Katia

Elaine insisted on bringing me home, I mean.. to Christine's. I told her I'd just order a car but she wouldn't hear it. Said she didn't have anything else to do. I think she's just avoiding Madison. I've asked her about it again but she doesn't want to talk about it. So I won't pry any further.

I can't wait to see Mistress. I miss her. I had so much fun with Elaine today though. From my near death experience to lunch it was a good day. However, I still didn't find anything I wanted. I hope Chris isn't too disappointed.

When we pull into the driveway Chris is sitting on the porch typing on her laptop with her headphones in. She does that sometimes when she's upset. One time we got in a little disagreement and I was calling her name for five minutes before I found her outside and realized she couldn't hear me. She takes the headphones out and closes the laptop when she sees us approaching.

"Hey. How are you?" Chris asks after her and Elaine embrace.

"I'm great. How are you?"

Their exchanges are a bit cringeworthy at times. They both mean well but they're awkward as hell. I'm never sure if it's the me thing or if it's the they've had sex thing. I don't ask. I don't want to disrupt the peace.

"Well." Chris says. She looks from Elaine to me back to Elaine. "Did you want to come in? I made cookies."

Elaine chuckles. "Did you really?"

"And a cake...and brownies." Chris divulges. She's definitely not okay. She never bakes that much because 1. She knows I won't eat it and 2. She's not that into sweets.

"Jesus, Chris. Are you having a bake sale?" Elaine asks.

Mistress chuckles. "No. I guess I just got carried away. Actually please take some. Take it to Madison."

"Um okay. She does like brownies."

Christine perks up. "Perfect."

Elaine follows her inside but I stay on the porch. I open her laptop to see what she working on so intently. Probably just looking for birthday gifts or something or playing her card games. She's into that. When I lift the screen it comes to life. A document titled resignation. Resig- ... What? From what? Why? I stare at the screen, hastily reading the contents of the letter. I snap the laptop shut when I hear them coming back out. My head is spinning.

"Well thanks for all the treats." Elaine says. "I should get going."

"No. Thank you. Otherwise it would all go to waste."

They exchange a few more pleasantries but I'm not paying attention. I reread the letter in my head over and over. Why didn't she talk to me about this first? When did she decide she didn't want to teach anymore? I thought she loved her job.

"Kaaaaat?" Elaine says. They're both staring at me when I come to.

"What?" I ask grumpily.

Elaine furrows her brow. "Okay. I was just saying bye?"

"I'm sorry." I hug her. "See you later. I hope everything works out with Madison."

"Thank you, love."

We watch Elaine get in her car and drive away.

"Are you okay?" Christine asks when we're alone.

"Are you?"

"Excuse me?"

I grab the laptop and open it, exposing the letter. "Were you going to tell me you were quitting or was it some type of secret?" I ask angrily. I'm getting so sick of people just leaving without feeling like I'm owed some type of explanation. What's so wrong with me?

She sighs and takes the laptop from me. "Why were you going through my things?" She asks.

"I didn't know I couldn't. I didn't realize we had things to hide."

"No but a little privacy would be nice." She snaps.

"Whatever." I begin to march inside but she grabs my arm.

"Katia, wait. I'm sorry." She puts the laptop down and holds my hands. "We need to talk."

I nod and we sit down on the steps. She tells me what happened after the meeting, how Beverly cornered her and gave her the ultimatum.

"Oh." I say dumbfounded.

"Yeah. Oh."

We sit there in silence. It's me or her career and she picked me. I should feel cherished but I feel like an ass. I know she loves her job I don't want to be the reason she leaves.

As if she can hear my thoughts, she speaks up. "I can teach anywhere."

"Not if she tells someone you're dating your student." I mumble.

Silence settles around us again. I thought my dislike for Beverly couldn't get any deeper but it has. I don't know her that well, only from what Mistress has told me. So I'm not sure if she's acting out of sincerity or if she's just a jealous cunt.

Cunt.

She's definitely a jealous cunt.

"I- Uh.. I'll understand if you want to... you know." I say.

"If I want to what?" She asks.

"Break up."

She scoffs. "No. Absolutely not. We broke up once. That was enough. Thank you."

"It would only be for a year. I wouldn't be with anyone else. I'd wait if you waited." I say.

"I couldn't ask you to put your life on hold and my mind is already made up. We're not breaking up."

"I was just trying to help."

Even though this is her decision to make I still feel bad that she has to pick between the two. I feel like maybe I should just break up with her so she doesn't have a choice. She'll get to keep her job but we'll both be unhappy. Fuck. I hate Beverly.

She grabs my hand. "I know but I'll be okay. We'll be okay. Everything will be fine."

"Are you just saying that?" I ask.

"I don't know." She shrugs. "Maybe taking a break would be good for me. Maybe I could be an art teacher at an elementary school or something."

I chuckle. "Do you even like little kids?"

She shakes her head. "Not really."

It's not like she has to work.

I lay my head on her shoulder. We stay like this. I don't offer any more solutions. She doesn't say anything else. Right now just being here together is enough.

______________________________________

Katia

It was hard to leave Mistress this morning. She's wearing a brave face but I can tell she's sad. When I left she was looking at jobs. It makes me a bit nervous because some of the jobs weren't local. I wouldn't break up with her or anything like that but the idea of her being so far away from me makes me sad. I'd miss her so much all the time. Of course after I graduated I could just move to wherever she was but I'm sure the wait alone would kill me.

Plus, who's going to be our new dance instructor? It may sound silly but I'm just now realizing we'd have to get someone new. Chris is not the nicest teacher or easiest but she's thorough and a great teacher. She cares about all of us and she's helped all of us become better dancers. This year is going to suck. I still can't believe this is happening.

I open the door to my apartment and it feels like I haven't been here in ages. I haven't honestly. A majority of my clothes are at Christine's house. I kind of feel like I just deserted Liv. She has Leah though. So she's not completely alone. Speaking of which. Here she is in the kitchen in a tank top and her panties. She jumps at the sight of me.

"Kat!" She shrieks.

"Leah!" I copy her.

She chuckles. "God. You scared me."

"I'm sorry." I laugh.

Liv hurries from down the hall probably to see what the commotion is about. Her face lights up when she sees me. "Kitty!" She squeezes me tightly.

"I've missed you." I say hugging her back.

"I missed you too. What are you doing here?" She asks.

"I live here, don't I?" I ask.

"I live here more than you do." Leah says.

"Stranger danger." Liv shouts.

I feel my cheeks burn red. "Okay. Okay. It's been a while."

"Don't sweat it. You're in looove." Liv hops up on the counter, swinging her feet as she peels an orange.

"Get down." Leah and I say simultaneously.

Liv rolls her eyes. "As if one person telling me what to wasn't bad enough."

Neither of us respond.

"Anyway. Someone's birthday is coming up." Liv raises her eyebrows at me.

Leah smiles. "That's right! Are you having a party?" She asks.

"Kitty doesn't party, babe." Liv informs her.

"I party. Thank you very much." I say. "So hard you wouldn't believe it."

"Pshh. Yeah. Okay." Liv laughs.

"Whatever." I wanted to talk to Liv about Chris but obviously not if Leah is around.

"Well I'm going to shower." Leah gives Liv a quick kiss and leaves us alone.

"Okay I have to tell you something." I whisper.

Liv's eyes widen. I pull her to my room but I leave the door open.

"What's wrong?" She asks studying my face.

"It's Chris. Well.. Beverly." I say.

She rolls her eyes. "I'll kill Chris."

"No. No. No. Not like that. She didn't cheat or anything. Beverly found out about us somehow and now she's threatening to get Chris fired if we don't break up.

"Whoa." Liv sits on my bed.

"Yeah. Whoa."

"That's really bad."

"I know." I sit beside her.

"So.. you two are...." Liv's voice trails off.

"We're still together. She's leaving the university."

"What? Really? This is so fucked up."

"I know."

Liv slams her fist into the palm of her other hand. "Let's go slash Coach K's tires."

I laugh. "No Livy."

She frowns. "Ugh. This sucks so bad. I'm sorry Kitty." She ruffles my hair before kissing the top of my head.

"You're not supposed to do that." I remind her.

"Shhhh."

I shake my head before resting it on her shoulder.

____________________________________

Christine

I sit in my car and listen to the last song on the playlist. I didn't really know any of these songs at first but I've grown to like a lot of them. Katia made it so I listen to it and think of her. That always makes me feel better. Even when we were broken up and she wasn't speaking to me, I'd play this on the way to work or home. It would calm me.

I probably shouldn't be here. It feels like a mistake but I'd kick myself if I didn't at least try. I'm actually kicking myself right now. Either way I'm doomed. I take one last deep breath and get out. I march right up to her front door and ring the bell before I change my mind. She answers quickly.

"Chris?"

"Hey Beverly. Can we talk?"

She looks at me skeptically. I don't blame her after the way I freaked out on her. Still, she nods and invites me inside. It's been so long since I've been here. Even when we were on better terms she usually came to my place. The cellar and all. She leads me to the living room and we sit down.

"Let me start off by apologizing for yelling at you the way I did. I was upset."

"Understandably so." She says.

"Yeah but I didn't need to scream at you."

She nods. "Thank you."

"You're welcome but I came here to ask you to reconsider your stance."

She crosses her arms. "Chris." She whines.

"I know. You don't get it. You think it's wrong and I shouldn't be doing it. I know but she loves me and I love her, Beverly, and I love my job and I hate that you made me choose."

"So what did you choose?" Her tone is neutral. Her expression is blank. It almost worries me how calm she is. She's never this calm about anything. Ever.

I don't say anything.

"Which did you choose. Your career or the girl?"

"Her name is Katia and I chose her."

Beverly shrugs. "Okay. So we have nothing to talk about."

"How did you even.."

"Figure it out?" She asks.

"Yeah."

"Her phone case."

"What?"

Beverly sighs. "That day she bumped into me. I dropped all of my papers. When she bent down to pick them up she put her phone on the ground. It's a picture of you on the case when you were the white swan. I thought it looked familiar. I just chalked it up to infatuation. Then I saw the same case at your house that day. I couldn't remember where I saw it but then it hit me."

"Oh." A phone case. That's what's ending my time at the university. Katia had that case made one day at the mall. She was so excited to show me.

Beverly purses her lips. "I don't want to see you go."

"So just... keep this secret for me." I say.

"Why?" She asks.

"What do you mean why?"

"Why should I? We're not friends, not even associates. I don't really owe you anything. You left me to be with... a child."

"Stop calling her a child. She's not. She's one of the most mature people I know."

Beverly chuckles. "Okay."

I roll my eyes. "Forget it. You're not going to get it."

"Wait." She grabs my hand and pulls me back down to the couch.

"What??" I ask.

"I'll keep your secret if you do something for me." She says slyly.

"What?"

She slides her hand to my upper thigh. "I reeeaaally miss you."

"Beverly stop." I say sternly.

"Come on Chris. You haven't thought about me at all? Not even once?"

I can feel my heartbeat increase. I run my hand over my face. Fuck. "If I do this, you promise not to tell?"

"I promise." She gets closer to me.

My mind begins to wander. I know this is wrong. I've already lost Katia once because of this. I should leave. I should go. I should stop her.

I stand up and step away from her. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm not going to sleep with you."

"Not even play with me?"

"What?" I ask.

"You don't want to drag me down to the cellar and show me how mad I've made you?"

"Beverly."

She laughs a little. "Just think about it."

I leave immediately. I can't even stay to entertain the idea. I know that would hurt Katia.

_____________________________________

Katia