A/N

I have decided to split the narrative so that you can get an insight into both Caroline's and Jade's perspective. I understand that many of you want Kate to come back or to be involved somehow, but aside from a possible cameo I really want to keep it between Caroline and Jade, and I thought maybe you'll like Jade more if you get to know her a little better. The majority of this story will be written in Caroline's perspective, but I will make use of Jade's view as well so that you have two sides. I added "CAROLINE" to the first chapter, and I will add either "CAROLINE" or "JADE" before a chapter/paragraph from now on. This chapter includes paragraphs from Jade's and Caroline's perspective.

Thank you so much for your comments (Although seems to have swallowed a few of them—I received more e-mail notifications than reviews have shown up on here. Please don't let that discourage you from commenting, though—it always makes my day!). I always closely consider suggestions, but please don't be sad if I decide to continue the story differently. Anyways, long story short: I hope you enjoy this next chapter. It often takes me some time to get started with a story, but I sure hope it will be worth it—so please bear with me!

Chapter 2

JADE

She'd always had a thing for blonde women, and sometimes she wondered whether there was something wrong with her: Not because she loved women—she'd stopped blaming herself for that long ago—but because she loved women who resembled her. Most people she knows were attracted to people who looked a lot different: Blondes usually liked brunettes; redheads liked black-haired women, and so on. But she'd always loved blondes, even when she was little, when she'd confused her attraction to women with adoration for them. Only when she was about sixteen years, she realized that she didn't want to be the women she liked—she wanted to be with them.

The second she'd googled the staff at the school when she applied, she noticed how much Ms. Dawson was her type. She'd spent a few seconds fantasizing about her; however, these thoughts vanished quickly as they were just an evening fantasy and the result of two glasses of wine and years of loneliness. But now that Caroline was her actual boss, she tried to banish all deviant thoughts.

She's your boss, she thought, don't fuck this up. You need this job.

It didn't matter, anyways, because chances were that she was not gay, or even bisexual. Most women she was attracted to were usually straight, and oh, how she hated straight women because she'd had her fair share of bad experiences with them. Matter of fact, her first heartbreak—and, up to today, her worst—was with a straight women, her best friend, who had apparently thought she could kiss her for hours without having any impact on her. It was a consolation to her when a few years later, after coming out, she got more involved in the community and almost every queer woman she talked to had one of those "straight-girl experiences," but it didn't make the pain any less, and had taken her many years to truly get over it.

Sometimes she thought that that was it—this had been the one person she'd truly loved, and that person hadn't loved her back, and that was her one great experience of love, true love. This was not a movie, after all, and so there was no guarantee she would get her knight—knightess?—in shining armor in the end. Although—even if this was a movie, she or her girlfriend would probably get killed considering the irrationally high rate of lesbian characters that are killed off on television. Either way, she'd pretty much accepted that she was fucked, and finding another great love would be an unlikely bonus to the semi-decent life she'd lived.

Thinking about it, she did remember one of her new colleagues make a remark about Ms. Dawson—"Watch out, she needs a new girl toy"—that struck her as odd and incredibly rude. She'd wanted to ask follow-up questions, but before she could, some staff had entered the room and his comment seemed forgotten—at least to him. Thinking about it now, at home, she was furious: There was nothing she hated more than homophobic people—they belonged to the same category as sexist ones—and she was angry at herself for not saying something. Although she could never think about something savvy when confronted with these kinds of comments, she would always be able to think of the best responses at home and would spend hours pondering over conversations she'd had with bigoted people.

She was used to the weird and slightly disgusted look people gave her when she revealed that she was gay and a feminist—the deathly combination—and she could see in their eyes that they were confused how she could be feminine and conventionally pretty, and not what they considered ugly: overweight and overly hairy.

That kind of reasoning used to be why she'd doubted her sexuality in her teens, but situations like the one earlier that day, in Ms. Dawson's office, were reminders that she was undeniably gay. After she'd left her new boss's office, she'd felt a rush of excitement in her body, and as she was walking outside, she'd felt like she was being watched, which added to the tingly feeling. Even then, she couldn't deny that she had a big crush on Ms. Dawson already, and it had ultimately helped her get through the day. She had been incredibly anxious—as always—but her new crush gave her a sense of childish excitement and happiness, and—even though she knew how stupid it sounded—gave her being there a purpose.

Of course she loved teaching, she always had, but she also knew the downsides of it. Not only colleagues but students could be mean, and prejudiced, and bullies. Although she increasingly noticed how children were a lot kinder and open-minded than adults, and she was unsure of whom it was she dreaded the most.

But now tomorrow wasn't just another day of work, it was a day of possibly seeing Ms. Dawson, so it could only be a good day—or at least not a bad one.

Her eyes shot to her phone when she heard it buzzing, and she picked it up immediately.

"Hey. Yes, like we said, seven o'clock. I'll meet you there."

CAROLINE

Her mornings always seemed the same, and she tried to preoccupy herself every time she caught herself thinking about the routine of her life because it made her feel an intense sadness, and she'd sworn she wouldn't give in to her depression. She had responsibilities after all: She was a mother, a head teacher, a daughter… but sometimes she felt like she never had the time to be herself, and when she tried, the world would conspire against her. Kate leaving was the best proof of that.

Although this morning, one tiny thing had been different, and she only noticed it when she was already sitting in her office: Right after waking up, she hadn't thought of Kate—she blamed it on lack of time: She'd been in a rush even more than usually and had got out of bed immediately after hitting the snooze button for the third time.

She liked early mornings in the office—she usually didn't teach until 9AM and so she could wake up properly the first couple of hours in her office with a cup of coffee and the sweet silence of the absence of people.

She sighed as she heard a knock on her door. Of course, she thought, even a few minutes of silent bliss would be too much. When she glanced over her glasses to the door, though, her frown disappeared.

"Ms. Bishop," she said in a pitch that was unusual for her so that she felt self-conscious and wondered whether it had sounded overly excited.

"Hi, sorry I'm bothering you. Can I—," she gestured toward the chair.

"Yeah, sure; take a seat," Caroline folded her hands in order to seem confident. "How was your first day yesterday?"

"Oh—It was good! I had some trouble finding the rooms, but other than that, it was a really positive experience. The colleagues seemed nice and so did the students."

"Well, just wait a week," she joked and immediately regretted her sad attempt at being funny while Jade let out an airy laugh.

"I—I know this is only my second day, and I probably have no right to make any demands but—," she stopped to look at Caroline's face in an attempt to read it, unsuccessfully.

"I looked up the school's clubs and after-school programs, and I saw that there was no safe space for LGBTQ people. You know, lesbian, gay—"

"I know what it means," Caroline countered, hoping she didn't sound rude.

"Oh, okay, um… anyways, I was wondering whether you would be interested—well, I guess if the school would be interested in forming a group. I'd volunteer to lead it—We could meet once a week and, you know, raise awareness, offer open-talk sessions, plan activities together—I mean, only if that would be fine with you, of course—"

Caroline couldn't help but smile, and she felt incredibly lucky—what a coincidence, she thought, to meet someone with the same interests—could you call it interests?—as her. Sometimes she felt like a crazy person within the heteronormativity of the school, and her colleagues, and the students, and their parents, and it often felt like she was the only one swimming against the tide. Except for Kate, of course, but Kate was gone, and she was alone.

"That sounds like a lovely idea."

"Really?"

She could see the surprise in Jade's face, and she noticed once again the extraordinary beauty of her smile, and how her eyes lit up every time the corners of her mouth turned upwards.

"Oh, that is—amazing, really; thank you so much. Do you have to talk to a board about it, take a vote or something? Or—"

"No, no… I mean, technically I could, but in the end, I make the decision. Some parents are really sensitive when it comes to those kinds of topics, but they will have to go through me, so don't worry."

"Oh okay, uh.."

Caroline noticed that she'd made Ms. Bishop a little insecure, "Really, don't worry."

She had the impulse to take her hand—her presence felt familiar, almost intimate—but she was able to stop herself before she did.

"Should I design some flyers?"

"Yes, type up a few sentences explaining the group's purpose and the time and date of the first meeting and send it to me or just come by my office."

"Perfect; thank you—thank you so much. I really appreciate it."

The next day Caroline heard a knock on her door at almost the same time as the day before, and the blonde's head peaked into the door.

"Hi," she said in a confident, happy tone, before handing Caroline a piece of paper.

"Good morning," Caroline responded, taking the paper out of her hands.

"I came up with a short description. Thursdays at three o'clock would work best with my schedule, would that be okay?"

"I don't see why not," she looked up from behind her glasses briefly and offered a quick smile.

"Ask my assistant to check for room availability, and I'll add that to the description."

"Thank you so much."

There was a brief moment of silence that felt awkward to Caroline, but she didn't say anything because she was trying to come up with another topic to talk about to keep Jade in the room just a little longer. Before she could think of anything semi reasonable, though, her intense brainstorming was interrupted by Jade's oddly attractive and interesting voice.

"You can come if you want. I mean, if you'd like to take a look if—if everything's alright," Jade stammered.

Caroline could sense her nervousness and, in some way, it made her feel more confident.

"I will," Caroline answered, softly, "I definitely will."

TBC