That night, Karkat helped me with my homework, and then we went to sleep. We followed our routine we always did when we fell asleep together, and snuggled each other as we slept. When I woke up, Karkat was up, and getting dressed. He was putting on his shirt, when I noticed a huge ass bruise on his side.

"Karkat, what happened?" He seemed to jump, and look at me in surprise.

"Wh-what?"

"That bruise on your side.. how did hat get there?" I asked, sitting up.

"Oh... well, I was running from one of my brother's lectures, and ran into a counter, the the edge, No biggie." He said, wrapping his arms around his waist. I nodded, and laid back down, and sighed.

"Oh no, Nepeta, you are NOT going back to sleep. Come on, get up, and we can walk to school together, okay?"

"Okay, okay, okay, let me take a shower..." I said, getting up, yawning, and throwing the covers off me.

I stayed in the shower for about ten minutes before Karkat came and knocked on the door, telling me to hurry up. I sighed, finished up, and came out, dried my hair, and finished getting ready. I walked out, and Karkat was sitting on my bed, reading something. I walked over, and to my horror, it was my journal.

"Wh-what are you doing reading that? That's my personal journal!" I said, snatching it up, face glowing red. He looked up at me in surprise, blushing hard.

"N-nepeta. No, that's not- I thought it was the one with all the notes in it, then I saw you had written something, and I just- im sorry..." He said, all flustered and embarrassed, kind of recoiling away from me, as if he was scared I would hit him.

"...Well, this is my personal journal, and I would prefer you not look in it again, okay? I've written a lot of personal stuff in there, and I dont want anyone reading it..." I said, shoving it in my bag. He nodded, and looked down, and sighed.

"I'm sorry..." He said, looking down. I just shook my head, and went over and hugged him. He flinched as I approached, but relaxed when I wrapped my arms around him.

"Just leave this one alone, okay?"

"Okay.."

When we got to school, I had to catch up in all my afternoon classes, which happened to be Science, then English, Then Colorguard. The only class I had with any of my friends after lunch was last period, because Sollux is in band, and Karkat is in color guard with me. He's actually very, very good.

In sixth period, Feferi helped catch me up in science. Feferi was my lab partner, and she was very pretty. She had tea colored skin, and deep, sea blue eyes, and she always wore a bright pink hijab. She was the sweetest girl you would ever meet, with a bubbly personality, and an adorable laugh. She was pretty fun to talk to, and sometimes she sat with us at lunch, though that attracted the unwanted of the school's asshole, Eridan. He was her adoptive brother, and was very clingy to her. No one really liked him, but we put up with him most of the time.

So, she helped catch me up on the different types of rocks, and then, when I was all caught up, gave me the notes so we could 'study'. Today was a study day, and the teacher wasn't really paying attention, just told us to study with our lab partners. It was always the day before the test, but most kids used the period to talk, but a few did study.

"So, Nepeta? What happened yesterday?"

"Well...do you know what sensory overload is?"

"No.."

"Well, basically, I was just overwhelmed, and I couldn't stand being in school, and I had to leave, because it was a breakdown of sorts."

"Oh, im sorry.."

"Eh, it's okay, im fine now, so."

"Well, that's good! So how's color guard?"

"It's going pretty well! We have a competition in a few days, and we're working hard!"

"I was surprised when Karkat made the team, but then I saw him on the field, and I was surprised at how well he fit in! He's so...balanced, and graceful! I honestly did not expect that."

"Well, he tends to surprise you! He also comes over to practice with me all the time, so im not surprised. He's actually pretty great once you get to know him. Though, I guess im biased, I've known him my whole life!"

"Heh, you two are so cute.."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I talked to him the other day, and you came up, and he kept going on, and on about you! And you say nothing but good things about him, though you DO acknowledge the fact that he has his faults at the same time."

"Really...?"

"Yeah!" I smiled a little, and looked down, which cause Feferi to giggle. "Ohhhh, you like him!"

"Maybe... who knows?" I said, though I blushed hard. Feferi just laughed.

English was quieter, as half of it was silent reading, and the other half was a test. My head started to throb by the end of the period, but it wasn't too bad. I was too pumped for colour guard to care.

Colour guard was my favorite part of the day. We got to twirl the flag, dance around, and we were like a big huge family! Though, because this was middle school, we only learned basic stuff, and only went to competitions. No football games yet, that's for highschoolers.

When I got there, I changed into my guard clothes, grabbed my flag, and ran out to the field behind the school where practice was held. Karkat was just getting there as well, and he sat down a bit a ways from me so we could stretch. When the bell rang, the captain and co-captain immediately started the stretching routine. When that was done, we worked with our flag. We had a few tosses, some spins, a few twirls, and a lot of dancing. By the end, we all were sweating, and ready to change and go home. Our coach told us to practice, because the competition was next weekend. We all nodded, and went off to change.

When Karkat and I left our respective locker rooms, we met up, and waited in the gym for the bell to ring, then began the walk home together. We chatted idly, joking a bit, all that jazz. When we got near Karkat's house, he began to look nervous.

"Hey, can you come over and hang out today? I wanna work on our routine.."

"Oh, sure! That's fine let me go tell my-"

"Er, can't you just call her?"

"Oh, uhmmm...okay!" Strange, but I called my mom and told her, and told Karkat it was okay. We went inside, set our stuff down, and Karkat called out to Kristy.

"Kristy, I'm home, and Nepeta's here to practice with me in the backyard!"

"Okay, have fun!" She called back after a moment.

When we got to the back yard, we practiced for about an hour, then went inside for a break. We got some water, and sat at the island for a bit.

"Hey...karkat?"

"What's up?"

"Well..my guitar night is tomorrow..so I was wondering.. could you come?" I asked nervously

"Nepeta, I would love to. I'll be there, okay? Come pick me up on your way there!" He said, putting his hand on my shoulder, smiling a little. I smiled wide, and hugged him, and held him tight.

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you! Just... even if I make a fool of myself.. will you cheer me on?"

"Nepeta, there is no way in hell you can mess this up. I've heard you play, you're amazing!"

"Thanks, Karkat.." I said, blushing the slightest bit. We went out and practiced a bit, then I had to go home for dinner. Even though the late evening was freezing, I felt warm the whole time after the conversation.

I'm sorry this is so late, I've been dealing with depression for a while now. When I started this story, it was doing better, but last night, I just got hit really hard with it. I considered not even uploading because I hadn't even written anything last night, but I did make a promise to upload every day, so here I am! Hopefully, this will pass soon, and I'll be writing faster, and less bull-shitty. Enjoy, and please forgive my lateness!