Katie sat in her room come Saturday morning, typing away on her computer at her desk when her mom knocked on her door. "Katie?" She called from the other side of the door.

"It's open," Katie said, sitting up slightly.

"Jesse called," Katie's mom walked in with Katie's cell phone in her hand and sat on the edge of her bed. She spoke softly, and with a tone that made Katie feel as though she was guilty for hiding something.

"I know," Katie responded, not breaking her stare with her computer screen.

"Six times." The phone in Pamela's hand began to ring, "Correction: seven times."

Katie grabbed the phone and pressed the decline button before tossing the phone on her bed. "I know."

"What happened?" Pamela sighed, genuinely concerned.

"Another fight." Katie answered shortly.

"Over?"

"Nothing." Katie spun around to face Pamela. "Look mom, I don't want to talk about this. Ashley's picking me up soon, so I better get ready." Katie grabbed clothes and went into her bathroom, which was conveniently in her room, to take a shower. Pamela sighed again and left the room, walking downstairs.

Katie listened to her voicemails as she got dressed. Jesse was begging Katie to answer and let him explain himself. He pleaded in every message for her to forgive him. Katie's only response was to erase the messages, not thinking twice about the boy who left them. She kept an eye out her window for Ashley's car and ran outside as soon as she spotted the ecofriendly electric car. She climbed into the passenger seat, ready to get away, but Ashley turned the ignition off and locked the doors. "So, you want to tell me what you and Jesse fought about this time?"

"It was stupid." Katie slouched.

"Isn't it always?"

"He was already mad for not playing in last night's game, but then he found out that I was the one who told Principal Bates that he initiated the fight." Katie explained to her best friend.

"Wow. Well that's all fun and all," Grace's voice from the back seat startled Katie and made her squeak out a scream, "but I'm grounded and my parents are only gone for a couple hours so I only have limited time out of the house."

"Grace? How long have you been back there?" Katie dumbly questioned.

"Clearly the whole time, now let's go," Grace whined with a mischievous smile.

Ashley started the car and they drove to the small, local mall. Going to the mall was one of the few things they could do in their small town, so it tended to be a reoccurrence amongst most of the high schoolers. When they walked in the front door, Dana was leaning against a store window, looking down at her phone. "Hey look," Grace pointed Dana out and bounced over to her with a smile.

"Yeah," Katie held onto Ashley. "Let's just act like we don't see her and walk away," she proposed.

"Sorry Katie, no can do." Ashley linked arms with Katie and led her in Dana's direction. "Grace and I invited her." She smiled shamelessly, dragging Katie beside her.

"Oh," Ashley stopped the three of them so she could speak, "Dana I completely forgot to follow up with you. Are you free to come tonight? It'll just be the four of us spending the night at my house."

"Yeah it should be fine. I have no other plans," Dana agreed.

After Grace dragged everyone into the majority of the stores and found an excuse to spend too much money, she pointed out that she had to leave. "Sorry guys, I have to beat my parents back so I can convince them I'm a model citizen and deserve to go to Ashley's tonight. If not, I'll just sneak out again." Grace beamed at the thought of her plan and the other three couldn't help but release a few chuckles.

"I can take you home," Dana offered. "Katie and Ash probably want to spend some more time here." Grace didn't give Ashley time to protest before she skipped off with Dana following.

Katie's mood shifted after the two left and she whipped her head around to Ashley puzzled, "Why'd you invite her tonight?"

Ashley laughed to herself slightly. "Katie, I know Grace is a little odd sometimes but she's our friend and-"

"No!" Katie cut her off, "Not Grace. Dana."

Ashley was confused at Katie's reaction. "Because we're friends?" Katie insisted that Dana couldn't go to Ashley's that night, but Ashley couldn't understand why. Katie refused to give any real answer and could only manage to tell Ashley she had a strange feeling about Dana whenever she was around.

Ashley fell silent, not wanting to argue with Katie. Katie, however, only grew more suspicious with Ashley's behavior. Katie waited until Ashley had to find the bathroom then offered to hold Ashley's belongings while she waited. Ashley, not thinking anything of it, agreed and handed everything over to Katie.

When Ashley made her way back over to Katie, Katie had Ashley's phone in her hand and her eyes wide open. Ashley's heart sank, knowing exactly what Katie had found. "She's gay?" Ashley didn't speak. She gathered her belongings from Katie and requested to have her phone returned. Katie handed over the phone, still wide-eyed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Ashley inhaled sharply, keeping composure. "It wasn't my secret to tell. Besides, I didn't realize someone's sexuality was headline news."

"I'm your best friend. Everything is headline news." Katie retorted. "And you're still letting her come tonight? Knowing she's attracted to girls?" Katie's harsh words stung as they escaped her own mouth.

Ashley stood still and let her mouth drop open in shock. "Excuse me?"

"That's not what I meant."

"I didn't realize I was hanging out with Pam Torres."

"Did you just call me my mother?" Katie knew Ashley's words were meant as an attack. Pamela was loving and wonderful to Katie. She was, however, also very conservative and traditional in her beliefs. She believed in things like waiting until marriage, not scarring your body with tattoos or excessive piercing, and - most importantly – that being gay was inherently wrong. Pamela was nice enough on the surface, but Ashley had been around the Torres' long enough to know that behind the act she put on, Pamela Torres was judgmental and cynical. "I am nothing like my mother," Katie spoke through gritted teeth.

"Are you sure about that? Because you're starting to sound a lot like her." Ashley barked.

"I'm just worried. That's all," Katie pouted.

"About?" Ashley instantly looked offended.

"What if she..." Katie looked for an excuse, "tries something?"

"What if you..." Ashley mocked her, "are uninvited? She wouldn't do that. She's queer, not a perv." Ashley walked away from Katie, annoyed.

"Ashley, wait!" Katie ran up to her. "I'm sorry, okay? I don't know what I'm saying. I just have all these thoughts running through my head and I don't know how to sort through them or what they all mean, and I'm constantly confused and anxious and terrified and I feel like I don't know who I am anymore." Katie took a deep breath in attempt to calm herself down.

"You know Katie," Ashley spoke slowly and sincerely, "you're my best friend. Since before I can remember, you've been there for me. And I promised to love you no matter what." She paused, "But ever since Dana moved in, you've been acting like a real bitch."

The smile that began to form on Katie's face disappeared completely. "I know Ash. I'm sorry," She hung her head in shame. "You did just admit that it was since Dana moved in though." Katie mumbled, smiling slightly.

"Katie!" Ashley groaned, beginning to walk away again. Katie ran after her, once again apologizing for her words. "Just let me take you home if you're not going to be nice." Ashley frowned.

"You know what," a light bulb went off in Katie's head, "yeah. Take me home. Then when I go back to your house tonight, I'll have Dana drive me and I'll prove to you that I can be nice." Katie proposed, grinning wildly.

"Deal." Ashley finally agreed. Ashley drove Katie home without discussing it any further. As she exited the car, Ashley leaned her head out of the window to call after her best friend. "Katie," Katie made her way closer to Ashley's window, hunching down to meet her eye level. "I'm sorry I called you your mom. I know you're not as naïve as her."

Katie half smiled at Ashley. "I'll see you tonight, sweet cheeks," she joked.

"Later, hot stuff," Ashley quipped in return. Katie sent Ashley another small smile before walking away. Ashley watched Katie as she disappeared into the house, and sighed to herself. She hoped that Katie wouldn't turn out like her mother. The world could do with more love, and a lot less hatred. Ashley just didn't know whether the hatred Katie had was really towards Dana, or if there was a larger issue she wasn't ready to admit. Regardless, Ashley was ready to be there for her best friend – no matter what.

☼ ☼ ☼

Dana glanced at the clock, noticing it was time to leave. She grabbed her bag and headed outside. She threw her bag into the backseat of her car then turned to face the house across the street. "Katie!" She aimed her yell towards Katie's window since she could see it was cracked open slightly. Only a brief moment later, Dana looked down at her buzzing phone.

You know Ash put my number in your phone, right? Dana laughed at the text, hoping she didn't embarrass Katie too much with her yelling. As she glanced up from her phone, Dana saw Katie making her way across the street towards her.

"Hey Dana," Eddie caught Dana's attention as he leaned out the front door, "your mom said you forgot these." Eddie tossed Dana a container of pills. Dana nodded her appreciation towards him.

Katie waved to Eddie and attempted to greet him, but he gave her an awkward head nod and went back inside without a reply. "Is he mad at me?" She asked, eyes still on the spot he had been previously standing.

"No," Dana turned to slide into her car, "he's mad at me."

"Why?" Katie asked, entering the passenger side of the car.

"It's complicated."

"Does it have something to do with you liking girls?"

"What?" Katie's question caught Dana off guard. "No. Well sort of. Not really. It depends how you look at it." Dana shook her head to stop herself from rambling any further. "Who told you I liked girls?"

"Lucky guess?" Katie shrugged. Dana looked at her sternly, not buying her act. "I may have done some investigating into Ashley's phone without her permission."

"Remind me never to double cross you," Dana mumbled under her breath as she started the car. Katie wanted to interrogate Dana on several things due to her overwhelming curiosity. One question she bit her tongue not to ask was what Dana took pills for. Katie knew it'd be disrespectful to ask, but her curiosity didn't let her move on too easily.

Katie wrung her hands, nervous of the answer to the question she was preparing herself to ask. "Did you...move here because everyone found out you were gay?"

"What?" Dana's disbelief of Katie's question caused her words to snap quickly out of her mouth. "No. I'd never let myself care about who I liked. If you let others get into your head when it comes to love, you obviously don't understand the point of love in the first place."

"Which is?" Katie asked, interested at what Dana's answer might be.

"Well," Dana's explanation was long and breathy as she gave most of her attention to driving. "Love is supposed to make you happy. It's supposed to give you butterflies even when you've been together for eighty years. It's supposed to be the one thing that people say conquers all. Love is supposed to be the one thing in this world that can bring out every emotion we're capable of feeling. It's the one thing we all say we can't live with when in fact it's the one thing can't live without." She glanced over and saw the look on Katie's face. "What?"

"Nothing," Katie shook her head with a smile, "it's just I didn't peg you as that type."

"What type?"

"The hopeless romantic type. It's nice." Katie's smile nearly distracted Dana from her driving. She felt a need to look at Katie – to nearly stare at her. She just wanted to observe her, and understand her more.

A small smile played at the corner of Dana's mouth as she focused back onto the road. "Look at us, we've spent five whole minutes together and we haven't fought once."

"I wouldn't get used to it," Katie teased.

Dana soon pulled into Ashley's driveway, and followed Katie to the front door. The door swung open before either one of them had the opportunity to knock. "Hey, look at you two," Ashley excitedly opened the door, "being all friendly and such." Grace was already there, and stole Dana's attention as soon as she walked through the door. Throughout the rest of the night, Ashley watched the way Katie was acting towards Dana and felt a need to confront her. "Katie, can you help me grab extra blankets and pillows?" Katie followed Ashley into one of the bedrooms upstairs. "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?" Katie's eyes narrowed at Ashley's questioning.

"You've been acting weird all night. Does this have to do with what you found out earlier?"

Katie shrugged, "What if I said it might?" Ashley threw her head back, groaning. "Rome wasn't built in a day!" Katie whined.

"What?"

"I don't know." Katie rubbed the back of her neck. "It just felt like the right time to use that."

"Why are you so concerned with her sexuality anyway?" Ashley crossed her arms over her small chest and raised an eyebrow in Katie's direction.

Katie sighed before answering. "Because," Katie sighed again, "I remember when her and I first met. Not the morning after Grace's party, but the moment she hit that guy." Ashley narrowed her eyes, asking Katie to continue. "I don't remember the punch itself but I remember after it. I remember when she turned to me and asked me if I was okay. And I remember looking at her and thinking how beautiful I thought she was. And the next thing I knew, I was in your guest room and she was there."

"And what exactly does that have to do with you acting weird?"

"When I saw her that morning, the first thought that came to my mind scared me. Terrified me, actually. It was a question of what happened the night before." Katie sank onto the bed behind her, feeling lightheaded all of the sudden.

"You hate her because you thought that maybe..." Ashley trailed off.

"Yes. Well no. It's more complicated than that. It's just hard to explain." Katie looked away from Ashley. I hate her because when nothing happened, I was somewhat...disappointed. She thought to herself.

"Katie," Ashley said calmer, taking a step towards Katie, "she wouldn't do that."

"I know that now." Katie lowered her gazed.

"So why are you still acting weird?"

Katie sighed to herself. Because I still want her... Katie looked back up at Ashley, "I don't know." Ashley swung an arm around Katie and suggested they return downstairs. Katie didn't want to speak anymore and Ashley didn't want to pry. Katie's problem wasn't with Dana. Her problem was that Dana made her want to confront part of her self that he had denied for so long.

As Ashley and Grace lay sound asleep on the couches in Ashley's fully finished basement, Dana snuck upstairs after realizing she forgot her bag. Katie heard Dana's movements and quietly followed her up the stairs. After Dana had grabbed her things, Katie's voice startled her from behind. "What are you doing?" She whispered.

"Grabbing my bag. Why?" Dana was confused as to why Katie would be scolding her.

"Can you stop this?"

"Stop grabbing my bag...?" Dana asked, even more confused.

"No." Katie shook her head. "Stop what you're doing with me."

"And what might that be?" Dana was not catching onto what Katie was implying.

"Everything you do. The way you smile, the way to talk to me, the way you look at me..."

"And how do I look at you Katie?" Dana moved closer to Katie.

Katie stared at Dana, her eye traveling down to her lips. "Like...that..." She forced herself to snap out of it, her voice now shaking. "Just s-stop."

"Don't worry, Katie. You're not my type." Dana walked around Katie and back downstairs.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Katie asked following her.

"It means," Dana stopped and turned around, making Katie bump into her, "you're not my type." She whispered.

The two paused for a moment before Katie realized she was still close to Dana and quickly moved away. "Sorry," she muttered, looking away.

Katie didn't press any further. She hardly slept the whole night; too busy overthinking to allow herself to get any rest. She managed to doze off thanks to exhaustion just before the other three girls woke up.

"Guys," Grace caught Ashley and Dana's attention, "look at Katie." The three of them gathered together, upset at the sight they saw before them. Katie was crying in her sleep. "You think it's because of Jesse?" Grace asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"Maybe she's dreaming about a pet she lost," Dana suggested, "I still get those nightmares sometimes."

"I'll wake her up," Ashley offered. "You two head upstairs. I'll make breakfast in a few minutes." Grace and Dana followed Ashley's request and left Ashley alone to wake up Katie. "Katie?" Ashley lowered herself beside her best friend and attempted to shake her awake.

Katie's breathing slowed and her whimpering came to a halt. She slowly opened her eyes, her vision cloudy from her tears. "Ash?" She searched for her best friend through sniffles.

"Hey sweet cheeks," Ashley sent her a small, comforting smile. "What were you dreaming about?" Katie rolled onto her back, wiping the tears from her eyes. Ashley brushed Katie's hair back and began playing with a section by the top of her head. Katie inhaled sharply, tears forming in her eyes again. "Was it your dad again?" Katie shook her head at Ashley's question. "Grace's money was on Jesse." Katie shook her head again.

Katie sniffled, pulling her best friend into a tight hug. "I don't want to talk about it."

Ashley silently curled up beside Katie, allowing her to bury her head into Ashley's chest. "Then we don't have to." She continued to play with Katie's hair. "Just know that I'm here when you're ready. No matter what."