A headache knocked into the front of my skull, forcing me to realize my jaw was clenched too tight, like I tried to fasten a screw with the wrong kind of screwdriver so I warped the metal. I was warped. Coming back to reality, I locked eyes with Andrea.

She sighed. "As my incredible mother used to say, if you keep making that face, it's going to stay like that."

"What face am I making?" I squished my cheeks, feeling an army of pimples awaken.

"Like you've killed before and you'll do it again."

I smiled and dropped my hands. "Don't tempt me."

She chuckled a little and I reached back, rubbing my neck. I've been doing it ever since my mother dragged me to the hair salon for a touch up and a more symmetrical cut. The lady brought an electric razor out and shaved my neck. Rubbing the little hairs soothed me and I've never felt more like a house cat. Glancing at Emily, my claws came out.

How many pictures did this girl need?

She stood on the stage, only occasionally actually taking pictures. She spent most of her time sucking up to Camille and flirting with Parker. God, Parker laughed at everything she said. She had hearts for eyes and a stupid look on her face. She never looked at me that way.

Just as Parker turned her head, I nearly shot out of my seat. Waving a little, I attempted to capture her attention, but Emily tugged at her shirt just before Parker could find me.

I closed my hand, bringing it close to my chest.

I was new Lizzie. Lizzie with short hair was going to put up with this Emily girl openly flirting with my girlfriend.

Ever since this morning, I acted like an idiot. I learned how to put my hair into a top bun. I even rolled up the bottom of my jeans for even more of a 'look', like I was going for 'something'. I wasn't good at this. My sister Gina did point out I was wearing my 'good butt jeans' and I nearly died. Danny popped his head out of his room to agree with her and then, he peppered me with questions until he chased me out of the house. I wasn't ready to tell them about Parker. Or anyone.

Not yet.

Emily's laugh trickled into the orchestra like roaches scurrying from the light. Everything screamed to get up, to get over there and be a part of the conversation, but my feet weighed like cinder blocks. My muscles ached, refusing to budge even an inch, not without great effort. Why am I such a coward?

Parker searched the auditorium and her eyes found me.

She smiled.

I smiled back. Everything lightened and I picked myself up. Taking a deep breath, I shook out my shoulders and slipped past my fellow band geeks. My converse caught one of the chairs and I nearly dove face-first into the sticky floor, the chairs screeching behind me. After a flash of camera light, I caught myself on the seats.

"You okay, cousin?" Camille called.

"Yeah!" I yelled back.

"That was a great action shot." Emily chuckled and I forced a laugh that honestly sounded maniacal. Plastering a smile on my face, I pretended I wasn't burning to a crisp and approached the stage. Quickly, Parker stood up and met me the rest of the way, leaving the rest of the girls behind.

Emily made a face like she smelled something rotten.

Maybe she finally caught wind of her attitude.

"Hey," Parker said, slightly breathless. "How are you-" Her brows scrunched, and she smiled, taking a few steps back. As if taken aback, she cocked her head and looked at me again. "Wow, you look awesome, like a cool hipster. I feel like you're about to tell me about the coolest coffee shop and about the albums I'm missing out on."

"That's what I was going for," I said, smiling again. It gave me the strength to speak over my thunderous heartbeat. "Tonight, let's walk around downtown. We can check out Miss Patty's and I don't know, pine after all the vintage stuff we can't afford."

She opened her mouth. "Elizabeth Marie Hernandez."

"Still not my middle name."

"You know, if you're gonna date," Camille shouted from the peanut gallery. "Her name is Elizabeth Gloria Medina Hernandez!"

"Elizabeth—!" Parker started again and this time, she projected her voice and the entire orchestra looked at us "—Gloria Medina Hernandez, are you asking me on a date?" She touched the middle of her chest as if I suggested something so incredibly salacious that her heart might explode. She waved her hand like a fan, cooling herself from her totally not even a little bit funny joke. "In front of all these people? What will your mother think?"

"After the stunt we pulled with my hair?" I crossed my arms, growing a smug grin across my face. "She's gonna think I'm studying at Camille's house."

"Great!" Camille rolled her eyes and her sarcasm had a certain spice to it that stung my eyes. "Thanks for asking me first!"

Parker's smile faltered. She dropped her shoulders and rubbed the length of her freckled arm. "I'm sorry you got in so much trouble. It feels like that's all I'm good at doing."

"No, you're good at other things, like no one chips their nail polish faster than you."

Parker glowered, but she couldn't pry the smile from her lips. She gave me a little push and just that little touch alone knocked the wind out of me.

Glancing behind Parker's shoulder, I spotted Emily staring at Parker and waiting for her chance to strike, to pull her back as if we were in a heated game of tug-a-war. Too bad for Emily, this new Lizzie was competitive, and she yanked on the rope with all her might.

The lie came out of my mouth fast as I said, "Also, I need to grab something from my car. Will you come with me?"

"Of course," Parker said without hesitation.

The longer we dated, the more I realized I needed to brace myself. Now, I understood the term "knock out". Her charmed knocked me off my feet. Every compliment slapped my senses silly. Her jokes put me in stitches. She would be the cause of death in my obituary. Death by Ashley Marie Parker.

"Um-" Emily's voice appeared, edged with a gritted annoyance. She had her hands on her hips and I swear that her hair stood up like I just rubbed a balloon hard enough against her head to get a spark. "Parker," she said her name in an ancient language, one I didn't understand, "I'm not done with you yet."

Yes, I thought, feeling my jaw clench. You are.

Parker waved her hand, without a care in the world. I walked and Parker followed me. Two magnetic objects. She said, "Just text me the questions and I'll answer them later."

I didn't like the idea of the two of them texting again, but based on how bright Emily's face got, I think I won this battle. Just to throw salt in the wound, I took Parker's hand and led her out of the auditorium. That little stunt gobsmacked the remaining onlookers into silence, letting Parker and I leave in peace.

"It's time for a dating review," I said as the doors closed behind us.

"Oh?" Parker sputtered a little, way too amused. Sometimes I couldn't decide whether I wanted to smack that look on her face off or kiss it. "What's that?"

"Well, this is all about learning how to be better girlfriends, right? We've been dating for a week. It's time for a performance review."

"I love how serious you take everything."

My skin flushed while she just grinned and shined way too bright. That four-letter word ruffled my feathers worse than any amount of teasing. She still wasn't taking this seriously. "I'm sure you're bringing this up because of me."

"Guilty conscious?" I raised a brow.

"No, psychic. Sorry, you had to find out this way. Don't worry," she held her hands up, "I only use my powers for personal gain."

I laughed.

"Give me your worst, Elizabeth."

"Maybe..." I started and I couldn't stop myself from sounding irritated. My annoyance took over my body like a poltergeist. "When you're dating someone, don't openly flirt and talk with someone else. How about you just not adore your ex-girlfriend in front of your current girlfriend?"

Parker whirled her head back, nearly losing her eyes they popped out so fast. "That? I wasn't-?"

I stopped and crossed my arms, glaring at the ginger giant. Waiting for her blathering to stop, I just watched the realization flicker across her eyes. She flushed, shrinking like a berated puppy dog.

"Em and I aren't like that anymore. Em can't stand me."

"Em, huh?"

"Emily and I are done. We're over done. We're burned to a crisp."

"But you're going to text her later?"

"Only for her journalism thing," Parker assured me, raising two fingers in a sort of 'scouts honor' salute. "If she even dares to start some small talk, I will remind her that I have a girlfriend and I'm hoping my next performance review is better, so I can't talk to her anymore. I need a raise."

"I'm not paying you." My brow lowered.

"There's other ways to pay me." She grinned, leaning nice and close and my tongue nearly flopped out of my mouth. She needed to start warning me before she did that, before she wrecked the world around me. It was getting hard to breathe.

I forced myself to roll my eyes so she wouldn't figure out that she got me good this time. I said, "Okay, it's your turn."

"My turn?"

"Yeah, I'm not just going to give you shit and leave it at that. We're in this together. Give me a performance review too."

"Okay..." Parker nodded. She crossed her arms and let her eyes wander to the ceiling in mock consideration. "Your texting productivity is up. Flirting with me has been down."

"I like your..." my eyes narrowed, "...pants."

"Oh, wow we're way back up again."

"I don't really have anything negative to say." Parker shrugged and a little pang of guilt took me by surprise. Sometimes Parker reminded me of a kicked puppy.

"I don't only have negative things to say..."

"Do tell." She nudged me.

"You make me laugh."

Parker smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but I wasn't finished. I told her, "Parker, I've never felt this confident in my life and I... I know it's because I decided to change, but I wouldn't have made it this far without you. You bring out a lot of the good in me that I didn't even know I had."

She looked at me, searching my face for the lie. Maybe she held her breath, waiting for the punchline that was never going to come. I slipped my hand into hers and dragged her a few steps before she remembered we were walking. We strolled quietly. Every now and then, I would lightly bump into her shoulder and she'd bump into mine.

We took the long way to my car and when I finally got there, I had to make up a reason why it was so important that I had to grab some random notebook from underneath my seats. She didn't question me. She just waited, her eyes lingering on the back of my neck and my body as it stretched through the van. My face warmed, feeling her eyes bore into me. It made my nerves swell up inside the middle of my throat. I cooked up a million things to say, to joke about so all this tension could fizzle.

When I finally turned around, after slamming my car door shut, all the words disappeared. Parker took a step closer to me and I could feel again, the long stringed note slicing through my chest. Parker lightly touched my arm, so gingerly against the fabric of my coat, but it made every single hair on my body stand on edge. There was so much power in her touch.

"You're way too good for me," Parker whispered.

With her other hand, she slipped her fingers along my jaw and I raised my chin automatically as if following her lead in a dance. She tilted her head and I tilted mine. My hands stayed firmly clutched around my notebook as if her eyes turned me into marble.

She brought her lips to mine and my eyes fluttered closed. I savored the softness of her lips and the warmth of her body as she pressed it into mine. It was like stepping inside my home after spending hours outside in the cold. The cool layer over my skin melted and I was a warm mushy marshmallow softening inside a hot mug of coco. Her fingers ran through the back of my head and I thanked all the Gods of the world that I cut my hair so she could do that.

We kissed.

I kissed Parker.

Whoa.

I dropped the notebook and it clattered at our feet. I touched Parker in all the ways I had always dreamed. I explored the length of her arms, touching those elusive little freckles like a kid that wanted to drag her hand through windchimes and hear the sweet music they created. I greedily put my hands through her hair, caressed her back and her soft vintage clothes. Getting drunk off the taste of her mouth, a fever broke out in my head, making me dizzy and hot.

"You're not doing anything important at practice, are you?" Parker grinned between kisses.

"Not in the least," I said and opened the door. I climbed into the backseats, dragging Parker on top of me. I grabbed her neck, pulling her against my lips as if claiming a new foreign territory. Who would have thought this obnoxious mouth was good for something other than giving me shit?

Kissing Parker was like screaming. It was like letting loose every bottled-up emotion and every worry, so it didn't bother me so much anymore.

I was jealous of all the things Parker knew to do, the confidence in the way she touched me and how she knew all the little patches of my skin that could make my knees weak and my skin tingle. A mere mortal like me wasn't familiar with this kind of magic. I wanted to try everything out on Parker. Make her feel the same way and become enchanted by me too.

She did this crazy thing of dragging her teeth down my bottom lip. It made the blood in my veins hot. Even the weight of her body pressed against mine awakened a strange new feeling in the bottom of my stomach. My mind was everywhere, partly obsessed by the way Parker's tongue led me in this symphony and partly freaking out that we were kissing at all.

A sliver of worry was there too, like a splinter in my foot I couldn't place.

I was afraid we might have to stop kissing and start talking and that was where I always messed things up.

The car echoed with the sounds of our heavy breathing and my needy gasps because I forgot to breathe through my nose. All my thoughts were heightened, every feeling amplified. I've never multitasked anything better in my life than while I slobbered all over Parker and freaked out.

Was Parker enjoying herself? Have I ever kissed like this before? Who was the better kisser? Me or Emily? More importantly, I craved Parker's thoughts, desperate to know if she was freaking out as much as me.

Oh wow.

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

I pulled back, catching Parker's dreamy expression. With her freckled face flushed and the soft velvet nature of her eyes, she never looked more beautiful. My heart ached. I couldn't help but smile, like a huge dork. Relief flooded my veins and my mind slowed down.

She smiled back, laughing to herself and I joined in. Reaching up, I smoothed her hair around her ear as I basked in Parker's beauty. This look, this moment, I wanted to burn into my memory to keep forever.

Somehow along the way, we organically started talking and somehow it was so easy to talk to Parker. Sitting up in the car, we rested against either door with our legs tangled up in each other. We talked about Halloween, the Play, our family, old television shows and what we played as kids. We talked about our dreams and all the things Parker wanted to show me in New York. We talked about everything and nothing, while my body came down from the natural high. The edges of my silhouette still fizzled like the top of soda.

I also felt a little guilty.

My attention, at least half, was elsewhere thinking of a playlist and songs that contain all these thoughts and sensations of kissing Parker. The lyrics didn't matter. Just the feelings, like I could plug in the music, close my eyes, be unable to stop smiling, and float downstream on a river, letting my skin soak up the sun. The feeling of kissing Parker. So far, I got:

1. Strange by Celeste

2. River by Leon Bridges

3. In My Mind by Lyn Lapid

4. Gold Rush by Taylor Swift

5. Etc.

This would be the only playlist I wouldn't share with anybody else.

I'm gonna be real with ya'll, I hadn't planned any kissing in this chapter but these girls took over and demanded a make-out. So. There we go, haha. This also happened when I wrote "The Irresistible Mickey Holly". I don't know why I'm like this.

So! What did you think about "New Lizzie"? And did you expect that kiss, fan? Not a fan? And don't worry, we'll get more of Parker's thoughts about the kiss in the next update! Remember to vote on the chapter and leave a comment! Thanks guys!

Oh, if you guys wanna see my journal while I was writing Parker's scene. Here you go: