Oh, no, it's just..." she sighed, throwing her arms up in the air, "Confusing. I mean we were both just so angry and then it went from a fight to... that."

"Yeah," Sara nodded, letting out a sigh in relief. "I guess it is a little confusing."

Catherine stopped in the middle of the park and just looked at Sara. She could tell it was freaking her out a little bit, so she explained, "You know, it's strange. Seeing you when you're not in bad ass-mode."

"What makes you think I ever switch off?" Sara scoffed, almost offended by that comment.

Catherine shot Sara a sickly sweet smile that almost melted her right then and there. She took a few steps toward Sara and Sara immediately took a few hesitant steps backwards.

Catherine stopped when she was right beside Sara's ear. She leaned forward, her breath hitting the back of Sara's neck sending shivers up her spine. She whispered, "I think you have a softer side to you that you just don't like people to see."

"...And how would you know?" Sara squeaked out, her voice almost failing her. The pounding of her heart was now out of control.

"Because I just do," Catherine whispered back. "I don't think you're always this tough. I think this is an act you put on to scare off other people. I think there's a part of you deep down that's a really sweet, caring person. A part of you that shows who you really are."

She was too close, now. Sara couldn't breathe.

She immediately pulled away and got a safe distance away from Catherine. She placed a hand over her chest and felt her heartbeat. She immediately retracted her hand as if something had burned her. Nothing had ever made her react like this, not even her father chasing her down the hallways. Nothing had ever made her feel this way.

And that alone scared the shit out of her.

"Are you okay?" Catherine asked, concerned. She had allowed Sara to move away and tried to give her some space. But the way she was acting was beginning to worry her. She was beginning to think that maybe Sara really did have some sort of heart condition. "Sara?"

Sara closed her eyes, trying to compose herself. She felt like she was about to throw up. She felt faint. She could feel a thin layer of sweat beginning to cake her forehead. It drove her nuts knowing that it was all just because of Catherine.

"Sara?" Catherine tried again, this time a bit louder. She took a small step toward her. When she didn't react, Catherine took another step toward her. "Sara," she tried to get her attention by placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Sara flipped around so fast she looked like a blur. Before Catherine could comprehend what was going on their lips were together again. The sound of books falling to the ground faintly registered. She could feel Sara's arms around her neck keeping her from pulling away.

As if she would ever want to.

This second kiss was more intense than anything either of them could have ever imagined. Sara had suddenly gained more confidence and was initiating the kiss this time rather than just standing frozen like a statue. Her tongue traced the outline of Catherine's bottom lip and without asking for permission she began to explore her mouth.

Catherine was more than willing, but decided she would do a little exploring of her own. She untangled her hands from Sara's hair and started to move them down her neck to her back, caressing the strong muscles as she did so. She could hear some sort of a grunt coming from Sara and she took that as a good sign and continued.

Her hands moved down to hug Sara's hips and they finally broke away from the kiss when they remembered they needed to breathe. They both stared at each other, absolutely breathless, but before either of them could speak they were back at it again.

It was Catherine's turn again. But instead of simply going in for a kiss, she lunged at Sara and tackled her by her midsection. This time Sara wasn't anticipating the blow and tumbled over onto the grass with Catherine laying on top of her. They realized they had been on a hill when they started rolling downwards.

When they finally stopped Sara was laying on her back and Catherine was back on top of her, straddling her hips with her own. They couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing at the stupidity and ill-timing of it all.

Two hours later they were laying on the hill together side-by-side, staring out at the orange and purple horizon as the sun began to set.

Sara had her arms crossed behind her head and a smile on her face. It wasn't common that she was this happy, but she was gladly savoring every minute of it.

"Hey, Cat?" Sara asked her.

Catherine smiled at the mention of her new nickname. They had only spent a day together and they had already established nicknames. "What is it, Sar-Bear?"

Sara groaned, closing her eyes in anguish. "Please don't call me that."

"Why not?" Catherine teased, sitting up. She moved closer so that she was leaning over Sara. "I think it's cute."

"Kill me, please," Sara muttered.

"I'm not going to do that," Catherine whispered. "So just suck it up and live with it." She leaned down slowly and gently kissed Sara's lips.

Sara returned the kiss, glancing up at Catherine as they pulled away. "Catherine... what's going to happen?"

Catherine raised an eyebrow, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean with us," Sara explained. "For example, tomorrow at school... is everything just going to go back to normal? Are we going to be sworn enemies strictly by stereotypes? Are we going to act like we don't even know each other?" She was honestly afraid of the answer, but she knew it was something that was going to have to be asked eventually.

"No," Catherine furrowed an eyebrow, becoming more confused. "Unless that's what you want?"

"Of course not," Sara told her. "It's just... we're completely different. I'm viewed as the misfit who can't do jack-shit right, and..."

"...and I'm the perfect, popular student," Catherine finished Sara's thought, understanding what she was getting at now. "Do you really think that matters?"

"I don't know, does it?" Sara asked, hating herself for feeling so emotional. She had only known Catherine for a day, and already she had managed to worm her way inside her heart. She hated her guts at first, and now she wasn't sure what she would do if Catherine rejected her.

"I coudn't care less about what people think, Sara," Catherine told her. "As far as I'm concerned, they can all go to hell."

Sara raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Really? You're not worried about your reputation? About what people would think about you being... gay?"

Catherine sighed, laying back down beside Sara on the grass. "I'm not going to lie to you, Sara... I am a little worried. But not worried enough to just kick you to the curb. That's a really bitchy thing to do, and if I recall, I made it a point to tell you that I'm not a bitch."

"Okay," Sara nodded. "So... you're really okay with this?"

"Yeah," Catherine nodded. "Are you?"

"Yeah," Sara answered, shooting Catherine a small smile. "But just so you know... if you turn out to just be using me, I will seriously kiss your ass."

Catherine chuckled at that, playfully swatting at Sara with her arm. "Well I'm not, so I'm not worried."

"Good," Sara smiled, turning to glance back at the sunset. The sky was beginning to get darker now.

"So... how long have you known?" Catherine asked.

"How long have I known what?"

"That you were a lesbian."

Sara shrugged, still gazing out at the horizon. "I don't know. I never really thought about it. I just figured that when the right person came along, I'd know, and to hell with genders."

She spun around when she heard gigging. "And what is so funny?" she asked, unsure of whether or not she should be angry.

"No, it's just," Catherine tried to make herself stop laughing, "There's that part of you again. The part that I mentioned earlier."

Sara quickly turned away to watch the sunset, glad that the reflection of the purple and orange of the sky would camouflage the blushing of her cheeks.

"I can still see that, you know," Catherine whispered, laying back down on the grass beside Sara.

Sara rolled her eyes. "Oh be quiet."

Catherine's laughter continued until the sun finally disappeared.

--

"You should probably get home," Sara told Catherine, getting to her feet and dusting off her jeans. She walked up the rest of the hill and gathered up her textbooks, right where she left them. "It's getting late. Your mom will be getting worried."

Catherine waved it aside. "I'm my mother's daughter. Coming home late doesn't worry her." She got to her feet and stretched her stiff muscles. "What about you?"

Sara shrugged, trying to act as casual as possible. "I don't have a curfew."

"Yeah?" Catherine asked, slinging her backpack over her shoulder from off the grass. "No curfew? Your parents sound pretty cool."

Sara didn't answer that. Instead, she changed the subject, "How about I walk you back to your car?"

It took until then for Catherine to remember that her car was still parked in front of the ice cream shop. She shot Sara an appreciative smile. "Sure. Then I'll give you a ride home."

"Sounds like a plan," Sara smirked back.

As they winded their way back through the park, their hands found each other.

TBC