Content Warnings:

  SpoilerMentions of rape, Depictions of harassment.

  [colpse]My arm bres in my ears, and I groggily reach over and turn it off. It’s too early… I pull my phone over to me, and see a couple messages from Holly, and a couple from Caleb. I open Holly’s first, and blush slightly as I scroll through.

  ‘Good morning.’

  ‘I hope you slept well.’

  ‘I’m missing you a lot. It hasn’t even been 24 hours, and I’m already anxiously awaiting the next time I can see you.’

  Below this is a photo sent of her, clearly still in bed. A small slice of light, presumably from her slightly open curtains, rests across her face perfectly. What really catches my eye though, outside of how beautiful she is, is the fact that she’s still wearing my fnnel.

  ‘I may have slept in your shirt. I hope that’s okay.’

  I think for a moment, before deciding on a response. I turn on my fairy lights with my phone, and then roll my hips over slightly and kick one leg free of the bnket. It takes a moment to line up the shot in the mirror that is my closet door, but once it’s done, I send it immediately.

  ‘Good morning, Holly!’

  ‘I slept wonderfully. Had another amazing dream that I am about to write down, not that I remember any of it.’

  ‘I miss you so much too. I wish we could hang out today, but I do have obligations. Tomorrow though, whatever time you want, I’ll be there.’

  ‘Don’t worry about sleeping in my shirt, I fell asleep in your pants.’

  ‘Plus, you look really cute wearing my shirt.’

  ‘OMG! You’re genuinely adorable. I love this photo!’

  ‘Let’s pn for noon tomorrow. I really want to see you as early as I can, and have you stay for as long as possible.’

  ‘I might end up swapping out this fnnel with a different one of yours after a few days.’

  ‘That way you have something that smells like me.’

  My heart nearly beats out of my chest as I read this. Oh my god… She really does like me. There is no other way of looking at this. She has to. My breaths come quickly as I figure out what to do with this information. Tomorrow. I will ask her out tomorrow. I smile as I scroll back up to the photo she sent me. God I hope she says yes.

  ?????????????

  My shoulders ache as we trudge through the undergrowth of the small forest at the base of the mountain. I look ahead at Caleb’s muscled form, and see him marching along without a problem. And his bag is bigger than mine…

  “How you holding up back there, Valera?” He asks.

  “I’m good.” I lie. I hate this. My back hurts. My feet hurt. I’m sweaty, my clothes are dirty and filthy, and my legs are on fire. There are so many things I’d rather be doing right now than be out here. “The trees are so pretty.”

  “Gd to hear it.” Caleb chuckles at me. “How's your water?”

  “Barely touched.” I say.

  He stops in his tracks and turns to me. “Bro, you gotta drink water. You should be at least a quarter of the way through your water by now.”

  “Sorry.” I say, and pull the spout from my water bag and pop it in my mouth.

  Caleb keeps walking while I drink, and eventually he speaks up again. “We’re almost there. Just over this ridge.”

  “Great.” I say, happy to finally be done with this. We’ve been out here for over an hour already! “Can’t wait to see what this mystery is.”

  “Well,” He says with a showman’s theatrics. “The wait is over. Behold.”

  I stand up straight, and behold. “Uh… What am I beholding?” A head of us is a huge clump of bushes, about the size of a rge SUV, pressed between two trees.

  Caleb walks up to the right side of the bushes, by the tree, and pulls on something I can’t see, before clearing his throat. “Now behold!”

  A small section of bush swings open like a door, and Caleb heads inside. I jog forward and enter behind him, before looking around in astonishment. The inside of the bush is not bushy at all, instead it’s made of wooden branches of various sizes, all shed together and supported by long wooden poles, most likely made out of saplings.

  “Holy crap…” I mumble.

  “Indeed.” He says, a proud smile on his face. “This is what I’ve been up to when I need time away from everything.”

  “You built this?!” I ask in shock.

  “Yup!” He says, his smile growing rger. “Cool right?”

  “Yes it’s cool!” I shout back.

  “Gd you think so.” He says, as he sets his bag on the ground. “Thanks Valera.”

  “Yeah…” I say slowly, turning around and admiring the days of work this must have taken to build.

  “Now you get to take part in it.” He says with a smile. “There's some stuff I need your help moving.”

  “Oh?” I ask, confused. “What is there that I can move that you couldn’t?”

  “Nothing.” He says simply. “But there are some things that one person cannot move alone, and that’s what I need you for. Follow me.”

  He leads the way out of his small fort. After about five minutes he stops in front of a rge log with the top third completely removed, leaving a ft surface. He tosses me a pair of gloves, and then crouches down to take a strong grip on one side of the log.

  “Is this a table?” I ask as I pull the gloves onto my hands.

  “Yup!” He says happily. “There are two benches I’ll need your help with too, once we move this.”

  “Okay.” I agree, and crouch down to grab the log. “On three.”

  “One, two, three!” Caleb roars, and pulls up on his side of the log.

  I struggle, and am barely able to get it off the ground. We waddle a good ten to fifteen feet back towards the fort before I am forced to drop the log.

  “Sorry brother.” I say sourly. “I’m not that strong.”

  “Tis fine.” He says with a wave. “I just needed the extra hands, plus I wanted to try and help you build some muscle so you can look like me!”

  He accompanies this statement with a couple different poses that show off his muscles. I don’t want to look like that. “Yeah… Thanks brother.” I shake my head of the thought, and bend down again. “Let’s keep going.”

  It takes us nearly twenty minutes to bring the log back to the fort. During the few moments of crity I had, I reflected on the thought from earlier. ‘I don’t want to look like that.’ A statement which begs the question; what do I want to look like?

  Certainly not like Caleb, or any of the other well muscled boys at my school. They’re too… I think for a moment, trying to find a response. Not me. It’s not bad… In fact some of them are kinda hot… Not that I’ve thought about that before… but no, that look… It’s just not for me.

  I shake my head as Caleb starts to lead me to the first of the two benches. Still though. That only raises more questions. Caleb looks like I assume most men want to look like. He’s strong, very fit, and has abs that you could shred a carrot on. So why don’t I want to look like that? And knowing that I don’t… It still doesn’t tell me what I want to look like instead.

  I shake my head again, and eventually am kneeling down before the next log. “Hey, Caleb.” I say, before we start.

  “What’s up dude?” He asks, pausing as he bends over too.

  “Do you ever hate the way you look?” I ask.

  He gives me a strange expression. “No. Why? Should I?”

  “No.” I say quickly.

  “Okay… Do you not like the way you look?” He asks. “Because if so, well, that’s why we’re here.”

  “I know.” I admit. For some reason I feel like I’m missing something very obvious… I shake my head. If it’s obvious, I’ll figure it out eventually. “Come on, let’s move this log.”

  ?????????????

  I click to the next chapter, and continue reading the story I started st night. The story is an extremely sweet and fluffy yuri between two highschool girls as they slowly fall in love. Footfalls sound through the ceiling as my sister and her girlfriend walk down the stairs.

  I sigh gently, unhappy that my reading time has come to an end, and open my texts. Danny still hasn’t texted me back. I look through the photos he sent me, smiling at the really cringey one of him lying on his bed. This is going to be the longest summer of my life, but oh it is worth it.

  May knocks three times on my door frame. “Hey,” She says, smiling softly at me. “Alice is here.”

  I sigh and climb out of my bed. May gives me a strange look, but just heads back to the main room. I follow her and see Alice and Paige sitting on the couch. May sits down and whispers something into her girlfriend's ear, before kissing her on the cheek.

  “Hey you two.” I say with a smile. “How are you?”

  “Good.” Paige says with a giggle as she cuddles closer into May.

  “I’m good.” Alice says, and pats the spot between her and my sister. “How about you, hon?”

  I feel a slight tug internally, but brace myself and force a smile onto my face. “I’m good, just a little tired.”

  “We were just gonna py Charles Fiesta.” May says nonchantly. “You don’t have to join us.”

  “It’s fine.” I say with a wave of my hand. “I need to talk to someone besides that weirdo.”

  “Huh?” Alice asks, giving me a look.

  “Who are you talking about?” Paige asks, looking a bit worried.

  I sigh, and look at May. “I guess you didn’t tell her?”

  “Nope.” May says, giving me an unimpressed look. “Your pn. You can handle that.”

  “What’s this about a pn?” Alice asked, seemingly interested.

  “Okay, so,” I say, leaning back and looking over at the two girls. “You two know Danny, obviously.”

  “Yes.” Paige says, confused.

  “Yeah… I know him.” Alice says, her voice low.

  “Well…” I say slowly, gncing back and forth, building up the tension. “I’m in the process of a revenge pn.” Paige starts to speak up, but I continue speaking. “I’m making him fall in love with me, but that’s not the entire pn.” Alice gives me a look, and I smile at her. “I’m working on making him think that the only way to date me, is to start dressing like a girl.”

  Paige ughs a low dark ugh, but it's Alice who speaks up first. “What’s the point though?”

  “The point,” I say, drawing the word out. “Is to have him go to his first day of school dressed as a girl, and then break up with him. He’ll be heart broken, and completely isoted from everyone.”

  “Don’t you think that’s a bit much?” Paige asks suddenly, a worried look on her face. “Not that it really matters. He’s not going to fall for it.”

  “Oh, no?” I ask, and hold up my phone, showing off the more feminine of the two photos she sent me.

  “Let me see!” Alice says excitedly. I turn the phone to show her, and she takes it from me and starts scrolling. “Holy shit… You’re serious.” She looks up at me, a vicious grin on her face. “I love it.”

  “I certainly don’t.” Paige says firmly. “You’re going too far, Holly.”

  “Oh come on!” I retort. “You know just as well as we do how shitty he is.” She doesn’t seem convinced, so I decide to name specifics. “Paige, when you were friends with him, how often did I hear you compin about him flirting with you even after you’d told him no repeatedly. Remember when he kissed you out of nowhere, even though you were already dating May?”

  “I… Yeah…” Paige says softly.

  “Same for you, May. He’s done the same shit to you.” I turn to Alice. “And then he…”

  “He raped me.” Alice says simply, her eyes flicking away from mine as she does. “Yeah, I know.”

  “Right!” I shout. “He raped you, and fucking got away with it. What was that bullshit that he made up? He was in New York that weekend? It was such an obvious lie! He never even tried to prove it.”

  “Y-yeah…” Alice says, looking clearly uncomfortable.

  “Sorry, Alice.” I say softly. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

  “It’s fine.” She says, regaining her composure rather quickly. “I can’t wait to see how far you take this. I can’t wait to watch him suffer.”

  “Neither can I.” I say, my smile rge, but feeling slightly hollow. “Neither can I…”

  “Can we just py some video games?” May asks, exasperated.

  “Yeah…” I say, feeling the tension in the room. “Sorry.”

  “Hey um, Holly, can we talk in private for a moment?” Alice asks.

  “Sure.” I say, before standing up and walking to my bedroom. Alice follows behind me, and joins me when I sit down on my bed. “What’s up?”

  Her face tinges pink, and she fidgets with her hair for a moment before sitting up straight and looking at me. “Um… Holly…”

  “Yes?” I ask, trying to get her to say whatever it is she’s trying to tell me, without pushing too hard.

  She lets her hair fall, and starts wringing her hands in front of her. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

  My entire body freezes up. What? She can’t be serious. “Alice… I…”

  “I really like you, Holly.” She continues. “You’re so pretty, and I love talking to you when we do. I really, really, like you.”

  I take a breath, and then another. She is kinda cute… I open my mouth to speak, but Emmy’s light brown mess of hair, and soft, pale, freckled face, fshes in my mind. If this is going to work, I can’t be distracted. If she finds out that I’m dating someone else, then the pn is over.

  “Say something, Holly.” Alice whines, and leans forward to kiss my cheek. “Please.”

  “I… Sorry…” I say, and pull back away from her. We barely talk anyways. She doesn’t know me. “No, Alice… I can’t.”

  “What do you mean you can’t?” Alice asks, her voice rising. “Why not?!”

  I sigh deeply, knowing she’s going to hate my response. “Because tomorrow I have to ask Danny out, and I’m not having two girlfriends… Even if one of them isn’t a real retionship.”

  Her face turns from pain to anger. “I don’t care about that. I like your pn. I’m happy to date you while you do that.”

  “You’d be happy for me to cheat on you for the next few months?” I ask, annoyance clouding my judgement.

  “Cheat on me?” She asks, confused.

  “I’m going to have to kiss him, you know. I’m going to have to spend almost every other day with him, and text him constantly.” I say, refusing to back down. “I’m going all out to get revenge on him. That means not holding back.”

  “Fine then, I don’t care about that!” Alice says, pushing forward and pressing her lips to mine.

  I immediately push her away. “Alice, the answer is no.”

  “B-b-but…” She sputters. “I’m okay doing whatever you need me to do. I’ll accept whatever I have to to be with you. Please Holly.”

  Bile rises to my throat, and I climb off the bed and away from her. “You sound just like Danny.” I spit at her, my voice low and dark. “Get out of my room.”

  Tears flow freely down her face, and she storms out. After a few seconds I hear the sound of the front door opening and smming. Of fucking course… I look at the beaded door. Cue big sister.

  Right on time, May pushes her head through my beads. “What the fuck was that about?”

  “She asked me out, and I said no. She wasn’t happy about being rejected.” May gives me an even stranger look, her eyes dipping down to my colr. “I’m gonna stay here and read. Please leave me alone.”

  “Whatever you say, Holly.” She says, letting the beads fall back into pce.

  I sigh deeply, and pull out my phone. No new messages. With nothing else to do, I curl up under the bnket and pull my pillow over my head. When are you going to be back, Emmy. I’m so bored!