Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Shauna,” Jackie gasps through her panted breaths. “My parents are going to be back any minute…” 

They’re in her bedroom with the door firmly closed. Jackie is lying on her bed with Shauna above her, raining heated kisses up and down her neck. 

It’s become a routine for them as of late. To sneak into each other's bedrooms when their parents were out. Ever since this…thing between them randomly started up months ago. 

Usually, Shauna is on board with her on the whole secrecy thing. But her response this time surprises Jackie. 

“So what,” Shauna says, pausing in the kisses on Jackie’s neck to look at her. But she doesn’t put any distance between them. “Maybe it’s time they found out.” 

Immediately, Jackie’s eyes widen. “Shauna, you know we can’t…” 

“Why not?” Shauna demands. “Tai and Van have been out as a couple for months now and no one gives a shit.” 

Jackie lets out a sigh. “It’s not that and you know it. My parents…they’re going to flip out if they find out.” 

She gets where Shauna is coming from. Truly, she does. Jackie has grown tired of sneaking around too. A huge part of her wants to be able to walk through the halls of their school hand-in-hand with Shauna, letting everyone know that they’re an item. Maybe even go to senior prom together. 

But her parents don’t want her dating anyone at all, least of all the best friend that she was planning on rooming with in college. Dating meant potential distractions from doing well in school. 

Shauna lets out a deep breath. Jackie can tell that she’s trying to reign in her patience. It’s something she’s been working on since they first confessed their feelings for each other and vowed to begin being more honest. 

“It’s our senior year. We’re almost adults. You can’t let your parents dictate you forever.” Shauna’s expression goes soft, more vulnerable now. “I want you to be my girlfriend, Jax. Publicly. Don’t you want that too?” 

“Of course I do.” 

Shauna takes one of her hands, lifts it up to her lips and kisses the back of it. “Then please…at least bring it up to them? See what they say?” 

Those big brown eyes…Jackie has always been a sucker for them. Since as long as she can remember. It’s right then that she decides to give in. 

“Okay, I’ll talk to them about it tonight.” 

The smile she gets in return is well worth the stress of promising to talk about this with her parents. Shauna immediately pulls her into a kiss. “Thank you.” 

Jackie happily returns the kiss, only murmuring out a reply when they break it. 

“I can’t promise what their reaction will be. But I’m going to try.” 

Jackie ends up sending Shauna home once her parents return home. It had taken some time but she was eventually able to convince her that the talk with her parents is more likely to go well if she wasn’t there for it. 

Even so, Jackie has to desperately fight the urge to flee. Talking to her parents about these kinds of things has never been easy for her. But she promised Shauna she would at least try. 

Besides…the very small chance that they will accept this was worth it. Shauna may be the one pushing the most for it but Jackie wanted them to be a normal couple too. 

“Is everything alright, Jackie?” 

The sound of her mother’s voice breaks Jackie out of her thoughts. 

Jackie looks up at her from where she was staring at her plate of pasta. 

They were in the middle of eating dinner. The three of them were sitting at their dining table that was much too large for just three people. 

Originally, Jackie’s goal was to bring up the topic after they had finished the meal. But with the way her mind is going, she’s starting to feel that prolonging it will inevitably give her an anxiety attack.  

Maybe it’s best to bite the bullet now…

She forces a bright smile. “Everything is fine.” She pauses in hesitation. 

You can do this Jackie. Do it for Shauna…and you. 

“But there is something I need to tell you both,” she blurts. 

She sees her parents share quick, apprehensive glances at each other. These kinds of conversations weren’t usual between the three of them. 

Her father speaks first. “What do you have to tell us?” His voice would seem kind and warm to most. But Jackie can hear the underlining probing. 

Jackie sucks out a deep breath. “I know you don’t want me dating until I’m done with school…” 

Her mother nods firmly, cutting her off. “You’re on track for a wonderful scholarship, Jackie. We can’t have anything jeopardizing that.” 

Man, they weren’t making this any easier. 

She heaves out another sigh, closing her eyes for just a moment before looking at them again. 

“Well, I’m asking you to…think about maybe changing your mind, because Shauna and I want to be together.” 

There it is, out in the open. No going back now. 

Dead silence follows. She can tell that she’s shocked her parents. 

Her mother eventually breaks the silence. “You and Shauna have always been best friends.” 

Jackie nods. “We have. But we realized it’s more than that.” 

Her father narrows his eyes. “How long has this been going on?” 

“Only for about two weeks, I swear.” 

It’s a lie, and Jackie immediately feels dirty about it. But she knows her parents will go ballistic if they know  she and Shauna have been sneaking around for months. 

She’s at their mercy now. All she can do is pray they’ll have a change of heart…

“Well Jackie, I can’t say that I’m not a little disappointed in you,” her mother says. “You’ve never kept something like this from us before.” 

Not entirely true. There’s quite a bit of things her parents don’t know. But they’ve always had a tenancy to put her on a pedestal. 

She bows her head. “I know. I’m sorry.” 

Her father chimes in. “And I’m sure you understand that we now have to monitor how much time you spend with Shauna. It may be best if we cut out the sleepovers completely until after graduation…” 

Horror sweeps through Jackie, ice cold. She was afraid this was going to happen. That her parents wouldn’t be accepting at all and instead of giving permission, would start trying to limit her time with Shauna…

“You can’t do that,” she blurts before she can stop herself. 

Her mother raised her eyebrows. “We can’t?”

Maybe Shauna is right. This is the time to get a little angry. 

“I’m almost eighteen,” Jackie says pointedly. “I’ve done well in school so far. Why can’t I have a relationship like everyone else in my grade?” 

Her father pauses thoughtfully before responding. “I don’t believe David and Brenda’s daughter has been in a relationship either. You’re certainly not alone.” 

Jackie blanches. The Quigleys have been close friends of her parents for a while now. They were both medical doctors, so of course they had their respect. 

Jackie feels kind of bad thinking this way because, once upon a time when they were children, she and Misty had been sort of friends. It was a friendship that mostly stemmed from being shoved together during the boring joint dinners their parents would always drag them to. But there are reasons Misty has never been in a relationship that had nothing to do with whether or not she was allowed to have one. 

Her parents, who have been to several of her soccer games and other school events, had to know this. 

At her father’s comment, her mother perks up in a way that Jackie doesn’t like at all. 

“That’s a good point, Robert,” she says to her father before looking at Jackie. “We’ll make you a deal.” 

Her father opens his mouth to protest but her mother waves him off, shooting him a brief look as if to say ‘trust me’ before continuing in her direction. 

“If Misty gets into a relationship this year, you can as well. And we’ll lift the restrictions for you and Shauna.” 

If the concept of not being able to see Shauna outside of school for the rest of their senior year didn’t depress her so much, Jackie might’ve laughed. This was a non-deal in disguise and her parents both know it. That’s why they were offering it. There is no way anyone was going to try to date Misty this year. 

Fuck it. She is mad now. 

Without finishing her food, Jackie stomps off, ignoring the sounds of her parents calling her name as she sulks back to her bedroom. 

She doesn’t care if she gets grounded at this point. She basically already is. 

Natalie didn’t get much sleep the night before. But what’s new. 

Instead, she had gotten the pleasure of listening to her parents scream at each other all night. 

At least there hadn’t been any signs of physical abuse this time. 

She holds her gym locker door open, peering into the mirror she keeps inside of it. She really hasn’t wanted to come to practice today. But she knows she needs to save her skip days for things that are truly important. Exhaustion wasn’t one of them because it was an every week occurrence in her household. 

So far no one on the team had commented on the bags underneath her eyes. She hopes that means they aren’t too noticeable. 

“Hey Nat.” 

She looks away from the mirror in surprise. She could’ve sworn she’d been the last one left in the locker room. 

“Oh. Hey Misty.” 

Nat is a bit surprised that Misty is approaching her. She can count on the fingers of one hand how many times they’ve spoken to each other one-on-one over the years. 

Misty is usually pretty eager for any sort of attention. But most of the time, Nat tended not to be one of her targets. 

Despite the fact that she approached her, Misty suddenly seems a bit nervous to speak. But there’s this tension about her that tells Nat she does have something to say. 

Nat lets out a breath, trying to reign in her patience. She’s crankier than usual due to her tiredness, but she knows she shouldn’t take that out on Misty, no matter how weird she could be. 

She decides to break the silence herself. “What’s up?” 

At last, this seems to give Misty the push to speak. “I couldn’t help but notice that you seemed really tired today. I have energy drinks in my locker, if you want one.” 

Well, Nat is definitely glad she stopped herself from potentially being an asshole. But she isn’t quite sure how to respond. 

If anyone on the team offered her an energy drink, she’d take it without question. But she knows that with Misty, things like this were a double-edged sword. If she took any offers from her, there was always the chance that she was going to use it as a way to latch on. Hard. 

Still…she was fucking tired. And it was sort of sweet that Misty seemed to notice. 

She really could use an energy drink…

“Yeah, I’ll take one,” she finally responds. “Thanks.” 

Misty brightens immediately and Nat tries to suppress the feeling that this may have been a mistake. “No problem! My locker is right over here.” 

A bit hesitant, Nat follows Misty a couple rows down until they eventually reach Misty’s locker. 

Secretly, she’s always wondered why Misty even has a locker. She isn’t part of the team, just the equipment manager. But she suspects it may have been Coach Ben’s way of making her feel better about not actually making the team. 

Not that it really helped. Despite being in their locker space, Misty still had trouble getting on with anyone, no matter how hard she tries. 

The problem is that she always tries too hard. 

Misty opens up her locker. “What kind do you want? I have green apple, orange, lime…” 

“I’ll take whatever you don’t want,” Nat says, cutting her off. 

Misty pauses for a moment, as if thinking it over, before eventually handing Nat one of the green cans. 

Green apple. 

“That one is actually my favorite,” Misty beams. “But you should tell me what you think of it.” 

“Um…sure..” This had been what she was afraid of happening. But…it was mostly harmless so far, wasn’t it? 

Misty is still staring expectantly at her so Nat opens up the energy drink and takes a swig. 

It’s not bad. A little too sugary for her taste but it should do for today. 

“It’s good,” she says flatly. “Um…thanks again, Misty.” 

Misty’s enthusiastic smile never wavers. “No problem, Nat! I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

“Sure,” Nat replies shortly before she can think better of it. 

Before Misty can say anything else Nat walks back to her locker, energy drink in hand. She hoists her backpack on and double checks that her locker is secured before heading towards the exit. 

Fuck. Has she just made a huge mistake? 

She’s never minded Misty as much as others on the team. Mostly because the two of them tend to leave each other alone. But she’s been witness to what happens if anyone gives Misty a scrap of attention. 

It’s not that she has a problem with talking to Misty every now and then. But knowing Misty, she was going to try to make it much more than that. 

Her thoughts are broken off by nearly running into someone inside of the gym. 

“Nat!” Shauna says, visibly letting out a large gulp of air. “I was hoping you hadn’t left yet.” 

This is a surprise. 

Nat adjusts the straps of her backpack. “I’m surprised you’re still here. Don’t you usually drive Jackie home?” 

“She got a ride from her mom today. I…” 

Shauna trails off. Na glances over her own shoulder and sees that Misty had come out of the locker room, staring at them as she typically does. 

Shauna shoots Misty a scowl and grabs Natalie’s arm. “Can we go somewhere to talk?” 

Nat frowns. It’s never been a secret that Shauna isn’t fond of Misty, much like most of the team. But there’s a strange tenseness about her that seems deeper than just normal annoyance. 

Whatever she has to say, she really doesn’t want anyone to overhear it. 

“Okay,” she says dryly in reply. 

Shauna quickly drags her out of the gym, far out of Misty’s line of sight, until they’re standing out in the field, in a secluded area behind the bleachers. 

Shauna still does a quick look around the area, as if making sure they were really alone. 

“No one else is here,” Nat says. “Now, mind telling me why you’re acting so weird? What’s with the secrecy?” 

Shauna gives in, letting go of her tense stance with a shrug to her shoulders. She bites her lower lip lightly. “I have a favor to ask you.” 

Nat gives a pointed look as if to say spit it out already. 

Shauna sighs roughly and closes her eyes for a moment, as if preparing herself for what she’s about to say. 

“I need you to date Misty. Or at least pretend to.” 

Immediately, Nat’s eyes widen in complete and utter shock. Out of all things Shauna could ask for, she would have never in a million years guessed that. 

“What the actual fuck, Shauna? Why?” 

Shauna has a pained expression now. “I convinced Jackie to tell her parents that we’re together. But it didn’t go well and now…now they’re trying to make it so we can’t see each other at all outside of school. They told her she can’t date anyone until Misty dates someone.” 

Most of the team was well aware that there was something going on with Shauna and Jackie. The lines between friendship and something else had always appeared blurred when it came to them. But this year, recently, it has started to become a bit more obvious. Nat knows that Van has some sort of betting pool going on about when they’ll officially come out as a couple. 

It seems they were at least trying now. Though Nat feels bad about the situation, she already knows her answer without thinking about it. 

“No.” 

“Look, I know it’s a lot to ask, but…”

“It’s fucked up.” 

It was fucked up for more than one reason. No one deserved to be played with like that. It sort of irritates her that Shauna doesn’t even seem to be considering Misty’s feelings in all this. She may be weird as hell but she’s still a person. 

It also rubs her the wrong way that she is the one Shauna is asking to do this, well aware of the way people at school talk about how ‘loose’ she is. 

Now, at least, Shauna has the decency to look a little ashamed. “I know it’s shitty. I wouldn’t be asking if I saw any other way.” 

“Why me? I’m not the only single person on the team. Why not Lottie? Or one of the JV’s?” 

“I thought you’d be the only one who would possibly say yes.” 

Nat can’t help but snort at that. At least she’s being honest. 

“Do you even know if Misty likes girls?” 

Misty has never dated anyone, as far as Nat knows. But she’s always struck her as someone who would probably be one of those aggressive fan girls to some male celebrity. 

Shauna shrugs. “No. But she’s always so desperate for even a scrap of attention from us that she’d probably say yes to you no matter what.” 

The sad thing is, Nat agrees with her. But it only serves to make her even less eager to do what Shauna is asking. 

“Please Nat, I’m begging you,” Shauna says, suddenly looking more vulnerable than Nat has seen her in probably years. Her eyes even look like they may have unshed tears. “I can’t go a whole year only seeing Jackie during school. Misty doesn’t even have to ever know it’s fake, if that’s what you’re worried about. Just date her for like a month and then find a reason to break up. It’ll still probably be the highlight of her entire high school experience.” 

God, Shauna can be such an asshole sometimes. Even while pleading. 

“And look,” Shauna continues, her determination coming back in a flash. “I have over two-thousand dollars saved up from working my summer jobs. If you date Misty for at least a month, it’s all yours.” 

That surprises Nat a little. “Shit, Shauna. You worked a lot for that money.” 

“I don’t care. It’d be worth it to me if Jackie and I can be together during our senior year.” 

Damn. That’s actually kind of sweet. 

She’s thinking about it now, even though she knows it’s a horrible idea. Two thousand dollars isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but to Nat, it is a good amount. There’s a lot of things she could do with it. 

Most of all, it could give her a head start in not needing to rely on her parents for shit after graduation. 

Her shoulders slump in defeat. “No one else on the team can know I’m getting paid. I don’t need everyone secretly laughing over it.” 

It’s bad enough that she’s doing this at all. At the very least, she can avoid adding more reasons for people to make fun of Misty. 

She’d rather take the brunt of it herself. 

Shauna’s eyes light up. “Does that mean you’ll do it?” 

“Yeah. I’ll do it.” 

Chapter Text

Misty makes sure to pack extra energy drinks in her backpack this morning. 

She still hasn’t forgotten about Natalie Scatoriccio actually accepting one from her the day before. 

It’d taken some guts to actually approach her. Although Natalie has never made mean comments about her as others on the team have, she’s always been sort of…a closed book. A little difficult for Misty to read and normally, she prides herself on being able to read people. A little unapproachable most of the time too. 

She had no idea what she would say to her offer, despite how tired she seemed all day. But she’d accepted it! And then afterwards, she didn’t say no to the idea of them seeing each other again the next day. 

It had gotten Misty thinking…if doing something like that had chipped at Natalie’s walls even a little bit, maybe having energy drinks ready for the rest of the team would earn their appreciation too. 

So…that was exactly what she was going to do. 

After making sure she has everything…a backpack stuffed with her school books, homework, and energy drinks, and her lunchbox, she heads on outside. 

There’s no need to say goodbye to anyone. Her parents aren’t here, working overtime at the hospital, as usual. 

She can already tell that her backpack is heavier than usual with all of the energy drinks she’s carrying. Luckily, the bus stop is pretty much right outside her house. Only about fifteen feet away in fact. 

Misty trudges over to the stop sign and it doesn’t take long for the bus to pull into view. 

Normally, she doesn’t cut it this close. But she may have spent a little more time than usual getting ready this morning, distracted with thoughts of her plan. 

Her corner is always one of the first stops the bus makes and therefore, she’s usually one of the first people on. 

It ends up being just the same this morning. Misty climbs onto the bus, receiving a flat “good morning” from the grumpy bus driver, Ms. Gladson, and then advances to find her seat. 

There’s only two other people on the bus. A girl named Maddie who Misty vaguely knows from her biology class, and Van Palmer. 

This is her first chance…

“Hey Van!” She greets cheerily, sitting in the seat across the aisle from her. 

Van doesn’t say anything for a moment. But as Misty continues to stare at her, she takes a couple of earbuds out of her ears. 

“Hi Misty…” She says, appearing cautious. 

Misty doesn’t let it deter her. She opens up her backpack, showcasing the energy drinks. 

“I just wanted to offer you an energy drink. I know you guys have practice after…” 

“Thanks. But I'm good,” Van says, cutting her off. 

She doesn’t say it unkindly necessarily…but definitely shortly, leaving no room for argument. 

Misty tries not to visibly wince at the sting. “Alright.” 

Feeling defeated, she zips up her backpack and places it underneath the seat in front of her. 

Van probably wasn’t the best Yellowjacket to start with anyway. She’s always seemed to try to stay as far away from her as possible. 

The next one she tries should be…Laura Lee maybe. Or maybe even Jackie, even though seeing her was still kind of awkward in its own way. 

She spends the next few minutes planning out her next move as the bus moves along. 

It’s at what she thinks is the second stop that she’s startled by the feeling of someone lightly tapping her shoulder. 

She jumps slightly, unable to help it. She doesn’t usually let herself get surprised like this but normally, no one ever interacts with her on the bus. 

“Whoa, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” a familiar voice says sincerely. 

Misty looks up in surprise to see Natalie standing beside her seat, giving her a small smile. 

“It’s okay. You didn’t scare me…not really,” she replies, after finding her voice. 

“Oh, well good,” Nat replies, still not walking away. She gestures at Misty’s seat. “Do you mind if I sit with you?” 

What…

“Sure, of course!” Misty says, covering up her complete surprise with enthusiasm. She scoots back towards the window to make room. 

Nat takes a seat beside her, placing her own bag on the floor in front of her. 

From across the aisle, Misty can see both Van and Taissa, who had gotten on during the first stop, shooting Nat questioning looks. But Nat doesn’t seem to be paying them any mind. 

Instead, all of her attention appears to be on Misty. 

This is so out of the ordinary. She was excited about Nat taking the energy drink from her the day before, sure, but she didn’t think it would lead to something like this. 

But well, she’s always thought Nat was the most difficult Yellowjacket for her to read, and she knows a good thing when she sees one. 

She tries to remember who Nat usually sits with on the bus, wondering if maybe they were sick and that’s why Nat was choosing to sit here, but she honestly can’t remember. 

“Thanks again for the energy drink yesterday,” Nat says after a moment. “I was tired yesterday and it helped me get through all of the homework.” 

Misty beams. “Oh, no problem. I’ll actually have more in my locker today if you need another one.” 

Nat grins. “I’ll keep that in mind.” 

There is something about the way she is looking at her that is making Misty’s heart race. 

She doesn’t quite understand it. It can’t just be because she’s being friendly to her. Sure, it doesn’t happen as much as she would like it to. But it has happened with others before . And it’s never felt like this. 

They ride the rest of the way to school in silence. Misty hopes that she isn’t making the way it’s affecting her too obvious. 

When the bus parks in front of the school, Nat speaks again. 

“We have our first class together, don’t we?” 

First period was English. And yes, they did have it together. She’s noticed Nat usually sitting at the back of the class. 

She gives a nod, beginning to grab her things and stand up. “We do.” 

Nat doesn’t look away from her. “Wanna walk there together?” 

Van and Taissa had already begun making their way off the bus, but Misty can see them from the corner of her gaze still making confused looks at them. 

“I…sure.” Misty is confused herself, but knows better than to pass an opportunity like this up. Still, she can’t help but ask. “But why?” 

Maybe Nat needed something. Or…maybe she’s attempting to mess with her somehow. 

Nat doesn’t seem like the type to do that, as far as Misty has seen. She’s never picked on her before and tends to keep to herself more than anything. 

But past experiences have taught Misty to be cautious when people are forward like this. 

Nat shrugs her shoulders. “Does there need to be a reason?” 

When Misty just continues staring at her, she sighs. 

“I just realized after yesterday that I don’t really know you. I want to change that.” 

The sincere way she says it…along with the way she’s still looking at her sends Misty’s heart racing again. 

“Okay,” she manages out. 

Nat looks around the bus, seemingly amused. “We’re the only ones still on. We should probably get off.” 

Misty has been so focused on…well, Natalie, that she hadn’t noticed that everyone else but them had exited the bus. From the driver’s seat, Mrs. Gladson is glaring impatiently at them. 

“Right,” Misty agrees, leading the way off the bus. 

She’s increasingly realizing that it might’ve been a mistake to bring all of these energy drinks. Her backpack is proving to be heavier than she had predicted, the longer she carries it. 

“Are you carrying a bunch of bricks in there or something?” She hears Nat ask as they exit the bus. 

Apparently, Misty hadn’t been doing a good job of hiding her struggle at all. 

For a quick second, she panics. Now that Nat is giving her all this attention on her own, the energy drink idea seems kind of silly. 

She doesn’t really want Nat to know about it, especially since the idea came from her accepting an energy drink from her yesterday. 

Misty forces out a laugh. “Oh, no bricks. Just a ridiculous amount of textbooks. I’m returning some that I forgot to give back last year.” 

It’s a very believable lie. Misty prides herself on it. 

The two of them step off the bus. Though she has her back turned to her at the moment, Misty can somehow sense Nat’s gaze on her. 

“Do you need help carrying it?” Nat asks. 

“No thank you. I can…” 

But apparently having Nat’s attention so completely and fully is making Misty more nervous than she thought, because it’s at that moment that she somehow trips on her own feet, tumbling onto the ground. 

“Shit Misty!” She hears Nat say before she runs over. 

She obviously landed on her knee because the first thing Misty registers is a burning, aching pain right on her right one. 

The second is Nat’s hands, gently moving under her arms to help her get up from off the ground. 

“Can you stand?” 

“I think so…yes,” Misty says, quickly trying to gather herself, even as she winced a little in pain. 

She looks down. It looks like her knee was scrapped because a decent amount of blood is not slowly oozing from it. 

Her larger concern is her backpack, which is now lying on the ground appearing soaking wet. It looks like some of the energy drinks must have busted open inside it. 

Nat keeps a steadying hand on her shoulder, frowning down at her knee. “You should probably have the nurse look at that.” 

Reluctantly, Misty knows that she’s likely right. If there’s dirt or rocks in the wound, it would need to be cleaned out and then bandaged to prevent any kind of infection. 

She wishes she had her first aid kit from home on her. But she’d neglected it in favor of packing the energy drinks instead. 

All the good that ended up doing. 

Nat walks over to grab her backpack off of the ground. “I can at least carry this for you.” 

“No wait….” 

Too late. Misty can tell that Nat can already see how wet the backpack was. She picks it up anyway, frowning as she turns to look at her. “It looks like you had a water bottle explode in here or something.” 

She could lie again. Just say that Nat is right and she had a water bottle that had somehow burst open when the backpack hit the ground. 

…But that would pose the risk of digging herself into an even deeper hole if Nat decided to try to open up her backpack to help her clean it out. And since she suddenly seems so insistent on helping…

She stops herself. She doesn’t know what’s wrong with her right now. This is everything she’s wanted…she should be happy that someone…especially someone as cool as Natalie, is showing signs of wanting to befriend her. 

This just…hasn’t been her morning so far. But she needs to not let herself ruin it even further like she always does. 

Misty lets out a sigh. “It’s not a water bottle. I’ll explain later. Right now…I probably should go to the nurse’s office.” 

Nat raises an eyebrow in a way that looks kind of amused. “You don’t sound happy about that.” 

Misty moves her legs a bit to get her balance, grimacing slightly at the feeling of pain that shoots up from her knee. But at least she’s reassured that she can walk. 

“I usually like to provide my own medical care,” she explains to Nat as they begin to walk towards the school side-by-side. “But I didn’t bring my first aid kit with me today.” 

Nat suddenly moves closer to her, as if afraid of her falling again and wanting to be there to catch her in the case of it. “I bet. I saw you help patch up Laura Lee on the field the other day. You seem like you know your stuff.” 

Misty feels herself preen a bit at the praise. Laura Lee had pulled a muscle. ‘Treating her’ hadn’t been any more than splinting it and telling her she had to try to stay off of it for the rest of the day, but it’s still nice that someone had noticed. 

“Thanks,” she says in reply. “My parents are both doctors. So I’ve grown up knowing about that kind of stuff.” 

“Maybe you missed your calling. You should’ve been the team nurse instead of the equipment manager.” 

Again the way she says it…Misty can’t quite put her finger on it at first but there’s an air of slyness in it that elevates it above a simple statement. 

She almost freezes in place as she suddenly realizes what it reminds her of. 

It reminds her of the way she’s seen guys talk to some of her various female classmates over the years. 

Is Natalie…flirting with her? 

She brushes the thought away almost as quickly as she thinks it, holding back a laugh at her own absurdity. 

“Are you okay?” 

The question has Misty turning towards her. 

Nat is now looking at her in a way that Misty can’t tell is out of worry or confusion. 

“Oh I’m fine,” Misty says, forcing a bright smile. “Just started thinking about something. Let’s get to the nurse’s office.”

She leads the way for the rest of the trek, determined not to mess anything up further.

When they arrive at the nurse’s office, Misty ended up asking Nat to stay with her while she’s patched up. 

Natalie agreed. It’s not like missing the first twenty minutes or so of English class is going to hurt her in the long run. And abandoning Misty right now wouldn’t do anything to help her plan of eventually asking her out. 

She has to hold back a grimace as she thinks about it. 

She still can’t believe she really let Shauna talk her into this. A large part of her still thinks about changing her mind and bolting. But she’s already in too deep at this point, sitting next to Misty on the bus and offering to walk her to class. At this point, she might as well just go all the way. 

Besides…she really could use that money. And she doesn’t want to be the reason Shauna and Jackie are banned from seeing each other for the entire year. 

All of this is running through her mind as she sits in the nurse’s office by Misty, holding her hand as the nurse patches up her knee with antiseptic and dressings. 

Misty gives a few hisses of pain and seems to be doing her best to not even look at what the nurse is doing, her eyes closed and jaw clenched as her head tits away from her knee. 

It kind of surprises Nat. She’s seen Misty whip out her first aid kit multiple times when someone on the team got injured during a game or practice. She never would’ve pegged her as someone who would be squeamish about blood or wounds. 

If anything, she would’ve assumed she’d be the type to look closely at everything the nurse is doing, to ensure that it’s done correctly. 

But once it’s over and the nurse lets Misty go with some instructions about wound care that Nat is sure Misty already knows about, she seems to go back to her usual self. 

“Are you okay?” She can’t help but tentatively ask as they exit the nurse’s office. 

Misty tilts her head curiously at her. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” 

Nat shrugs. “You seemed really uncomfortable in there.” 

Maybe Misty just had a really low pain tolerance. But the way she grimaced and squeezed Nat’s hand had seemed like an intense reaction to getting a scraped knee bandaged up. 

“Oh.” Misty seems a little embarrassed, as if not expecting Nat to notice. “No, I’m fine. I just…I don’t like having other people do stuff like that to me.” 

That explains why just the very idea of having to go see the nurse seemed to make Misty more uncomfortable and pissed off than Nat thinks she’s ever seen her. 

“I get that,” Nat offers. She isn’t much of a fan of that kind of stuff either. In fact, she actively avoids seeking any kind of medical care even if she does end up getting injured. 

Misty nods in response to her words, seeming to frown a little when she realizes that Nat is still holding her soaked backpack. 

“I should probably put that in my locker. I can’t use it for the rest of the day.” 

Nat had almost forgotten about the backpack in the midst of watching Misty get her knee taken care of. 

The backpack is wet and sticky, which gives Nat the impression that it definitely wasn’t a water bottle that had spilled inside it. Misty still hadn’t told her what it actually was, though Nat has her suspicions. 

But whatever. She isn’t going to call it out. Misty had seemed very embarrassed by the whole thing and Nat doesn’t need to add to it, especially since she’s already in the middle of trying to fuck with Misty in a way. 

Nat silently follows her towards her locker and hands over the backpack for her to stuff it inside. 

“Thanks for staying with me,” Misty says as she secures the locker. “I’m sorry that you missed the first part of class.” 

Nat honestly doesn’t really give a shit about class at the moment. She just needs to bite the bullet and do what she intends so she can get it over with. 

“It’s fine. It would’ve been shitty for me to just leave you.” 

“A lot of the others would have.” Misty doesn’t say the words accusingly, just matter-of-fact. 

Nat doesn’t really know what to say to that. Telling her that isn’t true would feel like lying. But she also doesn’t think it’d be particularly kind to agree with her. 

Luckily, Misty seems willing to fill in the silent gap. 

“Not that I don’t appreciate it but…why do you want to get to know me all of a sudden?” 

There’s a suspicious tint to her tone…but also hopefulness. 

It makes Nat feel even more like shit for going along with this. 

But still, she pushes on. “Do you want to do something after school sometime? See a movie or go get dinner somewhere?”

There. It’s out in the air. No backing out now. 

Misty doesn’t say anything in response for a moment. When she does, it throws Nat off a bit. “Are you inviting me to team activities?” 

She sounds so excited at the prospect of even that. 

“No…” Fuck, this is even more difficult than she had imagined. “I’m trying to ask you out, Misty.” 

“Oh.” 

Not the reaction Nat was expecting…though if she’s being honest, she didn’t know what to expect, really. Shauna seemed to think that Misty is so desperate for attention that she’ll accept a date from anyone. 

But maybe she’s wrong. While getting rejected by Misty of all people would be a bit embarrassing, Nat wouldn’t mind. At least then she could tell Shauna that she tried. 

Misty has a strange expression on her face as she looks at her now. As if she’s a complicated puzzle that she can’t quite figure out. 

Nat fidgets a bit under her stare. 

And then, in a flash, the expression on Misty’s face completely changes. Suddenly, she’s smiling wide, almost bashfully. 

Nat struggles a bit to wrap her mind around the complete whiplash. 

“Oh Natalie…I’m flattered, but I may need to think about it,” she says, voice oozing with sweetness. “This is just, really sudden you know?” 

Nat blinks, still not over the complete change in demeanor. But she eventually gives a nod. “Right. Yeah that’s fine.” 

It could be a  blessing in disguise…

Misty is still looking at her all wide-eyed. She reaches over and places a hand on top of her shoulder, as if trying to comfort her. “I hope this isn’t disappointing you too much.” 

Nat shakes her head. “No, it’s alright.” Maybe she should be feeling some type of way about getting rejected. But there’s a part of her that’s a little relieved. “Do you um…still want to walk to class together?” 

Misty beams. “Oh sure!” 

They begin to walk to class, Misty beginning to blabber about various subjects.. 

“Did you finish the essay from last week…” 

Chapter Text

“You’re serious? She really said no?” 

Nat sighs as she closes her locker door, turning towards Shauna. 

They were only thirty minutes away from the start of practice. Normally, Nat doesn’t make an effort to get into the locker room this early but she’d been sort of hoping to get ready before everyone else and avoid both Shauna and Misty for as long as she could. 

But apparently Shauna had been waiting for her too because as soon as Nat walked in through the door, there she was. 

“Yeah, she did. I did tell you that I didn’t think it was a for sure thing.” 

Misty may be weird but she’s still human. And just like anyone, she must have preferences…preferences that obviously didn’t include Nat. 

And that’s fine. Yeah, the money would’ve been nice. But Nat hadn’t felt great about going along with the plan anyway. 

Shauna looks pissed. Nat can just tell that she’s probably trying to think of a thousand ways to punish Misty for ruining her plans. 

Nat shifts on her feet in an uncomfortable motion, finishing up with putting on her uniform. “Look, I’m sorry that I can’t help. It sucks that you and Jackie are dealing with all that. But maybe…” 

“What exactly did she say? When she rejected you?” Shauna asks, cutting her off. 

Nat attempts to reign in her patience. She cares about Shauna just as much as she does the rest of the team. They’re friends. But there are times where she feels she can only take her in small doses. “She said she had to think about it. But she was acting weird as shit the entire time I tried to talk to her. Didn’t seem like she wanted me around really.” 

This is half a lie. Misty was honestly very back and forth the entire time they interacted. Nat suspects it may have been out of suspicion which…was fair. 

Unfortunately, this seems to be all Shauna needs to regain some hope. “That wasn’t a flat out rejection then.” 

“Shauna…” 

“She’s probably just trying to soak up as much attention from you as she can and make you work for it. I don’t know…try getting her flowers or something.” 

This is just getting ridiculous. “I’m not going to beg her to go out with me.” 

“Fine…but we can do something else.” Shauna pauses in thought. In a few seconds, her brown eyes seem to light up in a way Nat doesn’t trust. “I think I have an idea.” 

Nat narrows her eyes. “Am I going to like it?” 

Shauna waves her off. “It’s not that bad. But Misty…have you ever noticed how obsessed she gets when someone on the team is injured or sick?” 

Nat already doesn’t like where this is going. 

Shauna apparently takes her lack of response as a sign to continue. “We could tell her you’re not feeling great. She’ll get that power trip she’s always seeking, and maybe then she’ll take you up on your offer.” 

It’s actually not as bad as Nat was fearing. But she still doesn’t like the idea of going through this much damn trouble just to get Misty Quigley to date her for a month. 

“Fine,” she says after a moment. “But if this plan doesn’t work, I’m done.” 

Shauna nods, her gaze softening just slightly. “Thanks.” 

She’s starting to wonder if the money will even be worth all of this. 

“And Nat…” 

Nat looks back at Shauna, realizing that her gaze had begun to drift off. “What?” 

“There’s going to be another bonfire party tomorrow night at the usual spot,” Shauna says. “You should invite Misty to go with you. We can take pictures as evidence for Jackie’s parents.” 

Shauna’s bright idea ends up involving telling the rest of the team that Nat’s ankle is feeling too sore to practice. 

If Nat had known about that little detail of it, she might’ve refused. She’d had another fight with her dad this morning and soccer always gave her a release to let out some aggression. She was amped up for it today in particular. So having to sit on the bleachers and watch the team practice instead in order to go along with Shauna’s little ruse is frustrating. 

Between the possible ramifications of being as nice as she was to Misty…to the point where she let herself get rejected by her, and now this, she feels like Shauna owes her some money whether or not Misty does agree to date her. 

She tries not to let her annoyance show as she watches her team kick the ball around without her but has a feeling she’s failing. 

“Hey Nat.” 

As if one cue. At least it seems like Shauna’s plan is partially working. 

Nat looks away from where she was grumpily staring at the field and sure enough, there’s Misty standing beside her. 

“Hey,” Nat murmurs in reply. Shauna would probably kill her for not trying to sound more enthusiastic, but she doesn’t currently have it in her. 

Misty doesn’t seem deterred. Nat isn’t sure if it’s because she doesn’t notice her tone or simply doesn’t care, but she takes a seat beside her on the bottom bleacher row. 

“Shauna told me you hurt your ankle?” 

“Yeah,” Nat replies, and then scrambles to come up with a story. Fuck, she really should have tried to plan out more of this in advance. “I uh…twisted it while I was getting off the bus yesterday.” 

Misty hums thoughtfully. Nat can’t tell whether or not she believes her lame last minute story. 

“Can I take a look at it?” She asks. 

Somewhat hesitantly, Nat nods and changes her sitting position so that she’s facing Misty. “It’s the left one.” 

Not that it matters which ankle because neither of them are actually injured. And fuck…Misty is probably going to take one glance at it and know she’s lying.  

Misty sets to work immediately, gazing down at Nat’s left ankle. She touches it with both her hands, very gently, with a frown etched across her face. 

“There’s no swelling or discoloration,” Misty comments after a moment. “Are you sure you twisted it?” 

“Well, yeah. It…really fucking hurt…”

“And it still hurts?” 

The question doesn’t sound accusatory, just curious. As if Nat is a science experiment that Misty is collecting data from. 

And then suddenly, Misty smiles. It’s a wide, somewhat unsettling one. 

“Did you fake an injury to get my attention?” 

God, she is going to kill Shauna once this was all said and done. 

Nat doesn’t know what to say. Technically, it is true even if her intentions aren’t what Misty is probably thinking. But it makes her feel so pathetic…

Misty ends up filling the silence for her. “Natalie,” she coos, voice sugary sweet. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Nat has to bite back the urge to tell her to knock it off with the condescending shit. The smart thing to do would be to take the opening.  

So…that’s what she does. 

“You caught me,” she says dryly, though manages a small smile. 

Misty seems to take it hook line and sinker. “It just feels so sudden to me…how long have you felt this way?”

This would be so much easier if Nat was accustomed to lying. But she really isn’t. She’s never really felt the need to pretend to be anything she isn’t.  

 “For a little while,” she eventually says, hoping that keeping it vague won’t lead Misty to asking more questions. “You giving me the energy drink yesterday helped me realize it, I think.” 

She hopes this response is satisfactory. 

From the corner of her eye, she can see some of the girls out on the field looking towards them. It probably seems weird, since Misty is no longer paying any attention to her ankle. 

Fortunately, Misty seems to accept it. Her eyes widen a fraction. She suddenly reaches forward to grab one of her hands and Nat has to force herself not to jump up in surprise. 

“I’m sorry that I didn’t say yes yesterday,” she says, sounding sincere. “I think I was just surprised. I’ve never been with a girl before.” 

Nat is pretty sure Misty has never been with anyone before. At least not at school. But she knows it wouldn’t be kind to point that out. 

She shifts a bit uncomfortably. “Does that mean you’re saying yes now?” 

Misty gives her hand a light squeeze, nodding. The expression on her face suddenly turns a bit bashful. “Yes.” 

Shauna’s plan actually worked. Nat doesn’t quite know whether to feel dread or relief. 

“I haven’t…gone out with anyone in a long time,” Misty says after a moment. She reaches up to adjust the glasses on her nose. “I don’t really know what happens next.” 

She sounds more vulnerable than Nat thinks she’s ever heard her. It causes her to soften. She has to remember that no matter how weird Misty can be, this is likely the first time she’s ever gotten this sort of attention. 

Once again, she kind of feels like a piece of shit. 

“There’s no rules to going out,” she responds softly. “We can do whatever we want. But most of the time people start by going on a date.” 

Misty smiles in a way that looks kind of shy. “So…should we go on a date soon?” 

“Sure.” Nat doesn’t have any problem with delaying going home after school. And her and Kevyn haven’t had much time to make plans to hang out since his parents sold their house and were in the process of moving. “We can go after practice today if you want.” 

Right away, Misty nods enthusiastically. “I have a small homework load tonight but it can wait a few hours.” 

“Great. Do you want to go to dinner somewhere?” Nat could take her to that diner down the street. It’s decent food with a good price. And they could get there without a car. 

“I’d like that.” Misty is staring at her intently again, but there’s a weird expression on her face, as if she’s contemplating something. 

Before Nat has a chance to say anything about it, Misty surprises her by leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her cheek. 

Instantly, Nat feels her face heat up. 

Misty parts from it casually, a cheerful expression on her face. “See you after practice, Nat. You can go back on the field if you want…now that you don’t have to pretend to be hurt.” She then finally turns away from her and stands up, heading back to her usual post by the equipment. 

Nat watches her leave, face still burning. 

On the field, her teammates are definitely watching her now, all shooting her questioning, confused looks. Except for Shauna, who is smiling knowingly. 

Nat would probably have to have another talk with her about not making it so fucking obvious that they are up to something. 

Shaking the feeling of surprise off, Nat stands up from the bleachers and walks towards the gym. 

She should probably make some kind of effort to look at least halfway decent for her ‘date’. 

Nat doesn’t do much in the locker room. Just a quick application of some eye makeup and a comb through her dyed hair. 

This wouldn’t be too bad. She only has to get through a quick dinner date with Misty tonight, jump through a few more hoops for the rest of the month to give off the impression that they’re ‘dating’ and then she’ll be free. Shauna and Jackie will be able to do whatever they want and Nat will get the money that was promised to her. 

She checks her reflection in the mirror one last time and then closes the locker up. 

She knows she’ll have to talk about the Misty situation with her teammates eventually. All of them had seen that whole display on the bleachers, after all. But she wouldn’t mind delaying those conversations for as long as possible. 

She’s kind of a shit liar. Honestly, it’s a miracle Misty believed any of her bullshit during their conversation. Best to have a story mentally prepared before too many people started asking her questions. 

She slings her bag over her shoulder and steps out of the locker room. 

The others are probably still practicing and since she has the phoney excuse of an injured ankle, she can leave early. 

She has plans to just wait outside of the school for Misty to join her. But she only takes two steps out of the gym before she’s in front of her. 

“Hi Natalie!” Misty chirps cheerfully. “Are you ready to go?” 

Nat frowns in confusion. “Did Coach end practice early today?” 

Misty shakes her head. “Nope. But I saw you walking to the gym and asked him if I could leave early too.” 

Nat figures Coach Martinez was probably happy to be rid of Misty for the rest of the day, honestly. It’s common knowledge that it had been Coach Scott’s idea to make her equipment manager. 

“But anyway, now we can get an early start on our date,” Misty continues. 

Date. Nat already knew this but somehow, hearing the word spoken out loud again makes it all the more real. 

She’s about to go on a date with Misty Quigley. 

Still, she manages a small smile and nod. “Yeah. Let’s go. It’s like a fifteen minute walk.” 

They walk side-by-side, the school appearing further and further away. 

After about five minutes, Nat can sense Misty inching closer to her, pulling the hand that’s closest to Nat’s right side out of her pocket. 

What she wants is obvious. 

Holding back a sigh, Nat gives in, lacing their fingers together. 

Misty’s smile is bright enough to blind. 

Nat doesn’t have much of an appetite. But because she doesn’t want to just sit there awkwardly with no food in front of her, she orders the chicken tenders. 

Sitting across from her, Misty orders the diner’s daily special-spaghetti and meatballs, but appears to regret the decision as soon as the waitress walks off. 

She’s very visibly bothered. Her hands can’t keep still and there’s an almost pained expression on her face. It kind of reminds Nat of how she acted back at the nurse’s office when she was getting her knee wound cleaned up. 

“Is something wrong?” She decides to ask, hoping her voice doesn’t sound impatient. She’s never understood how some people get worked up over the smallest things. 

Misty immediately looks embarrassed, which has Nat feeling kind of bad. “I just think…maybe I should’ve ordered something easier to eat. Spaghetti can get messy. It might not be the best thing to eat on a date,” she says, finishing off with a giggle that sounds fake. 

Nat softens. It’s been a long time since she’s dated anyone that isn’t a douchebag with an oversized ego. She’s forgotten how insecure certain people can be. 

And she’s pretty sure this is Misty’s first date…ever. 

“I don’t give a shit if you get kind of messy with your food,” she says honestly. “Seriously, don’t worry about it.” 

Misty gives her a look that appears like she doesn’t believe her and Nat sighs. 

“You should’ve seen how some of the guys I’ve been with in the past ate. Trust me, there’s no way you can be worse than them.” She pauses. “You don’t have to try so hard. Just be yourself. I’m the last person you need to impress.” 

Her standards have always been ‘notoriously low’, according to Jackie Taylor. 

At that, Misty smiles slightly. “I don’t think that’s true. You’re…the coolest person ever.” 

She says it so matter-of-fact, as if there’s no room for argument. Nat annoyingly feels her face burn slightly just as it had back at the school when Misty kissed her on the cheek. 

She forces out a chuckle. “I’m far from cool. Trust me.” 

The food arrives then. The elderly waitress sets their plates of food in front of them with a small smile before walking off. 

Nat immediately takes a bite of a chicken tender, despite not feeling hungry. For some reason, she’s feeling a little awkward after how earnest Misty had sounded when she called her ‘cool’. 

Misty pokes at her food gingerly. “I guess I’m just nervous.” 

Yeah, no shit. 

Nat clears her throat. “There’s going to be a bonfire party down at the lake tomorrow night. Do you wanna go with me? It could be our second date.” 

Tomorrow will be the day where she’ll have to come up with reasons why she’s dating Misty all of a sudden. The whole team is sure to be there. And they’re going to have to flaunt it so Shauna can collect evidence for Jackie’s parents or whatever. 

Misty’s brown eyes widen behind her glasses. “Will the whole team be there?” 

Nat nods. “Yep.”

“Okay!” She sounds and looks excited. But it quickly deflates, replaced with apprehension. “You’re not worried about being made fun of?” 

Oh, Nat is sure that they’re going to be made fun of secretly. But believe it or not, dating Misty will be far from the worst thing she’s been given shit over. 

“People already talk about me,” she says with a shrug.

Misty finally takes a bit of her food. Despite their conversation, Nat can tell she’s putting extra effort into not making a mess. 

“People talk about me too,” Misty says after swallowing her food. “I see stuff written about me in the bathroom stalls. I always wipe it off when I see it…I’ve wiped off stuff about you too.” 

This surprises Nat. Not because she doesn’t think Misty would do something like that but because…she’s also done it. 

She’s seen shit about both her and Misty in the bathroom stalls. Words like ‘weirdo’ and ‘freak’ directed towards Misty and ‘slut’ and ‘burnout’ towards her.  Most of the time, she always tries to wipe up all of them. 

It makes her feel an odd sort of kinship or understanding with Misty. Had they both been doing small little acts like that to help each other over the years? 

“Well, thanks,” she says after a moment, not sure what else to say. 

Misty nods, the smallest of smiles resting on her lips. “It’s no problem. I never understood why people talk about you like that anyway. You’ve always seemed nice to me.” 

Nat appreciates the sentiment, she supposes. But she isn’t quite sure where it’s coming from. She’s never been mean to Misty necessarily…not like some of the others have anyway. But she hasn’t gone out of her way to talk to her until recently either. 

Maybe Misty’s bar for kindness is just really that low. 

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Nat digs into her food as a distraction. 

Misty doesn’t seem to mind. She chatters on about various topics. Nat finds out that she wants to go into the medical field after she graduates high school…maybe a nurse. She enjoys showtunes and used to go to musicals with her grandmother before she had to be moved into a home. Science, particularly biology, has always been her favorite subject in school. She loves birds and has a bath and feeder set outside her window so she can watch them. 

Nat doesn’t typically enjoy never-ending blabbing like this. But it isn’t so bad. And at least Misty doesn’t seem to expect her to talk back every time. She just nods and occasionally responds when Misty asks her a question. 

Soon enough, they’re splitting the bill and getting ready to leave. 

They walk out of the diner together. 

“Do you want to give me your phone number?” Misty suddenly asks. 

“What?” Nat asks, dumbly. 

She hadn’t realized how long they’d been sitting in the diner together. The sun is starting to go down. 

She wonders if Misty told her parents ahead of time that she was going to be out late. Nat knows her parents don’t give a fuck but the daughter of two doctors…

“Your phone number,” Misty clarifies. “So we can contact each other about the party?” 

“Right.” She supposes that if she’s going to ‘date’ this girl for the next month, they are going to have to exchange phone numbers. Nat holds out her hand. “Give me your phone.” 

Misty hands over her flip phone without hesitation and Nat opens up her contact list to add in her number. 

She notices with some amusement that Misty’s phone is a bubblegum pink color. 

“There you go,” Nat says, handing it back to her. 

“Great!” Misty beams as she takes her phone back. “So I’ll just text you sometime tomorrow and we can meet up somewhere?” 

Tomorrow is Saturday. So they wouldn’t have the benefit of getting directly off school. Nat nods. “We can just meet at the party if that’s cool with you.” 

She’s not eager to meet Misty’s parents or any kind of shit like that. And she especially doesn’t want Misty meeting her at her place. B

“Oh. Yeah that’s cool.” Misty pauses, as if hesitating to say something. “Tonight was really nice.” 

“Yeah…it was.” Nat is surprised when she realizes that she isn’t even really lying. 

Misty is still looking at her intently. “Do you mind walking me home? My parents are probably still working.” 

Nat has a feeling this is Misty’s way of milking more time. But she also doesn’t fully feel good about making her walk home by herself in the dark. 

“Sure.” 

Chapter Text

Despite what she said to Misty the day before, Natalie is admittedly a little worried about this party. 

Not necessarily because showing up with Misty is bound to make people start talking shit. But because she’s afraid of freezing up or not being believable about it when people undoubtedly start asking questions. 

Then there’s Shauna, who’s never been good with being subtle, especially when she has a goal in mind. Nat can just see her blowing their cover by acting overly smug or intense about the whole thing. 

Not many people on the team pay attention to Misty outside of labeling her as a freak. But if it’s one thing that Nat has come to realize after their ‘date’ last night is that the girl is smart and observant. She and Shauna both need to act as naturally as possible so that she won’t notice. 

With all of that in mind, she decides to give Shauna a call an hour before they’re all meant to meet up by the lake. 

“Hey Nat.” Shauna answers after the second ring. 

Nat opens her mouth to respond but pauses, suddenly considering something. “Is now a good time?” 

She doesn’t want to start talking about it in case Shauna is around someone else on the team. She hopes she gets the hint. 

Luckily, Shauna seems to get it. 

“Yeah. What’s up?” 

Nat is on her phone outside, leaning against the trailer. Her father is out, thankfully. And her mother is passed out in bed, as always. 

“I just wanted to touch base on what exactly we’re doing tonight.” 

“What do you mean? It’s a party. All you need to do is bring Misty with you.” 

Sometimes the best way to deal with Shauna is just to be blunt. 

“You can’t overdo anything. If you come on too strong, Misty is going to suspect that something is going on.” 

Misty notices a lot of things about each member of the team. Things that Nat wouldn’t even think to notice. If Shauna gets all intense at the party, there’s no way it’s going to go over Misty’s head. 

“I know that, Nat.” She can almost hear the eye-roll in Shauna’s tone. 

Nat forces herself not to say you could’ve fooled me yesterday on the field. 

“How was yesterday anyway?” Shauna suddenly asks. She sounds genuinely curious. 

After coming home last night, there’d of course been a text from Shauna asking what happened after the fake ankle injury incident. She’d been happy when Nat informed her that her plan had actually ended up working in a way, and that Misty agreed to go on a date with her. 

“It…wasn’t bad, actually.” Nat briefly thinks back to the night before. Her and Misty’s conversation. A lot of it had admittedly been Misty talking while Nat sat and listened, but even that hadn’t been unbearable. “We mostly just talked.” 

She can’t stop thinking about Misty saying she’s been wiping off mean messages about Nat in the school bathroom stalls over the years…and how the relevation that they’ve both been trying to help each other out in that small way made her feel. But that’s definitely not something she wants to talk to Shauna about. Maybe not to anyone. 

On the other line, Shauna hums. “You sure she didn’t try to poison your food?” 

Nat rolls her eyes. “I’m sure.” 

A few beats pass. 

“Well, I’ll see you in an hour,” Shauna says. 

Nat looks at the watch on her wrist. It’s already five minutes past six in the evening. She’s supposed to be meeting Misty and the other down at the lake at seven. 

Shit, time flies. 

Before Shauna has a chance to hang up, Nat asks her one last thing that’s been on her mind. 

“Does Jackie know? About what we’re doing?” 

It occurred to her for a brief moment last night. That with all the scheming, it’s only ever been Shauna talking to her about any of it. And well, Nat should probably know that information so she is aware of how to act around Jackie at the party and beyond. 

“No,” Shauna answers right away. “And I want to try to keep it from her.” 

Nat supposes she isn’t too surprised by that answer. It’s most likely something Jackie wouldn’t approve of, so it figures Shauna wouldn’t tell her about it. 

She says a goodbye to Shauna before hanging up the phone and trudging back inside the trailer, keeping her footsteps light so as to not wake her mother up.

She should probably figure out what she’s going to wear to this thing. 

By the time Nat manages to get down to the lake, she’s pretty sure she’s one of the last to arrive. 

Misty is the first to greet her, of course. She’s completely decked out in pink and white, with a cardigan and skirt that Nat has never seen her wear before. 

She’s a bit surprised when she realizes that she finds it kind of cute. Definitely not something she would ever wear herself. But on Misty? It works. 

“Wow,” Nat says before she can stop herself. They’re standing down by the lake, about fifteen feet away from where the party is meant to start. “You look pretty.” 

Misty visibly preens at the praise. She smiles deeply and Nat thinks she can see her cheeks turn rosy. “Thanks. You uh…you look nice too.” 

Nat isn’t wearing anything special. Just some of her usual school ensemble. But with the way Misty is looking at her right now, all wide-eyed and like Nat is a miracle sent from god, you’d think she was wearing something much nicer. She clears her throat a bit awkwardly. “Are you ready to head over?” 

Suddenly, Misty’s smile drops. Nat frowns in concern. “Is something wrong?” 

She thought that Misty would be thrilled by something like this…invited to an event with the whole team. She certainly seemed happy about it last night, despite the small nervousness about being made fun of. 

Misty doesn’t respond right away. Instead, she suddenly grabs Nat’s hand. “Can we go somewhere and talk for a moment?” 

After getting over her initial surprise at having her hand grabbed, Nat nods. 

There’s only a few people sitting around the bonfire right now. But they’re definitely currently too close to them for any conversation they may have to be fully private. 

Nat allows Misty to pull her further away, until they’re a good distance from the bonfire. 

“I’ve never been to a party before,” Misty blurts out in a rush. “So I just wanted to know…is there anything I should do? What should I say?” 

Nat blinks, not expecting a question like that. She honestly doesn’t know how to answer. 

Misty peddles on. “I just don’t want to do anything wrong.” 

Especially when not very many people here have been particularly nice to her in the past. Nat feels an uncomfortable feeling in her chest. 

“Try not to talk to any one person for too long,” she eventually offers. “Mingle. But maybe try to avoid Shauna.” 

She doubts that Shauna would go out of her way to be mean to Misty right now, considering the plan. But Nat also knows that she doesn’t have stellar patience. It’s kind of something you need to have when dealing with Misty. 

“You can just mostly stick with me, if you want,” Nat continues. She learned last night that she can manage Misty’s endless chatter for the most part. “We also don’t have to stay for too long. Not if you don’t want to.” 

Without thinking about it, she gently squeezes Misty’s hand, where it’s still interlocked with hers. 

Misty glances down at their locked hands for a moment before returning her gaze, the smile from earlier returning just slightly. “Okay.” 

Nat gives her a nod and then the two of them turn back towards the bonfire. 

Tai and Van are already sitting on one of the logs together, with Van’s arm wrapped around Tai’s shoulders. Off to the side, Lottie and Mari are locked in their own conversation a few feet away, seemingly not paying them any mind. 

Unfortunately, Tai and Van immediately seem surprised by the presence of Misty. They’re giving Nat strange, questioning looks that are similar to the way they were looking at her when she sat with Misty on the bus a few days prior. 

“Hey Nat,” Van begins. “And um…Misty.” 

Van isn’t doing a good job of hiding her confusion over Misty being here. But despite that, Misty is all smiles. 

“Hi Van. Taissa. Nat invited me to come with her. I hope that’s okay.” 

It’s almost uncanny how quickly Misty can put on an overly cheerful mask. Nat knows it’s a mask because she was just conveying genuine insecurity to her a minute prior. 

Van shrugs, though she still looks confused as hell. “Sure. We don’t own the lake.” 

With that, Misty takes a seat on the log across from them. Nat follows suit, sitting down right next to her. 

This causes more blinks of surprise from Tai and Van.

“Is there something going on with you two?” Taissa asks with raised eyebrows. “Are you working on a school project together or…” 

Alright. Best to get this over with. 

“We just started dating, actually,” Nat blurts before she can stop herself. She wraps an arm around Misty’s shoulder for double emphasis. 

She feels Misty stiffen in surprise initially. But she quickly seems to relax into it. 

Across from them, Tai and Van’s faces look cartoonishly shocked. If not for being mildly stressed about all the pretending she’s doing, Nat might have found it funny. 

“When did this happen? If you don’t mind me  asking?” Tai asks. 

Nat can tell there’s a million things they want to say to her right now. But it seems they at least have the decency not to do it in front of Misty. 

Misty decides to take the initiative and answer this time. “It’s still very new. But Natalie asked me out a couple days ago. We went on our first date yesterday.”

Nat sees Van shoot her a look as if to say what the hell. 

Fortunately, before anyone can say anything else, they’re interrupted by another arrival. 

“Hey guys!”  

Jackie. 

Nat looks over and sees Jackie and Shauna walking over in their direction. Jackie has a bright, almost manic looking smile on her face and Nat immediately gets the impression that she’s already a little drunk somehow. 

Judging by the slightly annoyed look on Shauna’s face, her assumption is probably right. 

All of the girls take a moment to return her greeting in a chorus of hellos. But Jackie’s eyes seem to immediately gravitate over to Misty. 

“Oh my god, Misty! I didn’t know you were going to be here.” 

She sounds genuinely excited and it’s throwing Nat off a bit. She has never seen Jackie talk to Misty like this. It’s clear now that she’s intoxicated but still. 

Around her, the other girls, except maybe Shauna, seem similarly confused by the scene. 

Misty seems surprised by it as well because she appears to look at her kind of cautiously. “Oh. Hi Jackie. I came here with Nat…” 

Jackie walks over to her and grabs her arm. “We need to catch up! I feel like it’s been years since…” 

“Misty is here with Nat, Jackie,” Shauna cuts in, arms across her chest. “They’re dating now.” 

Multiple people seem to speak at once. 

“Shauna knew about this before the rest of us?” Tai asks. 

“Wait…really?” Jackie says, eyes wide. 

“You and Misty are dating? How much did I just miss?” Lottie, who had finally joined the group, asks Nat directly. 

Nat is already a little overwhelmed, despite knowing that this was going to happen. At least no one is being outright rude. Not yet anyway. 

“Yes, we’re dating,” Nat says, deciding to just address them all at once. “Shauna knew about it first because she uh…kind of helped me out with it.” 

Could’ve been better. Could’ve been worse. 

Misty decides to be unknowingly helpful. “Oh, that’s right! Shauna was the one who told me your ankle was hurting, even though you were totally faking.” 

Tai stares at her incredously hearing this information, and Nat feels her face heat up. It was one thing for Misty to assume that. It was another to have it broadcasted to the entire team. 

No one says anything for a moment, maybe too in shock. 

“Well, congratulations,” Lottie finally says. The small smile on her face seems genuine. 

Nat feels her hackles lower a bit seeing that. One of the things she’s always liked about Lottie is that she’s by far one of the least judgmental of the team. She tends to go with the flow. 

Jackie further breaks the silence. “We definitely need to talk about how this happened.” She gives another gentle but insistent tug to Misty’s arm. “Nat, can I borrow your date for a little while?” 

Nat hesitates, unsure if it’s a good idea to let Misty get dragged off by a drunk Jackie Taylor. But Misty is already standing up to allow herself to be tugged away. 

“Sure,” she eventually answers with a shrug. 

Jackie beams and then guides Misty towards an area isolated from the others. 

Nat watches them walk off, wondering where that conversation was going to go. 

“She was already somehow trashed when I picked her up,” Shauna says with a rough sigh. She seems annoyed that her girlfriend apparently has a sudden obsession to talk to Misty. “I don’t know why.” 

“Well, let’s try to get on her level then,” Van pipes in with a grin. 

The conversation surrounding Natalie and Misty seems to cease. For now anyway. 

They get the bonfire going. Along with a cooler filled with beer. 

As the party started to really get going, Misty and Jackie eventually rejoined the circle, sitting on a log together. 

Things were going…surprisingly smooth. Not many people were going out of their to talk to Misty but no one has been mean to her as far as Nat can tell. She wonders if it’s out of respect that Nat is ‘dating’ her. Or because drunk Jackie has seemingly claimed Misty as her party bestie. 

For the first hour or so, the only comment she’s gotten from anyone about Misty is a single text message from Van reading hold both arms up if you need help, which Nat promptly ignored. 

She is trying to pace herself. She doesn’t want to get drunk, in fear of giving away the secret if she gets too intoxicated. She’s only on her second beer of the night when Tai approaches her. 

“Okay, spill.” 

“Spill what?” Nat replies, playing dumb. 

“You know what I mean,” Tai says, crossing her arms over her chest. “What’s really going on with you and Misty?” 

She knew something like this would happen eventually. It’s why she’s tried to stay relatively sober. She glances over at Misty. She’s a decent distance away, still distracted by Jackie. 

“I told you what’s going on,” she replies flatly. 

Tai narrows her eyes. “You really expect us to believe that you just woke up one day and decided you wanted to ask Misty Quigley out?” 

Nat had been prepared for this level of questioning. She still didn’t like it. 

But she had promised herself not to let anyone on the team outside of her and Shauna know about the deal. It’s the least she can do. 

“Look, I know it seems like it’s coming out of left field,” she says calmly. “But Misty is here because I want her to be. That’s all.” 

Tai doesn’t look like she believes her for a second but also seems to realize that trying to get anything else out of her is a losing battle. She sighs. 

“It’s your life,” she says. “But…be careful, okay? There’s something off about that girl.” 

Surprisingly, Nat’s first instinct is to get a little defensive on Misty’s behalf. After all, she really hadn’t been that bad during their date the night before. It was far from being the worst date Nat has ever been on. 

But at the same time, she gets what Tai means. There is something…off about Misty. Nat can’t quite put her finger on it but she remembers the unnerving way Misty seems to change her emotions like an on and off switch. 

Tai gestures back towards the bonfire where Misty and Jackie are sitting. “You also might want to get a handle on that. Jackie keeps giving her beers.” 

Nat looks over. Misty and Jackie still seemed fully engaged in conversation. But there is something different from before. Misty looks just as animated and uncoordinated as Jackie now. 

She grimaces. “Fuck. How much did she drink?” 

Tai shrugs. “I’ve seen her down at least four.” 

This isn’t good. With this being Misty’s first party…and probably first time drinking, she’s bound to be a lightweight. 

Nat shouldn’t have left her alone with Jackie for so long. 

Somewhat cautiously, she approaches them. 

Misty immediately seems to brighten at the sight of her. “Hi Natalie!” 

She moves too quickly and loses her balance. Instinctively, Nat grabs her shoulder to steady her before she can fall off the log and onto her face. 

Misty lets out a giggle. “Thanks.” 

“Don’t mention it.” Nat frowns. “How much did you drink?” 

“I’m not sure,” Misty replies, in an inquisitive tone. “But maybe three?”

Nat assumes by that she means three beers. 

“We’re having fun! When did you become such a party pooper, Nat?” Jackie inquires, eyes wide. 

Nat doesn’t think she’s seen Jackie this drunk in a long time. 

Shauna is going to have her work cut out for her when this is over. 

Before she has a chance to reply to Jackie, Van starts talking to the whole group. “Anyone up for a game?” 

“I am,” Lottie pipes up. “But what should we play?” 

“Oooh, I know!” Jackie announces much more loudly than necessary. The sound seems to startle Misty, who’s still sitting right beside her, and Nat has to grab onto her again to keep her from falling over. “We could play never have I ever.” 

There’s a chorus of groans coming from all around them. 

Jackie huffs and shakes her head. “Does anyone else have any other ideas?” 

Apparently, no one does. So that’s what they end up playing. 

At some point, Shauna grabs Jackie and drags her off to sit with her across from them, leaving Nat to take her place beside Misty on the log. 

The first few rounds go smoothly. 

Never have I ever gotten arrested, Jackie says. No one takes a drink. Nat has come close a time or two, almost getting caught smoking while cutting class, but it’s never come to actually being arrested. 

Never have I ever travelled out of the country, Van says. Jackie and Lottie take sips, unsurprisingly. 

Never have I ever failed a class, Tai says. Nat takes a drink. In her defense, it’d only been one class in sophomore year. Fuck geometry. 

It all comes to a head when Laura Lee, who’s spent the night sipping on soda instead of alcohol, steps up for a turn. 

“Never have I ever kissed anyone,” she says before taking a drink from her cup. 

No one else takes a drink. 

Except for Misty, after a few seconds of delay. 

Everyone’s eyes turn towards them then and Nat’s blood runs cold. 

It’s Jackie that speaks first. “Oh my god, Nat. You haven’t kissed her yet?” 

Nat shoots Shauna a look, as if to say control her. But Shauna merely shrugs in reply. 

The idea of taking her money at the end of all this is feeling more and more justified. 

From beside her, Misty seems to be an odd mixture of excitement and shyness to have all of the attention on her. “We’ve only been one one date.” 

“Well, now is as good as time as any, right?” Van asks from across from them. She has a grin on her face that tells Nat she’s enjoying this far more than she should be. 

This is turning into a spectacle and Nat is getting pissed. Her teammates can be such assholes sometimes. 

“Yeah, give your date her first kiss, Nat,” Mari supplies brightly and unhelpfully. 

Everyone is staring at them expectantly now. Nat lets out a sigh and turns slightly so that she and Misty are facing each other. 

She can’t exactly completely refuse. Not if she wants to keep up the ruse that this is all real on her side. 

Wanting to get this over with, Nat gently places a hand under Misty’s chin to tilt her head up, and then brushes their lips together. 

It’s light and brief. Only a peck, really. But it’s enough for her to realize that Misty’s lips are soft. 

When they part, Misty’s cheeks are flushed and her brown eyes are wide. 

Nat hates that she finds it kind of cute. 

“Boo,” Jackie says. “That wasn’t a real kiss.” 

Nat looks away from Misty and towards the group. 

“She’s wasted,” she argues. “I’m not going to make out with her when she can barely keep her balance.” 

“I wouldn’t mind,” Misty says, so quietly that Nat could barely hear her. But there’s a slur to her words that tells Nat she’s right about her being wasted. 

There’s a few murmurs throughout the party. Some in agreement, some something else entirely. 

Van’s voice rises above the crowd. There’s a grimace on her face. “I still can’t believe that’s even a thing.” 

She’s been doing well to not talk like that out loud so far. They’ve all been, surprisingly. But the alcohol is probably loosening her tongue. 

“Well, I think it’s cute,” Jackie says before anyone else can speak. “We can’t help who we fall for, right?” 

Nat shifts awkwardly. Misty is pretty wasted. That could be a good excuse to grab her and get the fuck out of here, right? They’ve been here long enough. 

“I agree with Jackie,” Shauna announces suddenly. “Sometimes, it just happens.” 

Nat frowns at her. Where is she going with this?

“There’s something we have to tell you guys too,” Shauna continues, wrapping an arm around Jackie’s shoulders. “Jackie and I are dating.” 

Unlike the reaction to her and Misty, no one really seems phased by this announcement. 

“Looks like I won the betting pool,” Tai says pointedly to Van. 

Jackie, even in her drunken state, looks startled. But she quickly seems to recover, brightening immeately. “Oh that’s right. We can now.” 

Shauna wrangles her and Misty into taking a couple of pictures together as evidence for Jackie’s parents. But the party blessedly ends not long after that. 

Nat manages to convince Shauna to give them a ride to Misty’s place. Reminding her that she owes her. 

“Please try not to let her throw up in my car,” Shauna complains from the front seat as Nat helps Misty into the back. 

She gives Shauna a pointed look as she climbs in after Misty, sitting beside her. “I don’t think Misty is who you have to worry about.” 

Misty just looks like she’s five seconds from passing out. Jackie…looks nauseous. Right now, she’s barely coherent, sticking her head practically out the passenger side window as Shauna starts up the car. 

Nat figures Shauna must have some kind of plan as to how to deal with Jackie. She’s never met the Taylor’s, but from what she’s heard about them, they’re pretty strict. She can’t see Jackie coming home this drunk going over well, proof of Misty dating someone or not. 

As soon as they begin to move, Misty suddenly slumps onto Nat’s shoulder. She stiffens for a moment but quickly relaxes, letting out a sigh as she wraps an arm around her to steady her. 

She feels shitty about letting Misty get this drunk. It was her first party…ever. And for better or worse, she’d been Nat’s responsibility. 

And now, she’s likely to have a hangover from hell in the morning. 

Shauna looks at them through the rearview mirror. “You two look cozy back there.” 

Nat rolls her eyes. “Just get us to Misty’s place.”

Shauna nods wordlessly and continues to drive.   

“Hmmm….Natalie?” Misty’s voice murmurs. Her face is now buried in Nat’s shoulder so the voice comes out a little muffled. 

“Yeah?” Nat asks, still holding her securely to prevent her from following over as Shauna takes sharp turns. 

“Where are we going now?” 

Nat rolls her eyes, but smiles slightly. She’d told Misty before they got into the car where they were going. 

“We’re taking you home.” 

“Oh.” Misty seems to contemplate that for a moment. “I don’t think my parents are home.” 

Nat is kind of relieved about that. Now at least she won’t have to explain to Misty’s medical doctor parents why their daughter is wasted. 

“I’ll get you inside.” 

Shauna parks the car outside the Quigley residence only about seven minutes later. Sure enough, there are no cars parked in the driveway. 

“Okay, Misty. We’re here,” Nat says, already getting out of her seat. 

She only gets an unintelligible mumble in response. 

Shauna peers over at her as she climbs out of the car. “Do you want me to wait for you? I can drive you home after you get her inside.” 

Nat thinks about it. She isn’t really looking forward to walking home from Misty’s. But she knows that if Shauna drives her home, the sound of the car is more likely to wake her dad up. And that’s something she really doesn’t want to deal with tonight. 

“Nah, I’ll be okay,” she says in response. “Thanks though.” 

She has a feeling Shauna is going to have her hands full dealing with Jackie anyway, who looks like she’s close to passing out in the passenger seat. 

Shauna nods. “See you later.” 

Nat manages to successfully get Misty out of the car, closing the door afterwards. 

She watches Shauna and Jackie drive off before she wraps an arm firmly around Misty, helping her walk towards the entrance of the house. 

“Misty, do you have a key?” She asks once they’re in front of the door. 

The Quigley house looks pretty damn nice from the outside. Not as impressive as Jackie or Lottie’s place but far nicer than Nat has ever dreamed of. She supposes it’s not surprising, with both of Misty’s parents being doctors. 

Fortunately, Misty is still lucid enough to respond. She breaks away from Nat for a big to dig through her little pink bag, eventually producing a house key. 

Nat grabs it from her and promptly unlocks the door, allowing them entrance into the house. 

The inside of the house is as nice as the outside. Neat and tidy and immedately making Nat feel out of place. It definitely fits the vibe of a place where the owner would ask you to take your shoes off at the entrance.

But she doesn’t consider that now. 

“My room is on the second floor,” Misty comments. She seems to be coming back to life somewhat now that they’re in her house.  

Nat nods and guides her towards the stairs. 

She follows closely behind Misty as they climb up. 

Misty eventually leads her to a bedroom a few doors down on the second floor. Upon entering, she’s immediately assaulted by a splash of pink. 

Misty’s room is pretty much exactly what Nat would expect it to look like. Girly, pink, and very organized and neat. 

It’s also almost the size of the trailer Nat lives in on its own. 

“Okay,” she murmurs, reaching over to keep Misty steady. “Let’s get your shoes off.” 

She has Misty sit down on the edge of her bed and helps her get her shoes off, along with her cardigan. 

“Can you get my pajamas? They’re in the middle drawer over there,” Misty says, pointing at a dresser in the right back corner of the room. 

Of course Misty would be the type to wear pajamas to bed. Nat herself normally just opts for a comfortable t-shirt. 

She walks over to the dresser and opens up the top drawer. Sure enough, there’s a pink, fuzzy-looking pajama set sitting on top. 

Nat hands it over to her. Misty still looks a little wobbly on her legs but she seems confident that she can get changed on her own. 

She eyes Nat. “Can you turn around?” 

Oh. Right. 

Nat turns around to face away from her, suddenly very glad for it because she can feel her face heating up. 

After a few moments of the sound of clothes ruffling, Misty speaks again. “Okay, I’m done.” 

Nat turns around and sees that Misty has climbed into her bed, looking utterly exhausted again. 

Now is probably her cue to leave. She clears her throat. “I’ll head out and let you sleep…” 

“No…you can stay if you want,” Misty says. “My parents won’t care and it’s dark out. You don’t have to walk all the way home.” 

Nat hesitates. It actually is tempting. She really isn’t in the mood to walk all the way home. And if she stays here, she doesn’t have to worry about potentially getting into it with her dad. At least not until tomorrow. 

“Where would I sleep?” She asks. Even if Misty is right about her parents not caring, it’d feel awkward if they found her asleep on their couch early in the morning. 

Misty simply pats the empty space on the left side of her bed. “There’s room for both of us in here.” 

Nat thinks it over. Somehow, the idea of sharing a bed with Misty doesn’t feel right. But at the same time, if she’s meant to ‘date’ her for the next month, she can’t keep trying to avoid close proximity with her. 

Besides…she’s wearing pajamas for fucks sake. 

“Okay.” Without further thought, Nat takes off her own shoes and jacket. 

Misty hums, seeming pleased. “I might have another pair of pajamas you can borrow if you want.” 

“No thanks. I’m good.” 

She’d just wear the outfit she’s wearing to bed. It’s not like she hasn’t slept in worse conditions. 

She climbs onto the left side of Misty’s bed and lays beside her. Wordlessly, Misty reaches up to cover her with the blanket too. 

For a moment, they just look at each other. 

Nat is the one to break the silence. “I’m sorry.” 

Misty frowns. “What are you sorry for?” 

“For letting you get so drunk when it was your first party. I shouldn’t have left you alone with Jackie…” 

Misty shakes her head quickly. “You don’t have to be sorry,I had a lot of fun. Jackie hasn’t talked to me that much in a long time.” 

Nat thinks she’s heard something about Misty and Jackie being kind of friends back when they were young kids. Like, before middle school. 

She wonders if Jackie will even remember talking to Misty as much as she had when she sobers up. 

“Well, we’ll see if you still think that when you have a massive hangover in the morning,” she says with a small grin. 

Misty doesn’t say anything to that. Just stares at her, a small, almost dopey-looking smile crossing her lips. 

Just when Nat is about to ask what she’s smiling about, Misty speaks. 

“Natalie…you have such pretty eyes. Did you know that?” 

It’s so random and takes Nat completely off guard. It reminds her that while Misty has been acting pretty sober the last few minutes, she still probably is intoxicated.  She feels her face burning again. “I…thanks.” 

Her eyes aren’t something that gets complimented a lot. Certainly not by the guys she typically dates. 

Misty continues, looking almost dreamy now. “They’re sooo green. And kind.” 

Nat snorts. “Kind?” 

“I don’t know how to explain it. But they are.” She sounds so sure of what she’s saying. 

Nat can’t help but let out a short, soft laugh. “Go to sleep Misty.” 

“Okay.” 

Nat reaches over to shut off the lamp on her side of the bed, closing her eyes and willing herself to sleep. 

Just when she thinks Misty might be down for the count, she hears her voice in the darkness. 

“Nat?” 

“Hmm?” 

“Did we kiss tonight?” 

Nat freezes. She was kind of hoping that Misty wouldn’t remember that. 

But it was done in front of the entire team. So it’s not like Nat can lie about it. 

“We did,” she eventually says. “But it was just a peck. You were too drunk for anything more.”

“Oh.” 

She thinks Misty might leave it at that because she doesn’t say anything more for a moment. 

She should’ve known she wasn’t going to be that lucky. 

“Will you kiss me for real soon?” 

“Sure.” 

She isn’t entirely sure if Misty heard her answer, because she doesn’t respond. The only sound filling the room being the sound of her breathing. 

As Nat tries to sleep, she finds herself thinking about how Misty’s lips are soft…and that it probably wouldn’t be half-bad to really kiss her. 

Chapter Text

Misty’s head is pounding when she wakes up. But truly, she doesn’t even care that much. She’s too happy to linger on that. 

She lets out a sigh and turns over in her bed, finding Natalie still asleep on her side of the bed. 

Natalie took her to the party. Afterwards, she helped Misty get back home when she had drank too much and then agreed to spend the night. Sure, Misty had played up the ‘drunk’ thing a little to appear more vulnerable and get her to come inside the house, but Nat still could have very easily chosen to go home afterwards. 

Nat had also kissed her. In front of everyone. 

Misty feels oh so silly for being so suspicious of Nat’s intentions before. Sure, her liking Misty had felt like it was coming out of nowhere. But maybe she’s had those feelings for a while but was too shy to say it. Maybe Misty giving her that energy drink had given her the courage to finally try. 

Natalie may come off as unapproachable to some people but deep down, she’s a sweet softy. Misty has always thought she was nicer than some of the other girls on the team but she knows that even more now. 

Natalie is sweet, pretty, and so cool. And somehow, she likes Misty. 

Misty is never going to take that for granted again. 

It’s then that her mind starts buzzing with ideas. She needs to be the best girlfriend ever in order to make Nat want to stay. 

She also knows that her mother has everything she needs to make a good breakfast in their kitchen. Cooking Natalie a good breakfast would be a nice, girlfriend thing to do, wouldn’t it? 

She slowly gets out of the bed, careful to not jostle things too much and wakeup Nat. 

Misty peers at her sleeping form for one more moment before leaving the room. 

She sees her parents room down the hall as she steps out. Even from the short distance away, she can see that it’s firmly locked. As usual. 

Her parents work noc shift and thus, usually sleep most of the early day away. 

It normally makes Misty kind of sad. She gets a bit more time with them on the weekends but on the week days, she hardly sees them. They’re asleep when she gets up for school and by the time she gets home, they’re on their way out for work. 

But today, it works in her favor. She doesn’t really want to introduce them to Nat yet. She’d rather have the morning to themselves. 

Misty makes her way into the kitchen and immediately sets on gathering everything she needs. Pancake mix, eggs, bacon, syrup….

Everyone liked pancakes, right? Or was Natalie more of a french toast girl? 

Nat finds her way downstairs a little under an hour later. By then, Misty has a whole breakfast spread going. 

“Good morning!” She chirps as Nat walks into the kitchen, rubbing at her eyes. “I made breakfast.” 

Nat’s gaze moves over all the food, looking surprised. 

In the end, she went with making a batch of pancakes. But she has the ingredients for french toast still at hand in case Nat doesn’t like pancakes. There’s also a pan of scrambled eggs and enough bacon for the two of them. 

“I wasn’t sure how you liked your eggs, so I hope scrambled is okay,” she says. “But if not…”’

“You didn’t have to do all this,” Nat says. She’s still staring at the food like she doesn’t know what to make of it. “I mean, shit. I should probably be the one making you breakfast. How do you feel?” 

Oh. After all the cooking she’s done, Misty had almost forgotten about her hangover. But it’s nice of Nat to be concerned. 

“My head was pounding when I first woke up. But I feel a lot better after taking a Tylenol,” she says brightly. “Now, do you like your eggs scrambled?” 

“Yeah. Scrambled is fine.” Nat finally takes a seat at the kitchen table. Misty wastes no time in beginning to dish her up a plate. 

Nat gets that look on her face again, like she’s surprised or overwhelmed by something. Misty hears her clear her throat before speaking. “Thanks. Everything looks good.” 

Misty dishes up her own plate and sits across from her with a beam. “No problem! I actually kind of like to cook…but I don’t always get the oppurtunity to do it.” 

Nat takes a bite of the pancakes. Misty forces herself not to immediately ask her how they taste. 

“You don’t cook a lot with your parents?” Nat asks after swallowing her first bite. 

Misty shakes her head. “Oh no, they work way too many hours for that. I’m usually on my own when it comes to meals.” 

She and her parents will occasionally have dinner together on the days they have off, which usually tended to land on Wednesday and Thursday if they didn’t pick up overtime. 

Nat grimaces, in what Misty interprets as sympathy. “That sucks.” 

Misty shrugs her shoulders and then blurts without thinking “I’m used to it.” 

She doesn’t want to talk about her parents right now though…

“So…did you have any plans today?” 

She hopes the answer is no. Or even better, that Nat did have plans that involved Misty. 

Nat doesn’t answer for a moment, still working on a bite of food. When she does answer, she gives a shrug. 

“Not really.” 

Misty brightens. “Well, my schedule is free today too. We can spend time together, if you want.” 

Nat would want that, wouldn’t she? They’re meant to be dating after all….

The party last night was fun. More fun than Misty has probably had in like, ever. But they hadn’t gotten a lot of quality alone time. 

A weird, unreadable look crosses Nat’s voice and Misty is immediately a little nervous. Has she already come on too strong? 

Her anxiety melts when Nat gives her the smallest of nods. “Sure. What do you want to do?” 

Natalie doesn’t think she’s ever had anyone make her breakfast before. Not even her mother back when she was a kid. So this wake-up had taken her off guard to say the least. 

But she supposes she shouldn’t be surprised. This is Misty, and she tends to be intense about everything. 

Still…it was kind of nice. And the food was admittedly really good. 

Now they’re sitting on the couch in Misty’s tidy living room, with The Sound of Music playing on the plasma screen TV in front of them. 

This wouldn’t be the way Nat would choose to spend her day normally. She isn’t the biggest fan of musicals. Even now, she has to grit her teeth through some of the more peppy parts of this movie.

But…Misty actually makes it somewhat more bearable with her commentary. Her enthusiasm is kind of cute, and sometimes, she’s unintentionally funny. 

No, it’s not how Nat would choose to spend her Sunday. But it’s not the worst thing in the world either. Besides, it’s probably better she’s not up to her usual activities with Kevyn and Jacob. Maybe tonight, she’ll actually get a full night’s sleep. 

Depending on what mood her dad is in anyway. 

At some point, Misty scoots closer to her. Her gaze has moved from the movie onto her, looking at her intently. 

Nat picks up on what she wants and opens her arm up invitingly, allowing Misty to move in, Nat’s arm around her shoulder. 

This isn’t too bad either. 

“Nat?” She hears Misty ask after a few minutes. 

“Yeah?” Nat turns her head to look at her. 

Misty is buried into her side. Nat can’t quite read the expression on her face. But her best guess is that she’s at least curious. 

“Why haven’t we kissed yet?” 

Nat freezes. She isn’t entirely sure how to answer the question. This is the kind of shit she’d been least looking forward to when she agreed to Shauna’s plan. 

It’s not that she thinks Misty would be unpleasant to kiss. She’d gotten a brief feeling for it last night with that peck at the party. But she knows Misty probably hasn’t kissed anyone before and the idea of being her first made Nat feel…awkward, to say the least. 

Nat’s never really been anyone’s first anything before. It also doesn’t help that the circumstances aren’t great. 

Not to mention, she’s not even entirely sure of Misty’s thought processes here. Is she genuinely attracted to Nat or did she only agree to start dating because someone was finally giving her the attention she craves? 

Along with everything else, she isn’t really down to kiss anyone who isn’t actually into it. 

She decides to voice some of this to Misty, at least coyly. 

“When did you realize you like girls?” 

Misty seems thrown off by the random question and change of subject. “Oh. Um…” She reaches up to adjust her glasses on her nose. “I guess not until you.”

There’s a shy-looking smile on her face now and her cheeks are a little red, so Nat thinks she’s being honest. But it still isn’t really the answer she was hoping for. 

“So, you actually like me?” Nat asks slowly, carefully. “You didn’t say yes just to um…not hurt my feelings?” 

Misty lets out a giggle. “I mean, who wouldn’t like you? You’re cool, pretty, and the nicest person on the team.” 

Nat feels an odd combination of awkwardness and warmth at the praise. But it still isn’t quite what she’s looking for. “So you think I’m hot?” 

Misty tilts her head in a questioning fashion. “Well, yeah. Duh.” She says it like it’s obvious…like she doesn’t know why Nat is even asking. But then the flush reappears in a flash. “I especially like your eyes.”

Nat feels her face heat up a bit now too. Misty had said that last night as well, about liking her eyes. Apparently it hadn’t just been drunk talk.  

Misty has nice eyes too, Nat suddenly notices. They’re big and a warm chocolate brown color. She supposes she’s never really noticed before. Never took the time to look past Misty’s glasses to really look at them. 

There’s a lot of things about Misty that she’s never taken note of before. 

Nat finds herself leaning in suddenly, without thinking. “Have you ever kissed anyone before?” 

She’s pretty sure she already knows the answer. 

Misty freezes at her sudden close proximity, but Nat thinks it’s more from surprise than discomfort. At least, she hopes so. “No,” she says in response, voice soft. 

Further softened by the honesty, Nat reaches up to gently cup her left cheek. “Try to relax,” she advises. “But um…let me know if you want me to stop.” 

She’s really doing this. No going back now. 

Misty gives her a nod and then Nat finally closes the gap between them, brushing their lips together softly. 

Misty lets out a soft gasp that’s admittedly kind of cute at the contact, but Nat feels her quickly relax, even mustering up the courage to return the kiss. Nat feels Misty take hold of her free hand that isn’t cupping her cheek. 

Unlike the short peck from last night, this is an actual kiss. It’s a far cry from the messy makeouts Nat is used to nowadays, but it’s nice in its own way. Far nicer than Nat would’ve expected. 

Misty suddenly wraps her arms around her neck, pulling her closer. It’s not an unwelcome gesture. 

Just when the kiss really begins to deepen, they’re interrupted by the sound of someone walking down the stairs. 

Misty is the one who leaps away, practically shoving Nat away as she breaks the kiss. 

Nat wonders if the disappointment she suddenly feels is obvious on her face. 

“Mom,” Misty says. There’s a bright smile on her face, one that Nat is pretty sure is one of her manufactured ones. “Good morning! I made breakfast.” 

Now Nat is a little nervous. Shit, her parents are up? 

She turns to look in the direction Misty is facing and sees a woman that looks to be in her mid to late fifties standing in the kitchen. 

She looks like Misty. With the blonde hair and glasses anyway. Her stature is also short. 

Mrs. Quigley doesn’t seem particularly interested in anything about them…not even the fact that she seemingly walked in on her daughter kissing another girl on their couch. She has an almost bored expression on her before she turns away from them and disappears further into the kitchen. 

“I’ll stick with my coffee and breakfast bar for this morning, Misty. But thank you.” Her tone is clipped, lacking any warmth. 

“Okay.” Misty doesn’t seem too surprised, but Nat can sense that she’s a little disappointed. 

After a moment, Misty speaks again. “I hope you don’t mind me having a friend over. This is Natalie.” 

It sounds like a plea for attention. 

“Hi,” Nat says flatly. 

Misty’s mother acts like she doesn’t even hear her. 

“That’s fine,” Mrs. Quigley says, talking to Misty only. She spares Nat one small glance and half a wave before turning to head back upstairs, coffee mug and breakfast bar in hand. “Just be sure to clean up your mess.” 

“I will mom.” 

Mrs. Quigley disappears up the stairs without further comment, leaving the two of them alone again. 

Ouch. 

Nat looks towards Misty. She can see the barest flicker of sadness in her eyes before it disappears and she’s smiling at Nat again. 

“I’m sorry for that interruption. Now where were we?” 

It’s a surprisingly bold statement coming from Misty. Nat may have even found it kind of hot if not for the current situation. 

She’s leaning in, obviously fishing for another kiss, but Nat has other things in her mind. 

“Is she always like that?” She can’t help but ask. 

Misty doesn’t seem to need clarification about what she’s talking about. She lets out a sad little sigh. “Yes. My dad is too.” 

Nat frowns. Sometimes, she wishes her parents would leave her alone. It’d certainly be better than getting screamed at on the daily. Or watching her dad kick the shit out of her mom and then threaten to do the same to her. 

But for someone like Misty…who craves attention, having parents that just don’t pay any mind to you at all must be hell. 

“I was an unwanted pregnancy,” Misty continues. “They kept me out of obligation.” 

Nat balks at her in horror. “They told you that?” 

Misty nods. “They tell me that all the time. Mostly when they get upset with me.” 

Misty’s voice is matter-of-fact. But Nat can sense the underlying emotion behind it. 

She doesn’t know what to say. There isn’t really anything she can say to make any of that better. So she just wraps an arm around Misty and leans in to press a kiss onto her forehead. 

“My parents suck too,” she offers in a low voice. 

Misty doesn’t smile at her words. But she does seem to lighten a bit at the forehead kiss. 

They both turn to face the television again, where the climax of The Sound of Music is starting to commence. But Nat isn’t paying attention to any of it. She keeps an arm wrapped around Misty’s shoulders. 

Misty is uncharacteristically quiet for a few minutes. But eventually, she does break the silence. 

“I’m sorry about your parents too.” 

Nat shrugs. “Fuck all of them. Right?” 

Misty lets out a soft giggle. “Right.” 

She cuddles further into Nat. Nat keeps her arm around her shoulders for the rest of the movie. 

She can’t help but notice how natural it’s beginning to feel. 

This weekend had been the greatest weekend Misty has had in a while. Possibly ever. 

Friday she’d gotten to go to that party with the whole team. Then on Saturday, Natalie spent the whole day with her. And they kissed. Multiple times. 

Sadly, Nat had to go home later that evening on Saturday. But she responded to Misty’s goodnight text message later on. Then on Sunday, they went on another date….to the park to have a picnic. It’d been even more amazing than their first date. 

It still sometimes feels surreal, but Misty is finally wrapping her mind around the fact that she now has a girlfriend. And not only that, her girlfriend is Natalie Scatorccio, the prettiest and sweetest girl on the team. 

It may have taken a little bit of time for Misty to realize she liked girls, let alone Natalie, but now that she has, she’s fallen hard and fast. 

But who can blame her? 

She’s smiling wildly as she places her math textbook in her locker. It’s almost seventh period. She just has to make it through history class and then she can see Nat again during soccer practice. 

“I’m afraid to know what’s gotten her that happy,” a familiar voice says nearby. 

Misty’s stomach drops at the realization of who it is. 

Becky Simmons. 

Whoever Becky is talking to speaks in a low enough voice that Misty can’t hear them. Probably because they aren’t trying to be overheard. 

Becky has no such class. 

“I’m sure she’s tricked or guilted some poor soul into giving her the time of day,” Becky says. And then she tries to directly talk to her. “Who is your latest victim, Misty?” 

Ignore her. Ignore her. Ignore her. 

Misty repeats that mantra in her head over and over again. But despite that, she still finds herself turning away from her locker and towards the voices. 

Becky is standing a few feet away with a girl that Misty recognizes from her biology class. Becky has a smug smile on her face while the other girl looks a little embarrassed. 

“I haven’t done anything,” Misty argues in her own defense, despite deep down knowing it’s pointless. 

Becky lets out a small laugh at that. She opens her mouth to say something and Misty attempts to brace herself.  

But before Becky has a chance to say anything, Misty feels another body suddenly by her side. An arm reaching out to lay across her shoulder. 

Natalie. 

“Hey Becky,” Nat says, voice thickly sweet in a way Misty can tell isn’t genuine. “Is there a problem?” 

Becky’s expression immediately changes. Confusion at the situation and maybe a little bit of intimidation. 

It isn’t often that someone defends Misty from her, after all. Let alone Natalie…who tends to have her own reputation around school. 

Only Misty…and the rest of the team, she supposes, know how much of a softy she really is. 

Becky visibly clears her throat and shakes her head. “No problem.” 

Nat nods. “You should probably get going then.” 

Becky stares for a moment, seemingly at a loss for words, but she ends up doing what Nat says, walking away from them with her friend in tow. 

She’s muttering something low underneath her breath, though Misty can’t quite make out what it is. 

Once she’s gone, Misty turns towards Nat, who released her shoulder. “Thank you. But you know she’s going to be talking about you for the rest of the day now, right?” 

Nat scoffs. “I don’t care what someone like her thinks.” 

That’s fair. 

Between seeing Becky told off and well…Nat just appearing, Misty is in an even better mood than she had been moments before. 

…But her smile falls when she really takes in Nat’s face. 

There are bags under her eyes. It reminds Misty of the way she had looked earlier this week, when she had offered her the energy drink. But somehow worse. 

There’s something…off about her too. Something unsettled. 

Misty suddenly can’t shake the feeling that something bad happened. 

She decides to voice it. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Not even her tone of voice sounds convincing. 

Misty frowns. “You have bags under your eyes again. And…” 

“I said I was fine,” Nat snaps, voice harder than Misty thinks she’s ever heard it. “Just drop it, Misty.” 

Misty deflates somewhat. It must show on her face somewhat because Nat lets out a sigh, shoulders slumping. 

“I got into it with my parents last night,” Nat says, voice softer now, as if in some unspoken apology. “I don’t want to talk about it.” 

There’s more to it. There has to be. The frenzied, almost wild look about Nat doesn’t give Misty the impression that it was merely a fight. 

But…she won’t press it. Now right now, anyway, while Nat is so defensive. Misty would find a way to coax it out of her later. 

“Okay,” she says, nodding. She hopes the smile she puts on her face seems convincing enough. “But is there anything I can do to help?” 

Nat shakes her head. “I’ll figure it out.” 

She suddenly seems hesitant about something. Then, before Misty can anticipate what’s about to happen, Nat leans down and presses a short peck to her lips. 

“I’ll see you later,” she murmurs, and then walks off before Misty can say anything in response. 

Misty watches her go, only leaving in the opposite direction when she hears the bell for seventh period ring. 

Nat showing affection to her like that in public should make her happy. And it does. Right now though, all she can really think about is the fact that there’s clearly something Nat isn’t telling her. 

But she is going to find out what it is, somehow. 

Nat knows she’s playing like shit today. But she can’t bring herself to really care. 

She feels a little guilty about snapping at Misty earlier. While it isn’t the first time she’s had to reign in her impatience where Misty is concerned, she really hadn’t done anything wrong this time. All she’d done was show concern. 

But Nat also feels like a ticking time bomb ready to explode on anyone. Even her teammates must pick up on it to an extent, because no one talks to her other than the occasional light greetings. No one even tries to tease her about Misty, which she’s been preparing to have to deal with since the party on Friday night. She’d been sure at least Van or Mari would have a thing to say about it but so far, it’s mostly been radio silence. 

Good. With her current mood, Nat isn’t sure whether she’d be able to hold her tongue if anyone tried to fuck with her today. 

When Coach Martinez suggests she take a break about an hour into practice, probably due to her shitty footwork, Nat stalks into the locker room to get out of the sun for a moment. 

She has a water bottle in her locker. She’ll just take a few swigs from that and hopefully calm down enough to be able to get back onto the field at least once before practice is over. 

Upon opening her locker though, she finds something else. One of Misty’s energy drinks, with a piece of paper taped to the side of it. 

Nat grabs the piece of paper and finds a note clearly written in Misty’s neat, girly handwriting. 

Hi Natalie

I meant to give this to you earlier today but there never seemed to be a good time. I thought you could use it since you seemed really tired when I last saw you. 

I’m talking with Mrs. Greene about the latest math quiz but I should manage to be there before practice is completely over. 

I hope you’re feeling better! 

The note is also dotted with a bunch of little hearts. Nat feels a sudden lightness in her chest that she hasn’t felt all day. 

The note really wasn’t necessary. Nat would have figured that the drink was from Misty without it, but it was just like her to be over-the-top with it. 

What a dork. 

A part of her also wonders how the fuck Misty even got her locker open to leave the energy drink in there in the first place. 

“What’s got you all smiley and blushy?” 

Nat freezes and looks up from where she was staring at the note. 

Jackie is peering at her curiously from across the aisle by her own locker. Nat had been so preoccupied with reading Misty’s dumb little note that she hadn’t even heard Jackie come in. 

“Nothing,” she murmurs quickly, turning away from Jackie in fear that her face may be heating up even more out of embarrassment from being caught. She tucks Misty’s note into a safe space in her locker and grabs the energy drink. 

Shit. Had she really been smiling and blushing over a note Misty left her? 

It just isn’t something she’s used to. Nat has never really had anyone…pay that much attention to her. Or do things like leave her cute notes in her locker dotted with hearts. To be fair, it’s never been something she thought she’d want either. But apparently, it’s having some kind of effect on her. 

“Mmm hmm,” Jackie hums in response in a tone that clearly tells Nat that she doesn’t believe her. 

Nat scowls at her lightly as she opens up the energy drink and takes a drink. 

Before she can say anything, Jackie speaks, seemingly undeterred. 

“So, was Friday night not just a drunken fever dream for me? Are you and Misty really together?” 

Nat should’ve known she wouldn’t be lucky enough to go a whole day without someone bringing it up. She tries to reign in her immediate instinct to be defensive. 

“We are,” she says, before letting out a sigh. “But look, I’m really not in the mood for…” 

“I think it’s cute,” Jackie cuts her off before she can finish. 

Nat isn’t surprised by that response. Jackie isn’t usually the type to be outwardly mean. But she can’t help but wonder if she actually means the sentiment or…

“Really,” Jackie asserts, as if reading her expression. She takes a drink from her own water bottle. “I can’t lie, I was shocked when I found out. I didn’t think Misty was…someone you’d go for.” 

Nat can’t help but snort. That’s an understatement. 

“But I think it’s kind of fitting,” Jackie continues. “Misty is…different. But she’s sweet. I don’t think she’d ever fuck you over the way some of your exes have.” 

Nat’s first instinct is to not take too much stock into this. After all, Jackie has good reason to want her and Misty together. It’s what’s allowing her to be with Shauna. 

…But then she remembers how Jackie had hung out with Misty at the party. Sure, she’d been drunk. But Misty has also told Nat a lot over the weekend about how she and Jackie used to be friends when they were kids, due to their families often being entwined. So maybe she has more insight into Misty than one would think. 

Which also reminds her…

“She misses you, you know,” Nat blurts. “You hanging out with her at the party really made her happy.” 

Jackie’s eyes immediately soften in what might be guilt. “I had fun with her too,” she admits. “For the parts I can remember anyway.” 

Nat shrugs. “Maybe you should tell her that.” 

Jackie is silent for a moment, which Nat hopes means she’s actually thinking about it. 

It’s very clear why Jackie probably started distancing herself from Misty as they got older. And Nat isn’t naive enough to think that’s going to completely change now. But if there’s anything she’s learned from getting to know Misty over the last few days, it’s that the girl is easily made happy even from the smallest scraps of attention. 

If Jackie even just took a few minutes out of her days to shit down and chat with Misty, Nat knows it would mean the world to her. 

“I think I will,” Jackie finally says, softly. She puts her water bottle back in her locker and stands up, looking down at Nat with a smile. “Thanks Nat.” 

Nat doesn’t really know what she’s thanking her for. “Uh ... .sure. No problem.” 

Jackie is still staring at her. Nat can’t quite read her expression. 

“You’re a really good person, you know,” Jackie finally says. “And you don’t care what anyone thinks. I’ve always admired that about you.” 

Nat gets the sinking feeling that this is still about Misty. She definitely wouldn’t call herself a good person for that, considering she’s being paid to date Misty. But Jackie doesn’t know that. She clears her throat and awkwardly nods. “Thanks.” 

“I mean it.” She finally walks past her and towards the exit of the locker room. “Now down that energy drink and get back on the field soon. I want you to practice at least a little more before the end of the day.” 

Normally, Jackie going into bossy captain mode annoys Nat a little. But she’s so overwhelmed by everything else about their conversation that she can’t really feel anything else. 

Still, she rolls her eyes and gives an over exaggerated salute. “Aye aye captain.” 

Jackie either doesn’t notice her sarcasm or chooses to ignore it, because she leaves the locker room without another word. 

Nat sits in silence for another few moments. 

Everything is still shit. But she does feel a little lighter now. 

She takes Misty’s note back out of her locker, reads it over one more time, and then puts it back in its safe place and heads out. 

Misty is out on the field by the time Nat finally emerges from the locker room. 

She isn’t surprised at all when Misty completely abandons her post by the coaches to join Nat on the bleachers. 

But she doesn’t mind it. She was kind of even hoping for it in fact. 

In a flash, Nat turns towards her, leaning down a bit to plant a quick kiss on her cheek. 

“Thanks for the energy drink,” she says afterwards. 

In the distance, she can faintly hear the sound of Van letting out an obnoxious whistle, but Nat pointedly chooses to ignore it. 

“I…no problem Nat,” Misty says with a little giggle, after getting over her initial surprise at the kiss. She’s looking at her with concern now. “Are you feeling better?” 

Nat nods. She’s surprised at herself that she’s not even really lying. “Yeah.” 

Misty stares at her, as if trying to figure out whether she’s lying. But then she lets out a little gasp, and points towards Nat’s right hand. “Natalie, your wrist!” 

Shit. She’d been hoping to go through the whole day without anyone noticing. 

Gingerly, she holds up the bruised wrist from last night. “It’s nothing. My dad…” 

“Your dad did that to you?” Misty cuts her off. 

And fuck…the expression on Misty’s face would almost be scary if it was directed at her. The usual warm brown of her eyes somehow appears almost black now. There’s a quivering motion to her jaw, as if she’s on the verge of exploding. 

Nat hadn’t known Misty was even capable of making that kind of expression. 

“I was walking away from him and he grabbed me,” Nat explains, voice soft and cautious as if speaking to a disturbed wild animal. “He’s an asshole. But it’s not something I haven’t dealt with before. It’ll be fine.” 

She isn’t lying, even if she is saying it in the hopes to calm Misty down a little. 

She watches as Misty heaves out a deep breath, as if trying to reign herself in. But there’s still an unsettling steel to her gaze. 

“You can’t go back there, Natalie,” she finally says. “You should come over to my house tonight. My parents won’t care.” 

Nat knows that’s likely true, after having briefly met Misty’s mother over the weekend. But the idea still isn’t something she’s entirely comfortable with for multiple reasons. 

“Really, I’ll be fine, Misty,” she tries to reassure her. “It’s not…” 

“Please.” 

Misty’s voice and expression have completely softened now. Nat quickly realizes that she’s pleading with her. 

Between that and the fact that it really would be nice to get a break from everything involving her parents, Nat’s resolve finally breaks. 

“Alright,” she says. “I’ll have to go back to my place to grab some things, but I’ll meet you at your house later.” 

Misty relaxes a bit at that but still doesn’t look fully happy. “I can go with you…” 

Nat quickly shakes her head. That’s a hard no. “I’ll be okay, I promise. My dad won’t even be home yet. Just my mom.” 

Finally, Misty nods in acceptance. “Okay.” 

Nat does manage to get back onto the field before practice ends. And with the threat of having to return home later that night gone, she admittedly plays much better. 

When the day ends, she keeps her promise to Misty and only stops by the trailer to pack herself a bag of clothes for the next day, an oversized T-shirt to sleep in, and her toothbrush. 

Her mother, passed out on her bed as usual, pays her no mind. Nat enters the trailer and then leaves without her being none the wiser. 

When she manages to get to Misty’s place later, there are no cars in the driveway. It reminds her that Misty’s parents work graveyard shifts and have probably already left for the night. 

Nat is relieved. While she believes Misty when she says that her parents don’t give a shit about her staying the night, she’s still happy about there being no chance that she’ll have to awkwardly deal with one of them answering the door. 

Only, she ends up not even having to knock on the door because Misty immediately swings it open once she’s standing on the front porch, as if she’d been waiting for her. 

Which….she probably was. 

“Hey,” Nat says with a tiny smile. 

Misty is looking at her with an expression she can’t quite read. “You came.” 

Nat nods. “I told you I would.” 

“Yeah…but I was worried,” Misty replies with a surprising amount of earnestness. 

Nat softens. “I’m okay.” 

Finally, Misty smiles. It’s enough for Nat to form a grin of her own. 

“Are you going to invite me inside?” 

They order a pizza for dinner, off of Misty’s parents credit card. Another thing that Misty swears they won’t care about. 

After they eat, they retreat to Misty’s room to work on homework together. 

Misty manages to finish an English essay before she brings up what Nat feared she would. 

“How often does it happen?” 

Nat is fully aware of what she means, but she feigns ignorance anyway, looking up at her from where she’s sitting at the foot of her bed. “What?” 

Misty seems unphased. “How often does your dad hurt you?” 

Nat’s first instinct is to shut the subject down…tell Misty she doesn’t want to talk about it. Maybe even threaten to leave if Misty refuses to drop the subject. But she has a feeling Misty isn’t going to let it go no matter what. She sighs. “He doesn’t normally touch me. It’s…it’s my mom that he goes after.” 

It’s the truth. Her dad has never hit her. This wrist thing was an isolated situation, and it hadn’t even been on purpose. Not really. 

Her dad is a piece of shit. But not quite to that level. 

Misty doesn’t seem comforted. She’s getting that steely look in her eyes again. “I could kill him.” 

Nat is so startled by the sudden statement that she lets out a short laugh. 

Only…when Misty doesn’t laugh back or even smile, she starts wondering if she’s actually serious. 

“Misty…” She begins. 

“My parents have access to all kinds of medications,” Misty continues . “I could steal some fentanyl and…” 

“Misty… no,” Nat says, looking at her with wide eyes. “You’re not going to…kill my dad. Holy fuck.” 

Misty's eyes soften then, thankfully. “But he hurt you and…” 

“And I don’t want you to commit murder for me,” Nat asserts, still in disbelief that they’re even having this conversation. 

It’s weird. This honestly should be enough to make her run for the hills, getting paid or not. She remembers what Tai had said at the party…about there being something off about Misty. Well, there’s evidence right here that she may have been right about that. 

But Misty isn’t offering to kill just anyone. She wants to kill her dad…because he hurt Nat. It’s overwhelming and a little scary, but Nat has never had anyone go to bat for her like that before. 

Thankfully, Misty’s shoulders relax and her eyes go back to normal. “Okay. I just…I hate that he did that to you,” she says, voice thick. 

“I know,” Nat says softly, finding herself moving closer as if on autopilot. “But it really isn’t a normal thing. I’ll be okay. I promise.” 

Misty looks up at her. Then, she surprises Nat by leaning up and kissing her. 

It’s the first time a kiss has been initiated by Misty and there’s a sense of urgency to it, like she’s still hyped up from their conversation. Nat doesn’t mind. She’d rather Misty spend that kind of energy doing this then…conspiring to commit murder. So she kisses her back. 

The heat of the moment and the passionate way Misty is kissing her is doing things to Nat. Hyper-aware of where they are, she breaks the kiss before things can escalate too far. 

Misty peers up at her and Nat gently strokes her cheek with her thumb. “Do you want to watch a movie? We could put on another one of your dumb musicals.” 

Misty glares at her in a way that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “They’re not dumb but okay! We could go downstairs. Or…I could grab my laptop and we can watch it here on that.” 

Nat kind of likes the idea of staying in Misty’s room. “The laptop idea works.” 

Misty nods and gets off of the bed. “I think I left it downstairs. I’ll be right back.” 

Nat nods back and watches her go. 

Shaking her head, she stands up and walks over to where her overnight bag is to change into her sleeping clothes. 

It’s when she’s pulling the T-shirt over her head that she spots a piece of paper on Misty’s desk. 

She doesn’t mean to pry. At least not initially. But she thinks she spots her name written towards the top and can’t help herself. 

It’s formatted as a list, written in Misty’s neat handwriting. 

Things I like most about Natalie: 

1. Her eyes 
2. The way I can make her laugh 
3. How nice it feels to kiss her 
4. That smile she has whenever she scores a goal during games 
5. How pretty she is  
6. The way she’s never been mean. Not really 
7. How she’ll watch musicals with me even though I know she doesn’t really like them 
8. The way she’ll sometimes blush but then try to hide it 
9. How she listens to me 
10.  She’s the best person I know 

Shit. She definitely wasn’t supposed to see this. 

Before she can get away from the desk and cover her tracks, Misty suddenly reappears, laptop in her arms. 

“I was thinking we could watch…oh.”

Now Misty’s face is red and her eyes are wide behind her glasses.  

Nat holds her hands up apologetically. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have looked. I just saw my name and read it without thinking.” 

“I just…was thinking about you the other day and it just happened,” Misty explains in a rush. “I’m sorry, I…” 

Nat frowns. “Why are you apologizing?” 

Misty shrugs. “I don’t know. You don’t think that’s weird? That I wrote all of that down?” 

Nat can tell from her self-deprecating sounding tone that she genuinely thought she would be weirded out by it. And sure, it’s definitely not something she’s ever experienced before. Finding out the person she’s dating had actually sat down and wrote a bunch of things they like about her. But that isn’t a bad thing. 

“Shit Misty,” Nat says, stepping a bit closer. “There’s far worse things than finding out your girlfriend wrote nice things about you.” 

It’s the first time she’s called Misty her girlfriend. She’s shocked that it doesn’t feel weirder than it does. 

Misty begins to smile "Really?" 

“Yeah. Really.” 

Misty finally smiles fully now and she lets out this cute, relieved-sounding giggle. “Okay.” 

Having gotten into her night shirt, Nat crawls onto the bed and gets into the side she slept on last time. “Are we going to watch that movie or what?” 

Misty beams and gets in beside her, positioning the laptop in a way that they can both easily see it. 

They end up watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show. For a musical, it isn’t half-bad. 

But what Nat ends up focusing on more is the feeling of Misty cuddling into her, laying her head on her shoulder. 

And that’s when Nat finally knows how unbelievably fucked she is. 

Chapter Text

When Nat goes to school the next morning, she’s determined. And admittedly much more well-rested than she would’ve been had she spent last night in the trailer. 

She’s wrestled with the decision since falling asleep. And now that it’s morning, she’s still sure that it’s what she wants to do. 

She rides the bus with Misty. They attend their first period together. Then, after saying goodbye and telling her she’ll see her later this afternoon, Nat sets off to find Shauna. 

Fortunately, they have second period biology together. Nat just hopes to catch her before class starts, so she can get this conversation over with rather than letting it linger for an hour. 

She manages to find Shauna at her locker. It’s closed, so Nat imagines she was just getting ready to walk off in the direction of class. 

Perfect timing…

Shauna must sense that she has some sort of agenda, because her brown eyes seem to widen a fraction. “Hey. Something wrong?” 

Nat pauses. She does a quick look around to make sure that there isn’t anyone to overhear, and then steps a bit closer, keeping her voice low. “I need to talk to you. It’s about the deal.” 

Shauna immediately looks a bit worried. She probably assumes Nat is wanting out of the deal. Which…is true, but probably not in the way she suspects. 

“Okay,” Shauna says, though she doesn’t look entirely happy about it. She grabs Nat’s arm abruptly and guides her to an area further down the hall, where there’s less people to overhear them. 

“Don’t tell me you’re dropping out now,” Shauna begins. “You’ve already gotten this far. You might as well just…” 

“I’m not breaking up with Misty. But I still want out of the deal,” Nat says. 

Shauna blinks at her, confused. “What…” 

“You don’t have to pay me,” Nat clarifies. 

Shauna’s eyes narrow, not looking any less confused. “Why not?” 

This is the part Nat has been dreading. Talking about her feelings like this has never been something she’s great at. Especially admitting that she has feelings for Misty Quigley of all people. 

But…after what she felt last night, she can’t deny that it isn’t true. 

She heaves out a big sigh. “I actually like her,” she finally says. “I want to date her for real. And I don’t want to hurt her. She doesn’t need to ever find out about this.” 

For a few moments, Shauna just stares at her, as if attempting to fully take in what she said. 

“You’re serious?” Shauna eventually asks. 

Nat nods. 

“You don’t want any money?” 

“No. All I want is for you to let it go and keep it a secret.” 

Shauna continues to look at her as if she’s suddenly grown three heads. 

“You know, Jackie said something the other day about how she doesn’t think she’s ever seen you so carefree in a relationship. I figured it was just because it wasn’t actually real and you weren’t taking it seriously.” 

Nat shrugs. “Yeah well, I am now. I don’t know how it happened but it did.” 

“I….okay.” The bell rings, warning them that first period is about to start. Shauna turns away from her. “We should probably head to class.” 

Nat gives her a nod and then follows her, adjusting the straps on her bag. 

That went a lot more smoothly than she thought. She’s glad to have gotten it over with right at the beginning. 

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” she hears Shauna murmur, so quietely that she almost missed it. 

Sure. Maybe dating a girl who offered to literally murder her dad while being completely serious about it isn’t an idea that most people would find wise. But it feels right somehow. 

“I do,” she answers Shauna shortly. When Shauna begins to walk more quickly and leaves her behind, Nat finally smiles faintly. 

She feels like a massive weight has been lifted off of her chest. 

Nat passes the rest of the day in a happier, lighter mood than she’s had in a while. 

She’s all too aware of the fact that Misty Quigley has a lot to do with that. But she’s passed the point of feeling embarrassed or weird about that. 

After first period ends, she promptly sends Misty a text message. 

meet me under the bleachers during sixth period? 

She knows that she may be pushing her luck with that. As someone who brags about her perfect attendance, Misty might not be the kind of girl who’d be willing to cut class, even to meet up with her new girlfriend. 

But it’s worth a shot. Nat currently feels so strangely joyful after that conversation with Shauna that she kind of wants to celebrate a little. 

She’s sitting down in her seat for second period when her phone buzzes with a notification. 

A text from Misty. 

Sure. What do you want to meet up for? 

Nat feels a small swell of fondness run through her chest at the knowledge that Misty probably really doesn’t know what she wants to meet up for. 

no big reason. just want to see you 

Misty’s reply is quick. 

Okay :) 

The rest of the day goes by surprisingly slowly for Nat. If anyone could hear her thoughts, she thinks she might actually be a little embarrassed by how impatient she feels for sixth period. 

When it finally does arrive, she wastes no time in going straight to the bleachers, only giving brief nods to the classmates she walks past. 

Once she reaches the bleachers, Misty isn’t there. So Nat pulls her phone out of her pocket and checks for any new texts. 

Sure enough, there is one. She hadn’t even felt her phone buzz in her pocket. 

I’ll be there soon. Sorry, I had to return a book to the library :)

Nat is aware of the dumb, cheesy grin on her face but fuck it…no one is around to witness it anyway. She puts her phone back in her pocket and leans up against the gym wall. 

As promised, it doesn’t take Misty long to get there. After only waiting about five more minutes, she appears, bag strapped to her back and dressed in one of her usual dorky sweaters. 

She’s cute. Nat suddenly doesn’t know why it took her so long to realize that. 

“Hi,” Misty says, smiling in a way that seems shy. 

Nat smirks. “Hey.” 

Misty shuffles her feet, looking down at the ground for a moment in another display of shyness. “Why did you want to meet?” 

Nat can’t quite tell whether Misty is genuinely innocent enough to not know why her girlfriend might want to meet her in a secret spot while they’re supposed to be attending class. Or if it’s her way of trying to get Nat to actually say it. 

Either way, she finds that she doesn’t care. 

Without further thought, she steps closer to her, moving away from the wall. “Put your backpack down.”

Misty tilts her head curiously but does what she says, setting her backpack down onto the gym floor. “Why?” 

Nat doesn’t verbally answer her. Instead, she merely closes the gap between them and kisses her.  

Misty lets out a little gasp when their lips connect but quickly returns the kiss, melting into her. 

Swiftly but gently, Nat moves them over a bit so that she has Misty pinned against the back wall, never once separating their mouths. 

It’s the deepest kiss they’ve had so far and way closer to the kind of kisses Nat is used to getting these days. Hungry and almost wanton. But she finds that she likes these types of kisses with Misty just as much as she does their sweeter ones. 

Misty lets out a little moan as Nat deepens the kiss even further, which doesn’t do anything to quell the hunger Nat feels. 

Almost dizzying, she realizes that Misty is wearing some kind of fruity flavored lip gloss. With some amusement, she wonders if Misty had been at least partially prepared to do this when Nat texted her. And if that innocent facade had been a little bit of an act. 

They eventually have to part in order to breathe. But they don’t move far, with Nat still crowding Misty against the wall. 

“Wow,” Misty finally manages, letting out a little giggle that sounds breathless but happy. 

Nat can’t deny that she feels the sentiment. “Yeah,” she says back, feeling herself smile. 

Nat leans in to kiss her again, but stops when she realizes that Misty has suddenly stiffened. 

“What’s wrong?” She asks. 

Misty looks almost fearful when she looks at her now. It immediately puts Nat a little on edge, despite how happy she had been just seconds before. 

“There’s something I have to tell you,” Misty says, letting out a sigh, as if annoyingly resigned to the fact. “But you have to promise to not be mad.” 

Okay, now Nat is very worried. Her eyebrows raise. “What is it?” 

Misty bites her own lower lip lightly. “It’s about your dad.” 

Instantly, Nat freezes, remembering their conversation from last night, when Misty had straight up offered to steal fentanyl from her parents in order to murder her dad with it. Completely serious. But there’s no way she actually…right? 

More than a little spooked now, Nat finally moves away far enough to where she’s no longer trapping Misty against the wall. 

Misty seems to pick up on what she’s fearing because her eyes widen, looking even bigger behind her glasses. “Nat no. It’s not that!” 

“Okay,” Nat breaths, crazily realizing that she actually does feel relieved. “What is it then?” 

Misty looks sheepish again. “I may have gotten him put in jail.” 

Nat blinks, taken aback. That’s definitely not what she expected to hear. “What? How?” 

“When I told you I was returning a book to the library…I lied,” Misty confesses. “I actually wasn’t on campus at all, and it was taking me a little while to walk back. I didn’t want to tell you until I saw you in person.” 

“So, what? You snuck off and skipped classes to do whatever you did?” 

“Well, only a couple. I didn’t need to be off all day to do what I wanted.” Misty pauses. “But anyway, your dad got into a fight at that bar he goes to. I saw him get arrested afterwards.” 

Nat narrows her eyes. It’s not unheard of for something like that to happen to her dad. He’s a violent man and it’d be far from the first time. He was also already on parole from a similar charge, so she knows he’s likely to be in for a while this time around. 

“And what were you doing at the bar?” The obvious question. 

This is clearly the part that Misty is dancing around. But she does end up answering. “I slashed his tires while he was inside. He blamed someone else for it. That’s how the fight escalated.” 

Nat is trying to visualize it. Misty stalking her dad, watching him enter a bar and then running out from wherever she was hiding to slash his tires. It’s almost comical. 

She definitely should be pissed. Her dad is a piece of shit…but he’s still her dad. What Misty did was invasive and completely fucking crazy. Though, since she’s apparently willing to commit murder, it seems that she was even holding herself back. 

At her silence, Misty appears to panic a little. “I know you might be mad at me but…I had to do it, Nat. You didn’t want me to kill him, so I didn’t. But I couldn’t just let him keep…” 

Nat cuts her off with a kiss, pressing their mouths together almost bruisingly as she traps Misty against the wall again. 

Is the fact that this is her response to this complete insanity a bit concerning? Maybe. But it’s what she feels, somehow. So Nat is going to roll with it. 

“You’re fucking crazy,” she murmurs against Misty’s lips, but does nothing to pull them apart from each other, kissing her once again. 

After getting over her initial surprise, Misty returns the kiss in kind. 

Misty isn’t sure what has gotten into Natalie today. But she isn’t complaining. 

Telling her about her father more than likely going back to jail due to Misty’s actions had gone over much more smoothly than she’d expected…she had hoped that it would work out, but she certainly hadn’t predicted to get kissed after it. At least not right away. 

And then the rest of the day….it just seems like some sort of weight has been lifted off of Nat’s chest. 

She holds Misty’s hand when they walk to the few classes they have together and doesn’t seem to care about the whispers and stares it gets them. She gives Misty brief, sweet kisses at her locker when she happens to pass by. 

And while her texts are often much shorter than Misty’s, she replies to the messages Misty sends her promptly. 

All of it has begun to make it feel more real than it had before. 

Misty has a girlfriend. She is Natalie Scatorccio’s girlfriend and she couldn’t be happier. 

She’s so giddy that she has a hard time paying any attention in class today. Almost at least. 

By the time her last class finally ends, she feels as light as a feather. 

She leaves straight away towards the gym, wondering if she may be able to catch Nat before she heads into the gym with the others to prepare for soccer practice. 

No such luck, it turns out. By the time Misty gets to the gym, it seems that everyone has already piled in. 

She tries not to feel too disappointed. After all, she and Nat can always make plans for after class. 

As usual, it doesn’t take the team long to get ready for practice. 

Misty is on her normal place on the bench, watching them kick the ball around the field after having completed her own duties for the day as equipment manager. 

Just like the last few practices, her eyes can’t help but zero in on Nat in particular. 

She seems well today. She’s performing how she normally does, with no signs of the tiredness from last time. 

Misty takes some pride in being the cause of that. And now with Nat’s father getting arrested again, there should be a more long-lasting solution. 

After about twenty minutes, Natalie surprises her by jogging over to where she’s sitting. 

“Hey,” Nat says with a light grin. 

She’s sweaty and her skin is a little flushed, but Misty finds her just as pretty as usual, if not even more. Misty returns her grin with a soft smile. “Hi.” 

And then, clear out in the opening where everyone on the team could see if they wanted, Nat leans closer to her, places a gentle hand on her cheek, and kisses her. 

Misty only needs one quick moment to get over her initial surprise before she’s kissing back. 

It’s much more gentle than the passionate kisses they had shared under the bleachers earlier that day. But just as nice. 

When they eventually part, Misty looks at her in wonderment. “What was that for?” 

To that, Nat only shrugs. “I just wanted to.” 

From behind Nat, only a few of the other teammates seem to take notice of them. Misty thinks she sees Van pause and shake her head in disbelief before continuing on in what she was doing before. 

But Nat doesn’t seem to care about any of that. “Do you have any more of those energy drinks in your locker?” 

Misty nods, though she still feels somewhat dazed. Both from the kiss and from what Nat had just said. “I’ve been bringing them every day.” 

“Do you mind bringing me one?” 

“Of course not.” 

“Cool.” Nat pauses, as if hesitating about something. Misty thinks she seems almost…bashful looking. “And we can maybe go on another date tonight if you want.”

Misty’s smile is so wide now that it almost hurts her face. But she manages to answer with a chirp. “Sure!” 

“Great.” They smile at each other for a moment longer before Nat clears her throat. “I should probably get back on the field soon.” 

“Okay. I’ll go get you that drink.” 

Nat gives her one more brief peck on the lips before turning away to rejoin her teammates. 

Misty watches her jog away before shaking herself out of her trance and standing up to go into the locker room. 

She could definitely get used to this. 

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about it. It’s over now anyway.” 

As soon as Misty steps into the locker room, she hears Shauna’s voice. Her voice sounds like a strange mixture of anger and pleading. 

“I just can’t believe that you ever thought that would be a good idea…or that Nat even agreed to it.” 

Jackie’s voice. 

And well, now that Misty has heard Nat’s name, she’s keen to listen in and figure out what they’re talking about. With that in mind, she freezes in place, being careful to not make any noise. 

There’s a loud noise that sounds like someone slamming a locker door shut. 

“Come on Jax,” Shauna says. “Did you really want to spend our entire senior year not being able to see each other? I had to do something. And now we get to be together.” 

What on Earth would Nat have anything to do with Jackie and Shauna’s relationship drama? 

She hadn’t told Misty about any of this. 

Jackie still sounds angry as she replies. “And that was your only option? Paying Nat to date Misty? Like Misty doesn’t get messed with enough?” 

All at once, the word freezes. 

No. That can’t be true. Natalie wouldn’t do something like that…

But with ice cold realization, Misty finds that it makes sense. It explains why Nat’s interest for her seemingly happened out of nowhere. Why she was laying it on so thick. 

God, she’s so stupid. She should have listened to her initial gut feeling. 

She should’ve known there was no way someone like Natalie Scatorccio could actually like her. But a part of her had so wanted to hope and accept it…

She doesn’t realize that she’s begun crying until the sound of footsteps approaches her. 

She looks up and finds Jackie and Shauna now standing in front of her. 

“Misty.” Jackie looks absolutely shellshocked. Her eyes also show a level of pity, which is absolutely something Misty doesn’t want to see right now. “How much of that did you hear?” 

Somehow, Misty manages to find her voice. “All of it,” she chokes out breathily. 

Jackie visibly winces. 

From beside her, Shauna is staring as well. To her credit, she does appear to look a little guilty. But she eventually sighs, as if resigned to something, and frowns as she regards Misty. “Look…” 

But Misty finds that she doesn’t want to hear whatever Shauna has to say. In a flash, she turns away from them and runs out of the locker room. 

“Misty, wait!” She hears Jackie call out. 

But Misty doesn’t turn around. She keeps running. 

She thinks she hears the two of them chase after her for a time but they seemingly give up after a bit. 

Misty doesn’t stop running until she’s a good distance away from the school. 

Misty eventually finds herself at the small park a few blocks away from the school. 

She’s been here for almost an hour now, sitting on a bench, trying to hide her face as the tears fall. 

She needs to get herself together and stop this. Now. She needs to stop crying, go home, and try to forget that any of this happened. 

Forget about Natalie. About the way she smiled at her. The way she wrapped her arm around her shoulder as they watched movies together. The way her lips felt against Misty’s when she kissed her…

Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of her phone buzzing with a text. Again. 

Misty wills herself to finally look at her phone. 

She has multiple missed calls and texts from Nat. 

Nat: where are you? I went by your house but your parents told me they haven’t seen you 

Nat: shauna and jackie told me what happened. I’m really sorry. I never wanted you to find out especially not like that 

Nat: you have every right to be pissed at me. but please let me explain 

Nat: I should have never done it. I know that. but things changed. I really fucking like you okay? just earlier today I told shauna I didn’t even want the money anymore I swear 

Nat: At least let me know if you’re okay 

Misty doesn’t know what to think. A part of her is enjoying the attention. And if Nat is telling the truth…if she really does like her and told Shauna she didn’t want the money…

But what if it’s another ploy? After all, Misty hadn’t seen the original one coming. 

Her phone goes off with another message, this time from a different, unknown number. 

Misty? It’s Jackie. I’m really sorry about what you heard. But can you please tell someone if you’re okay? 

Are they all looking for her right now? If she wasn’t so devastated by other things this might’ve made her giddy. 

She does decide to reply to Jackie though. 

I’m alright 

It takes Jackie only a couple seconds to respond. 

Thank goodness. Do you think you could meet me at your house? I think we’re overdue for a sleepover. 

And then another one. 

I promise Nat and Shauna won’t be there 

A part of Misty wants to milk this for as long as possible. It’s something she could do to make herself feel even mildly better. 

But then she remembers being at that party with Jackie…how it almost felt like they were becoming friends again. 

Based on what she heard of Jackie and Shauna’s conversation, it doesn’t seem like Jackie had any part in the deal. That she hadn’t even known about it. 

Maybe she should nurture that. 

Okay 

Chapter Text

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” 

“Natalie!” Jackie gasps. She looks around the field quickly, as if to make sure they weren’t overheard. “You know Coach Martinez is strict about…” 

But Nat honestly doesn’t really care what she has to say right now. Not after what she and Shauna had just told her. 

Misty knows. And she had found out in maybe one of the worst ways possible. All because Shauna couldn’t do the one thing she asked of her and keep her mouth shut about it. 

But there’s no point in wallowing in it. She has to find Misty. 

Without another word, Nat begins to jog away from Shauna and Jackie and the rest of the team. 

“Nat, where are you going?” She hears Shauna call out. 

Nat doesn’t even turn back to look at them as she yells back a response. “To look for Misty.” 

This is bad. Really fucking bad. She can’t imagine what Misty might’ve felt to hear all of that. And to not even hear about it from Nat herself…

Nat tries to place herself in Misty’s shoes. She knows she’d be beyond pissed. Hurt. Maybe even…devastated. 

The guilt that’s been sitting in Nat’s chest since agreeing to Shauna’s stupid deal comes back with a vengeance. But this time, even worse. 

“Nat!” 

She pauses in her movement only after realizing that Shauna and Jackie had been running after her. 

“What?” Nat snaps, tone probably harsher than she meant to be. 

She can’t help but be a little mad at them. If they hadn’t been airing out their issues in the middle of the locker room, where anyone could overhear them…

Deep down and logically, Nat knows that isn’t fair though. Shauna didn’t force her to take the deal. And Nat had plenty of opportunities to tell Misty the truth herself. Maybe if she had, it would’ve at least softened the blow. 

No. At the end of the day, this is no one’s fault but her own. 

Shauna looks vaguely annoyed by her snappiness while Jackie only looks concerned. 

“We’ll help you look for her,” Jackie offers before Shauna can open her mouth and say something undoubtedly less kind.  

Shauna doesn’t appear to be thrilled with that. But she seems to know better than to argue. 

Nat gives them a nod. “Thanks…I guess I’ll go start by checking out her house.” 

“We’ll look around the school,” Shauna says, eyes seeming to soften just a fraction. “We didn’t see where she ended up going. She could be hiding somewhere around here.” 

Nat has a feeling that Misty wouldn’t exactly be thrilled to talk to Shauna after what she had overheard. But she isn’t about to argue against help. 

Then again, she probably isn’t going to be keen to talk to Nat right now either. Maybe even less so. 

Nat gives them one last nod before turning away to get off campus. 

Coach Martinez will probably give them all earfuls later for ditching the last twenty minutes of practice like this. But it’s important. 

Misty isn’t at her house. Instead, all Nat found was her parents, who stiffly and unemotionally informed her that they hadn't seen Misty all day. 

Now Nat is really starting to get worried. So much that she sent Misty a slew of desperate sounding texts and missed calls, not even caring about how pathetic she may seem. 

She’s sitting on a bench a couple blocks away from the school when her phone suddenly buzzes with a message. 

She gets her hopes up for a moment only to discover that it’s a message from Jackie, not Misty. 

Jackie: Hey Nat. Misty texted me back. She’s okay 

Nat feels an uncomfortable pang in her chest at the confirmation that Misty has been seemingly ignoring her messages and calls. But she supposes it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. 

thanks for telling me. where has she been? 

Jackie: She didn’t say. But I’m having her meet me at her house

Another text comes right after that. 

Jackie: I promised her that you and Shauna wouldn’t be there 

Nat reads the underlying message loud and clear. 

Jackie is telling her to stay away. 

I understand 

She does understand, as much as it might suck. But then, because she can’t help herself, Nat sends another message. 

can you tell her that I’m sorry? 

Another text. 

I know I probably look really fucking shitty. and i know shauna and i shouldn’t have done it. but i actually do have feelings for her

She isn’t sure why she feels the need to justify so much to Jackie. Maybe it’s the team captain vibe. Or probably because she clearly has influence on Misty. 

But whatever the exact reason, the idea of Jackie thinking she was just going to continue using Misty if the secret hadn’t come out doesn’t sit right with Nat. 

Jackie: I know that Nat. It looked real from what I saw

Jackie: I’ll try to talk to her okay? But for now I think it’s better if you stay away

Nat can’t help but linger a little on the first text. 

Had she really been that fucking obvious? 

okay 

Nat supposes there’s nothing else for her to do today but go home home, wallow in her misery and lament in what a piece of shit she is. 

Her phone vibrates with yet another text. 

Nat once again deflates with defeat when she sees that it isn’t Misty. 

Shauna: Since we’re both in the doghouse do you want me to come pick you up? I know your place sucks 

In all honesty, Nat really isn’t thrilled at the idea of hanging out with Shauna right now. But she also doesn’t really want to be alone, especially in the trailer. 

Besides…maybe she could get Shauna to explain why the fuck her and Jackie were having that conversation in the middle of the locker room after Nat had asked her to keep it a secret. 

She knows it’s her own fault at the end of the day. But she’s still bitter at just how badly it went down. 

After a minute, she texts back. 

Nat: yeah. meet you at the school? 

As always, Misty’s parents don’t say a word to her by the time she makes her way home. 

Normally that would make Misty a little sad. Maybe even more so than usual considering everything that happened with Natalie. But she isn’t completely alone this time. 

Jackie is here in her house. For the first time in at least two years. 

She’s standing in the kitchen when Misty steps inside. Armed with what looks like an overnight bag and a small bag of groceries. 

Her parents must have just let her in. Not surprising, considering how good of friends they are with Jackie’s parents. 

“I got you strawberry ice cream,” Jackie blurts once Misty is in sight. “A situation like this always calls for ice cream therapy. I know strawberry was your favorite when we were kids so hopefully…” 

Misty cuts her off with a hug. 

It’s possibly the first time in years she’s ever had a friend waiting to make her feel better after something bad happened. And for a moment, it overwhelms her. 

Jackie stiffens in what Misty thinks…or maybe hopes, is surprise for a moment. But she eventually returns the hug. 

About fifteen minutes later, Misty and Jackie are sitting on the couch, each with a bowl of strawberry ice cream. 

Jackie doesn’t bring up Natalie or Shauna. Misty suspects that she’s waiting for her to broach the topic first. Instead, they chat about the comedy movie playing on the screen in front of them. 

It’s nice. For the first time in years, Misty feels like she’s experiencing an actual sleepover. 

Well, unless you count the times Nat had slept over. But that’s different. 

At the thought of Nat, Misty feels the burn of more tears in her eyes that she angrily blinks back. 

She will not cry. But maybe it’s a topic that she should bring up, even at the risk of ruining her and Jackie’s sleepover. 

“How long did you know?” Misty suddenly asks. 

She has a feeling she already knows the answer. But she is a bit curious about what led Jackie and Shauna to be talking about it in the locker room. 

Jackie turns to face her, frowning in a sad way. “I swear, I only found out right before you did. If I had known before, I would’ve stopped it.” 

Misty believes her. She gives a nod. “Did Shauna just randomly confess to you?” 

Jackie shakes her head. “No, um…” She bites her lip in what looks like a nervous fashion. “I was talking to Shauna about how cute you and Nat were as a couple and she got this weird look on her face after I said it. I kind of had a feeling it meant something so…I dug it out of her.” 

Well, Misty knows why she didn’t want to tell her that. Her shoulders slump. 

“I’m really sorry that happened Misty,” Jackie says softly, looking genuine. “And that you had to find out like that.” 

No. She is not going to cry right now. 

The tiniest of sniffles still escapes and Misty angrily wipes at her eyes. “I should’ve known better.” 

“Hey, don’t say that,” Jackie says, placing a gentle hand on Misty’s arm. “It was a shitty thing for them to do. But…” 

Misty looks at her imploringly. “But what?”

“Nat is really upset by it. She wanted to come see you today but I told her not to,” Jackie explains. “I think she really does like you. Maybe she didn’t at first but…”

Misty cuts her off again, shaking her head. She’s not going to get her hopes up again. 

Maybe Jackie is being genuine in her belief. But Misty knows that Jackie can be naive at times. 

“If she wanted to salvage anything, she would’ve told me herself.” 

Jackie stares at her for a moment. “I don’t think that’s true. But I don’t blame you for feeling that way.” 

Misty doesn’t really know what to say to that. Fortunately, Jackie decides to fill in the silence. 

“Do you have a TV upstairs?” 

Misty perks up somewhat. “Yes. But it’s smaller than the one down here.” 

“That doesn’t matter to me. Want to make some popcorn and turn this into a real sleepover?” 

“Why the fuck would you talk about that in the locker room? Where anyone could have heard you?” 

Nat says the words clearly and angrily, even as she can begin to feel the weed take effect. 

In all honesty, she probably shouldn’t have accepted the offer of smoking a blunt with Shauna right now. But Nat has never made good decisions while she’s upset like this. 

They’re sitting in Shauna’s bedroom right now, with the window open in order to air the smoke out. 

In all honesty, Nat hadn’t even known until now that Shauna smoked weed. If there was less on her mind, she might’ve asked her how long that’s been a thing. 

But there is a lot on her mind right now. Mostly to do with Misty. And Nat can’t really bring herself to care about much else. 

From her place on top of her bed, Shauna gives her a frown. “I’m sorry. Jackie started confronting me and it kind of spiraled without either of us thinking about it.” 

Nat is a little surprised that Shauna is apologizing that easily. She figures it must mean that the weed is getting to her a little. 

And maybe Nat is feeling a little honest too. 

“I feel so fucking shitty about it,” she admits, sitting down on the bed beside Shauna. “I knew from the beginning that it was a bad idea. But I just….” 

She just what? Let Shauna easily talk her into it anyway? 

It’s easy to point figures. But at the end of the day, Nat really has no one to blame but herself. 

Shauna’s eyes, mildly bloodshot, soften in what actually looks like sympathy. “I mean, at least you tried to do the right thing. You wanted out of the bet…” 

Nat lets out a short, bitter laugh. “Yeah. A lot of good that did me.” 

She lets more self-deprecation leak into her voice than she really intends. 

Shauna stares at her for a moment, brows furrowed. She’s looking at Nat as if she is a math problem that she’s trying hard to solve. 

“What?” Nat asks. 

Shauna shrugs her shoulders. “You’re really upset about this.” 

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I fucking be? I hurt her and it was a shit thing to do…” 

“I know but I mean…you’re upset that you’re not with her.” 

Nat bristles, somewhat embarrassed. She’s never been overly fond of talking about her feelings. “I told you I wanted to actually date her.” 

“You did. But I guess now I really believe it.” 

Nat can’t help but feel automatically defensive on Misty’s behalf. “If you guys took the time to get to know her, you’d see there’s plenty to like about her. She’s smart and…”

Shauna rolls her eyes, cutting her off. “I get it. You don’t have to justify your crush to me.” 

Silence passes over them. Automatically, Natalie begins to feel discomfort along with the sadness and shame she currently feels. 

Opening up about her feelings like this, even while high, is never easy. Let alone with Shauna of all people. 

Shauna eventually breaks the silence with a sigh. “I don’t understand it. But I’ll talk to her, okay? I’ll tell her it was mostly my fault and that I guilted you into doing it.” 

Nat supposes she can appreciate the effort. But that promise doesn’t do anything to make her feel better. 

“What do you think she and Jackie are doing right now?” 

Shauna shrugs. “Who knows? If it makes you feel any better though, she thought you guys were good together. She might be working in your favor.” 

That was before Jackie knew about the deal though, Nat thinks darkly to herself but doesn’t say. 

She needs to at least attempt to allow herself to be distracted by something, before she does something stupid like walk over to Misty’s house anyway. 

She points to Shauna’s television set. “Does that work?” 

Misty and Jackie are about an hour into a new movie when the topic gets brought up again. 

This time, they’re watching The Princess Bride. It’s Misty’s first time ever watching and Jackie had been adamant that ‘everyone needs to see it at least once in their lives’. 

Misty wishes that she could fully enjoy this moment…not only having a sleepover but a sleepover with Jackie Taylor of all people. But her mind won’t leave Natalie long enough to fully immerse herself in it. 

“Thank you for hanging out with me,” she finds herself saying. Then, before she can stop herself, she blurts “I know there’s probably other things you’d rather me doing.” 

Jackie looks at her, eyes soft. “Don’t say that. I’m having a nice time.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah.” Jackie smiles, and Misty thinks it’s genuine. “I’d forgotten how much fun we can have together.” She pauses, suddenly looking a bit sad. “I’m sorry that we kind of lost touch for so long.” 

“It’s okay.” Misty fully knows why. She’d be dumb not to. But what matters is that Jackie is now trying to reconnect. 

Jackie looks hesitant now. She bites her lower lip. “It was actually Nat that pointed it out to me.” 

Misty frowns. “Pointed out what?” 

“That the way I stopped talking to you was…pretty shitty.” 

Misty's eyes widen a fraction in surprise. Natalie had never told her about that. “She did?” 

Jackie nods. “It was sometime after the party. She saw how much fun we had and encouraged me to tell you.” 

Misty can’t help the swell of hope that causes to bloom in her chest. Maybe Jackie is right and Nat really does care.

But she can’t bring herself to fully cross over that threshold just yet. 

“Anyway, enough about Nat,” Jackie says, smiling brightly. “We should catch up. What else has been going on with your life?” 

Jackie ended up staying the whole night. 

The next morning, they have breakfast together and Jackie tells Misty that she makes the best pancakes she’s ever had. They make plans to have a sleepover at least twice a month for the rest of the school year going forward, with Jackie even inviting Misty to come over to her house during some of them. 

All in all, despite the sadness of what happened, it did end up making Misty feel better. 

And then Shauna shows up to give Jackie a ride to school.

Jackie winces a bit as they watch her car pull up next to the house. “I’m sorry. But she’s just picking me up. I won’t let her come into the house.” She bites her bottom lip. "I'd invite you to ride to school with us but I know you might not want to."

Well, she's definitely right about that. Riding in a car with Shauna is one of the last things Misty wants to do right now. She nods. "I'll just wait for the bus."

Shauna walks up to the house and knocks on the door. 

Jackie looks at her one last time, grabbing her overnight bag. “I hope you feel at least a little better. Let’s do this again soon, okay?” 

Misty nods. “Okay.” 

Jackie smiles at her one last time before moving to head towards the door. 

Misty gets a sudden impulse and follows her. 

Before Jackie can question it, Misty opens the door herself, coming face to face with Shauna. 

The tension in the air is immediately thick enough to cut with a knife. 

“Hi Shauna,” Misty says, voice thickly sweet in a way that’s obviously forced. 

“Quigley.” Shauna’s tone is flat, but Misty can sense the slightest bit of tenseness to her posture. 

Jackie moves in between them, giving a short laugh that sounds nervous. “Alright, well…” 

Shauna cuts her off, still looking at Misty. “Can we talk for a second?” 

Jackie looks back and forth between them, her gaze eventually landing on Shauna suspiciously. “What are you…” 

“It’s fine, Jackie,” Misty says. Now that the initial sting of humiliation was over with, she is kind of curious about what Shauna may have to say. 

Jackie looks at her one last time and when Misty just gives her a smile and a nod, she finally walks off to give them privacy, carrying her overnight bag towards Shauna's car.

Soon enough, it's just Misty and Shauna standing at the doorstep of the house.

Neither of them say nothing for a moment. Then, as if realizing that Misty isn't going to start the conversation, Shauna lets out a sigh, seeming somewhat pained.

"Look, I had my reasons for doing what I did. But I can see now that it was a bad idea. So…I'm sorry."

Misty is admittedly kind of surprised. She honestly hadn't expected Shauna to actually apologize, even with giving off the impression that it's like pulling teeth for her.

"But at least you can say you got something out of it," Shauna continues before Misty can get a word out in response.

Misty blinks at her. "What do you mean?"

"You have someone that likes you back now."

She's obviously referring to Natalie because who else could it be?

But Misty can't allow herself to fully believe it. She shakes her head. "That was clearly all for show."

"You're wrong." Shauna says the words bluntly, leaving no room for argument. She lets out another sigh. "I don't understand why. I really don't. But Nat really likes you, okay? She told that she no longer wanted the money before any of that happened. She was at my house last night and drove me nuts because she wouldn't stop talking about you."

There's no practical reason for why Shauna would want to lie about this, as far as Misty can see. Jackie knew about the deal so it was clearly off the table now.

Misty can't help but smile. "She did?"

Shauna nods. "The whole thing was my idea anyway."

Misty mulls all of this over. Maybe…there really had been some truth to what Natalie had texted her yesterday. About what Jackie had tried to tell her last night.

Shauna shuffles her feet awkwardly. "Well…bye. You should text Nat soon and put her out of her misery."

She turns away from her without another word. Misty absentmindedly waves goodbye to Jackie as Shauna's car pulls away.

Then she goes upstairs to her bedroom, her mind reeling.

She has a lot to think about. A lot to decide.

But she does send Nat one singular text message.

Do you want to meet after school today? So we can talk?

She gets a response so quickly that Misty feels her heart race.

Nat: yes. where do you want to meet?