First Kiss

*BONUS: ADDITIONAL INFO*

Hey! I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Here is some additional info that didn't really make sense to include in the actual story. Although, I did touch on some of it.
~First, here is the list of everyone's sexualities. I just want to say that it is perfectly fine to go without identifying with a particular label. I tried to establish this by having Amelia and Jaiden state that they don't want to use a label. However, the other characters did feel comfortable with using it for personal reasons so here they are straight from the horse's mouth.
Characters:
•Amelia- Unlabeled; it only mattered that she loved Keri and that was enough for her. She didn't need and/or want to stop and ask what the label was
•Keri- Bi; she was happy with her experiences with guys and now a girl so she used the label
•Adam- Openly gay
•Desiree- Straight
•Heather- Straight
•Jaiden- Unlabeled; like with Amelia, he knew that he liked Dylan and left it at that
•Dylan- Gay; went through life thinking that he was straight until things happened with Jaiden. He realized that he hadn't truly felt that for a girl
•Alec- Gay; still struggling with his sexuality which is why he was wanting to start off by being friends with Adam
•Anne- Bi; she loved some men in the past but she also really fell in love with Margaret
•Margaret- Lesbian; she dated a few women before Anne which obviously didn't work out
The minor characters like Eric, Mick, Yvette, Amelia's dad, and other family members are all straight. Yvette was exploring her sexuality but realized that she's not interested in women. Eric and a few other characters are homophobic but I decided not to include too much of that. This was just meant to be something fun while still including some serious topics like alcohol and drug use.
~Second, I wanted to address the names. If you noticed, I used Amelia's nickname Amy in the book description and Jaiden was the only one who used it. At the same time, Amelia was the only one who had been calling him JJ until Teri said it once. The reason for that is because Amelia and Jaiden have always had a close bond. She called him JJ since those are his initials- Jaiden Joseph. Their parents liked the names as its own first name so they used both. She liked it more than his actual name so the nickname stuck. It was the same thing with Jaiden. They both liked how they were the only ones to use these nicknames.
Also, I made Keri use Amelia's full name on purpose. I decided that even before I wanted to only have Jaiden say Amy. It's simply because Keri liked the sound of it and thought that it was as pretty as Amelia herself. That's partially why she used to greet her excitedly when she saw her. She was happy to see her and liked how her name sounded in a sing song tone. Otherwise, it would've been natural for best friends to use nicknames.
~Third, I didn't mean anything bad by making Anne, Amelia, and Jaiden all end up as something other than straight. I was just trying to think about every character's life journey and it happened that way. That's the general explanation for the other characters' sexualities.
[Disclaimer: Mention of grooming]
~Finally, I'm going to address the idea of Mick as a character. I'm just going to say it outright- he was a groomer. All of the things he did to seem friendly were common signs of grooming. Amelia was oblivious to this since she was naive and took it to be him just being nice. Keri knew better and would've stepped up if I had continued with that storyline. Originally, I was going to explore it. I decided not to because that's not what this story was and it would've gotten too serious. That's why I briefly mentioned him here and there then had everyone move on with their lives. I wanted Mick to be portrayed as an asshole who Anne shouldn't be dating. I think that says it all.
*If there are any other questions that I didn't necessarily answer here, let me know. I tried to be as coherent as possible throughout the story. Stay tuned for more!*