The first half of this story will be heavily based from Amy's point of view, but towards the second half, we'll be seeing more from Karma's side. Review, let me know what you think!

Warmth.

A warm bed, an empty glass of water, a television with the volume on mute, the colours reflecting softly against the room, and a sleeping Karma. Sleeping like a baby. She's even snoring a little. They'd gone home and Karma, unworried, was able to fall asleep without a care in the world.

But Amy's head was on a continuous loop. Most prominently, a constant reminder (or more like a gut feeling) that this would be the last night that they would be able to just live their every day lives as "Karma and Amy". Tomorrow, all eyes would be on them. They'd be Karma and Amy, the couple.
They were lucky enough Lauren was asleep by the time they got home; because surely, she had been plugged in by now.

She wasn't sure why she agreed to it. Faking being girlfriends? It might have just been the single most unbelievable thing Karma has ever dragged her into. And that was saying a lot.
But, maybe even more terrifyingly, this would mean that she and Karma would, eventually, kiss. There was no getting around it. Seeing as they were so close, and they were only faking it, Amy knew she shouldn't be so freaked about it. It was only a kiss. She'd done it before, and with people way worse than Karma.

Even though she still regrettably agreed to it.

She supposed it could be worse.

(But that was about as equal as saying it could only get worse).

And it did, it got so worse.

In the way Lauren glared at her over breakfasts, before school, the snide remarks, the "I know what you're doing"'s and the way it all made Amy's skin crawl. And she, would have to defend it all, although her evil step-sister was definitely right and she was definitely onto them. And she had always been a terrible liar, and so it felt like there was a bomb strapped to her chest and she knew this one would be truly explosive when it finally went off.

And while their ruse seemed to be fooling the majority of people, and it came with so much couple swag that, while Karma was thrilled, Amy felt a bit sick knowing that it could, as she said, all blow up in her face at any given moment. They got fans, they got a ship-name, they were nominated for prom queens, and had people at their disposal to help them win it. Even without asking; people made signs, and posts on Twitter.

In the way Karma would crawl over to her while they sat, front and centre in the courtyard, and Amy's heart would jump to beating an extra ten miles per hour, as she watched her best friend's lips and wonder when they would actually kiss. Seal the fake deal.

Sure, they'd kiss on the cheek, or Karma (after Googling researching a convincing way to do it) would kiss her right on the corner of the mouth, and lift another hand up to cup the opposite cheek so no one would notice that they weren't actually doing it. But every time, Amy wondered when the other girl would be bold enough to, so to speak, sneak attack a real one (Because no, she didn't put it past her).
However, something else became rather clear; Karma, was in fact, not only pulling a Karma stunt- which was already taking it to a new level- but she somehow managed to break the scale of things Karma would do.
And that was; fake being lesbians to get attention? Check.
To put her on the radar? Check.
To use this new status to get into the Liam Booker atmosphere? She didn't want to believe it, but, she couldn't deny it. Check.
And Amy couldn't tell why this made her so mad.

"You're using me," She said one afternoon, very quietly, as Karma was gathering the things from her locker.

Karma paused, a hand in the air, "What, sorry?"

"You're using me," She repeated, a bit more firmly, but just as quietly. She didn't want to accuse Karma of anything; and that was because she had a hunch that even Karma didn't realize what she was doing. It was only about a week into their act, and she didn't know what else could happen.

A crease formed between Karma's brow, and she slowly dropped her hand, turning to face her friend. Her face betrayed an amount of hurt that Amy didn't expect, "Why do you think that?"

Rubbing her eyes, Amy sighed, "You... you're interested in Liam, you just wanted to be lesbians so that you could get on the radar."

Karma cracked an uncomfortable smile, eyes darting to her left, she had that look of question behind her eyes. "Well," She started slowly, obviously taken aback, "Sure, I would be lying if I said that I wasn't doing it to be popular? Why do you think we're doing this? For the fun of it? Amy, you know that's... that's why..."

And she did. She couldn't deny that, either. She knew- right off of the get-go. Karma wanted to be popular, maybe more than anything else (She was going to fake going blind, for God sake's). This was the ultimate popularity scheme. And Amy could live with that; really, she could. What hurt was that it was to be noticed by a boy, by Liam Booker.

(Enter; the Booker Wave?). She wasn't sure why she was so offended by it, but, it aggravated her.

Amy nodded vigorously, coming to her senses, "Right. I know..."

Karma may have been clueless sometimes, but, she seemed to have noticed the unusual change in behaviour. Just barely. Amy could just see the ghost of a wonder cross her features, before shifting into a softer, amused "girlfriend".

"Oh honey," She simpered sweetly, grabbing ahold of one of Amy's hands. The moment they touched, she felt some of the anger she felt pour out of her. But she couldn't help but contemplate the push-bend scenario of their friendship, "Don't be jealous,"

At this, she felt the blood rise to her cheeks; that wasn't how she meant to come across. Ducking her head, she tried to cover her tracks, "No, it's not that,"

Lips touched her cheek and felt the blush only deepen, the warmth reaching her ears. Karma laughed lightly, and Amy had to take a moment to compose herself. Being called out about her blush was the last thing she wanted.

When she looked up and saw Lauren glaring at her across the hallway, she realized there could be worse things. And this was one of those things.

The other blonde sneered, crossed her arms over her chest, and stormed off; minions trailing behind her. It hadn't quite got old yet; even after a week. Although every time either of them noticed her scowling, Karma would shrug and inquire, reasonably, "What's her problem?" and, generally, shake it off.
It was a bit different for Amy; Lauren lived in her house, with her mother; her conservative, perfectionist mother. It was one thing she hadn't considered when she agreed, that Lauren going to school and finding out could somehow put her at risk of having this fake secret revealed to her mother, because, well, Lauren was the definition of evil step-sister. And since then, Amy felt like she was walking on eggshells.

"I know what you're doing," Lauren said venomously, not twenty-four hours later. They stood in the kitchen, Amy's hands in the sink, fingers immediately gripping the bowl she was washing more tensely. The other blonde stood near the fridge, glowering at Amy as if she was personally responsible for the ISIS bombings.

"What?" She tried to feign surprise, but the way her voice rose an octave in worry gave her away.

"You're faking it!" The tiny blonde hissed, the fists clenched at her sides, and Amy was glad her hands were submerged; because hers did the same. It was the moment she had been dreading; fight or flight? Lauren was totally right; she'd been caught, foiled, their charade had been seen through. If she agreed? What would Lauren do?

Expose them, surely. Because that was the kind of person she was.

But Amy didn't want that.

Not just for Karma; but it would be her reputation, too. And- it had only been a week? They were in it now. She may be anticipating the day (hopefully soon) that they "break it off", so to speak. But it had to be done on their own terms.

"That's just rude," Amy mumbled, turning her attention back to the dishes. Being nonchalant was the key. Trying not to make it a big deal.

"Oh, please," Lauren spat, "Like I can't see through your guys' little game. It's like watching Dumb and Dumber,"

"That's also rude," Amy pointed out, giving her step-sister a measured look, "But which one of us is Dumb and which of us is Dumber?"

Lauren rolled her eyes, "I'm not disclosing which one of you is Dumber. Yet,"

Amy held back the temptation to scoff (or to stick her head into the sink). The shorter girl continued, "But I'm onto you," She pointed an accusatory finger, before pulling a carton of almond milk from the fridge. When she left, Amy was able to let go of the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

She'd tried to warn Karma- tried to tell her about Lauren knowing about them faking it, but for some reason, it just wouldn't absorb.

"No, she doesn't, she only thinks she knows, Amy," She'd dismissed, walking a few steps in front of her. Amy picked up her pace, "Yeah, but she's right,"

Karma halted so suddenly, that Amy almost plowed into her back. The red-head turned, grabbing both of her hands, running her thumb across her skin, "Don't worry," She urged, eyes darting to the right, and then to the left, and then a pressed smile. She was in a hurry. Amy was taking up time.

"Sorry," She mumbled an apology; although, she wasn't really sure why. She didn't want to keep Karma waiting around.

Karma let out a laugh, "Wha- don't apologize! Just... don't let it bother you, okay? Everything will be fine,"

She nodded along. Everything will be fine. Her toes curled in her shoes at the word. Fine.

"Okay," She knew she wouldn't take that advice; Amy the thinker, it was who she was. The idea of being exposed by Lauren would play over and over and she would analyse every possible outcome over and over until the idea of it all was bloody and raw and, really, beaten the hell out of.

Karma squeezed her hands, before nudging her lightly on the shoulder, "Okay. Good. I need to go meet Liam to help him with his art project," Something within Amy's chest crumpled, "I'm his muse."

She hummed, biting her tongue to keep from making yet another snarky comment about him. She'd made countless, (really, she never missed an opportunity to take a shot at him) but they weren't really making the effect she wanted them to. For some reason, Karma thought the sun shone out of his butt- like he was best thing since Brad Pritt in Fight Club.

"I'll text you later," Her friend promised, but Amy knew that that wouldn't happen. She was terrible at texting. So she and Liam could go have their secret love affair; Amy would go home and have one of her own. With a box of doughnuts, and she'd try to resist looking at the sappy section on Netflix. (She'd been really into the tear-jerkers lately, for some reason).

But, also, for some reason, she was surprised how easy Karma could walk away and not even look back.

And, one Hester Assembly later, came the first wave. She wanted to call it the Lauren Wave, but she knew that it would be more accurate to call it the Amy Wave. She was the one who did it, after all.

First, she and Karma sat together, hands on each other's knees, watching Lauren's speech for prom queen, listing off all of the ways she could make the school a better place. And, while Amy picked at her nails and observed the audience (for the most part; they were completely unmoved), she watched Karma throw flirty looks at Liam, a few rows away.
After about the fifth time, Amy couldn't help but sigh, and elbow her friend lightly. Karma jumped, whipping her head around to look at her, an annoyance burning behind her eyes. "What?" She whispered sharply, body already turning away from her.

Taken aback with the tone, Amy paused, hurt pricking her from the inside. "Careful with the heart eyes," She said slowly, "Someone might notice."

A shadow of something, some dawned realization that, "Oh, I was being obvious?" crossed her face, and she quickly averted her eyes, looking forwards at Lauren, but Amy wondered if she was really even listening. God knew that she wasn't.

"Thank you," Lauren concluded with faux sweetness, forcing a smile. Waking from their stupor, the audience politely began to clap, and Penelope took Lauren's place in front of the mic.

"And thank you, Lauren," She started, also not appearing particularly enthused with the shorter blonde's agenda for school change, (Shocker; liberal Hester wasn't for conversatives), "Next up, we have Hester's very first lesbian candidates-"

Surprise coursed through my body; involuntarily, my hand squeezed around Karma's knee so tight that the redhead flinched, "Amy!" She hissed.

"Sorry!" Amy pried her hand from her rock, holding it against her chest.

"-Karma and Amy!"

At this, the crowd erupted; complete with the hoots, whistles, and bells. Glancing at Amy, Karma must have been able to see the look of terror on her face; public crowds? Not Amy's thing. Faking being a lesbian with her best friend? Not really Amy's thing. With no preparation, to do both at once? Definitely not Amy's thing.

"Come on, we have a campaign to sell!" Karma beamed, extending her hand towards her best friend. After a moment's reluctance (stage fright), she placed her hand in Karma's, allowing the other girl to guide her to the stage, and, hopefully, she would do all the talking.

(But, honestly, was there ever a time where Karma didn't do all the talking?)

And the applause didn't stop, even as Karma grabbed the mic, ready to sell her stuff. Sell it!

"Hi," The redhead started, her cheeks flushed- Amy knew that this kind of fame was more than she could ever dream of. "As you all know..."

Amy allowed her mind to trail away, knowing full-well that Karma had the reigns and she wasn't going to let them go. But the crowd was soaking it up; it was almost... pathetic how invested the student body was in them ever since they came out. It sure was easy to shepard the sheep once you had a step up.
And then Amy found herself looking... right at Lauren. Who had clearly noticed the crowd-difference between her, and Karmy. Arms were crossed over her chest, and she was sending dagger-eyes right back in Amy's direction. Hastily, she averted her gaze; before Lauren turned her to stone, or something.

"-And of course, everyone's support-"

"For fuck sakes," Amy heard Lauren mutter offstage- right before she heard the feet stomping against the stage. Amy felt it, in her chest; the dropping, stomach lurching, sickness all of the sudden, as she barely had a chance to stop the girl before she was butting between them. The horror flashed against Karma's face- she was completely lost. And, it was safe to say that they both knew exactly what was about to happen.

Amy refrained from the impulse to mouth "I told you so" from the other side of their prom queen rival.

"They're faking it!" Lauren shrilled into the mic, and Amy took in a sharp breath; hearing the crowd do the same. "They're faking being lesbians!"

Penelope was rushing onto the stage, trying to usher the shorter blonde away from the microphone, "Faking it!" She shouted, one last time, "Everyone needs to know!"

Karma's eyes searched for her, pleading for help. The trainwreck of what happened was about to crush the two of them. And Amy couldn't even comprehend the momentum of everything happening, and she could practically hear Karma's desperate, "Amy, do something!"

There are a few moments, she figures, a few moments where everyone is faced with a choice. A decision. One that could change everything. And, if she thought faking being a lesbian would change everything; then, truly- actually- sealing the deal would add a whole new angle at the game. For the last week, she'd been on her toes anticipating when Karma was going to do it. Amy supposed she had been wrong all along.

There was one way she could save them before they (metaphorically) burst into flames.

Without thinking, Amy shot out her arms and grabbed her best friend by the waist, pulling their bodies against one another; she pointedly ignored the confused look that crossed her friend's face.

"If we're faking it," She announced, to the audience, and then, to Lauren; who was still being held back by Penelope.

It was now or never.

"Would I do this?"

She finally built up the courage to look at Karma, who was searching her eyes, just barely following along.

Fast, like a bandaid.

In the few milliseconds before their lips met one another's, all she could hear was... stereo silence. As if even the switch in her own mind, finally, for once, turned off. No thoughts. Just... action. And she was never the spontaneous, "action" girl.

She closed Karma's bottom lip between her own, and, oddly enough, one thought crossed her mind; and it was that they had a campaign to sell. As her brain tuned back into the present; she noticed the way the crowd was erupting. And... and the God damn confetti canon.

Take that, Lauren. We're selling it!

And, while all the triumph seemed to be happening around her, they had clearly proved themselves right (wrong?), Amy couldn't pull away. Not with the way her heart was pounding against her ribs, and the way Karma was kissing back, she was... afraid. Yet, what was there to be afraid of? The look on Karma's face? The way that this was a bit real now, and being exposed as a real (fake) lesbian from Lauren to her mother would be just as bad as being exposed as a fake lesbian to the public-

Fuck, Amy, you really stepped in it.

And there wasn't a way around it this time.

But, maybe most terrifyingly of all; she didn't want to stop kissing Karma. It was a good kiss. She, was a good kisser.

And, she gripped Amy's arm just a little bit tighter, pulling her closer. Inhaling sharply, Amy resisted the urge to do the same; it was still Karma, after all; and getting hot and heavy with her best friend of thirteen years (not to mention, of the same gender) in front of the whole school was the last thing she had ever really considered happening.
But still, as Karma pulled away, Amy couldn't help but feel... disappointed- and breathless. It was time to face the world again.

"Whoa," Karma whispered, gazing upwards at Amy, who, couldn't stop staring at her lips, "I know." Was really her only response, before her friend's hands were squeezing her wrists again, and she was beaming at the crowd giving a standing ovation. "Way to sell it!"
And that, the Amy Wave, the Lauren Wave- whatever she wanted to call it- was officially part of the disaster when Amy realized that she sold it a little too much.

If Karma had to choose three positive words to describe herself with, she'd pick: A) determined. B) creative. And, C) honest. Or, at least she tried to be, and that ought to count for something, right?
If she had to pick three positive words to describe Amy with- she found it a lot harder. Not because Amy wasn't a good person- for the opposite reason, really. She was too good. Picking three was a challenge. But, she reasoned that she'd pick; A) loyal. B) intellectual (thinker, duh). And C) She was hilarious. But, she was also kind, generally just an all-around thoughtful person, and she was opinionated- in the good way. Yeah, Karma would make the best wing-woman.

And so, at the assembly, when Amy was grabbing her around the waist and kissing her and- really, saving their asses- in front of the whole student body, she was pretty taken aback. It made her question whether or not she'd use intellectual as one of the first cards she'd pull out for her friend. Just because the action was so not Amy. Amy was the kind of person who'd first try to think of a way she could talk them out of the situation.

Maybe she just realized they were in such hot water that there would be no way out of the hot water.

Yeah, she's a thinker. Scratch that; intellectual is still on the prime selling list.

But, it was still a pretty bold move for Amy.

Hell, Karma wouldn't have done it.

Not if Amy hadn't done it first.

But, boy- she was glad that she did.

Such a move skyrocketed their popularity even more; and Karma didn't think that was possible to start with. They had shippers. It was surreal.

And as for Liam Booker?
He was so interested. She was certain of it; he was so much more gentle than Karma imagined; not some dumb jock, but he was artistic and sensitive and he was the Ferrari of men at Hester. He didn't hit on her like a pig, he had the respect to take things slow.

So when they began seeing each other- no matter how slowly- it felt like Christmas. And Christmas started happening pretty often- even if it was just stops here and there into the art room between classes (or during) and nothing really happened. But that doesn't mean that they weren't having... something.

The flirty looks and comments had to mean something?

Until the total, rude, unexpected bomb was dropped right in Karma's stratasphere.

"I've always wanted to sleep with a lesbian," He said, as sweetly as if he was admitting that he had never had sex at all, smiling up at her and all; with his hands grasping her own. That was a moment of dumbfound that Karma hadn't felt in a long time- even proceeding her kiss with Amy. (A lot of close girl friends kiss each other at some point, she'd concluded, and it had made the situation slightly less... surprising). She felt like she ought to take her finger and flap it between her lips like they did in cartoons. Tongue-tied.

And he must have been able to tell by the way his hopeful expression slowly crumbled into an "Oh, fuck" interpretation. That was about the same time the silence fell away and Karma regained use of words, "Excuse me?"

Gawking, Liam began to stutter- this time it was he who lost the function of his coherence, "I- I didn't... I mean-"

"You only want to sleep with me because I'm... a lesbian?" It took a moment to catch herself from adding 'You think' to the statement. But, was this douche saying that he wouldn't want to sleep with her even if she... wasn't pretending to be a lesbian?

"Well," He choked out, eyes darting around, as if looking for some kind of escape. Karma slowly pulled her hands out from under his, and he watched, in a stunned horror, "You're a lesbian, though?"

Liam Fucking Booker. Amy was so right- he was just another shallow, sex-obsessed boy- forget the artsy saint he seemed to think he was (and who Karma had been tricked into thinking he was, too. Damn him!).
But still... he was so good looking, even when he was sitting in front of her, trying to backtrack what he'd said. And either way- lesbian or not- they were... making progress.

"I think we should... take a bit of time...apart," She wasn't sure how to string together what to say, or how to say it. (Honestly, what does one say when the Ferrari of boys is starting to be into you but only because he thinks you're a lesbian and you're only faking being a lesbian with your best friend so that you could have gotten some attention from said boy? Well, sort of. Even Karma was lost, with the way the tables had turned.)

If Liam's eyes could go any wider, they'd fall out of his head. "Oh." He said flatly, "Okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

She knew he didn't. He didn't mean to come off the way he did, he didn't mean to fuck up- whatever excuse he was about to pull. She knew. He was a boy. They were, for the most part, lacking much of the social finesse when it came to such delicate matters. Karma held up a hand, cutting him off, "Don't worry," She said quickly, "I just... I gotta go,"

As mad as she was with him, she knew it wasn't over yet. She wasn't going to let something she put so much work into be gone in split seconds, all because of one stupid little comment. Karma had to figure out how to work around it; she needed to come back, with a plan. Because, the plan had worked thus far, hadn't it? She needed to be better equipped for the situation, not flailing like a fish out of water.

In the meantime, she had a Homecoming to get ready for.