𝕥𝕠 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕘𝕚𝕣𝕝𝕤 𝕚'𝕧𝕖 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕖𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖

Ch. 9

She looks at me dumbstruck for a beat. Smiling, her hands find themselves resting on my shoulders as she pulls down my mask to kiss me.

Oh my fucking Irene. Holy shit. Sound the fucking alarms! Wait do I kiss back? Am I kissing back? Is this how you kiss back?!

And, well now, it's my turn to look dumbstruck. I pull back and swivel towards her cheer teammates (the author doesn't know jack shit about cheer, is that what you call each other?) and I'm met with wide eyes and mouths hanging open.

All swagger gone, I feel the heat rushing to my face, no doubt turning it a glorious shade of red. I quickly pull up my mask.

The bell rung. Perfect timing.

Turning towards Kawaii~Chan one more time, I give her a mock salute. "I'm going to trig. Have a nice day and uh, all that crap."

"Yup!" I can hear the smile, and she knows I can hear it too. I  know she knows I can hear it. Don't ask how I know.

Walking away, I throw a mock salute and yell a 'Carry on!' in her general direction and start to head towards imminent doom. Oh sorry, trigonometry.

*time skip*

It's (finally) lunch and KC and I are sat outside near the track. When Gene isn't around and the library is unavailable this is usually my go to spot.

I look down at my table partner, notebook in hand.

"Okay first things first: we need to have a contract so we're on the same page about the rules."

Her eyes widened at the thought. "Rules? C'mon Zane~Kun, you really know how to zap the fun out of the situation."

"Well, it's important to know where we both stand on certain issues-"

I'm cut off by a breathy laugh bordering on a scoff. "Okay then like what?"

I feel myself stiffen "Well for example, I don't want you to kiss me anymore."

The meif'wa gives me a bewildered stare "Is Zane~Kun crazy?! Who's going to believe that you're in a relationship with Kawaii~Chan if she's not allowed to kiss you?"

"Okay, okay you may be the oh so charming all knowing one when it comes to this kind of thing, but I've never had a girl friend before."

"You have the references of an 80 year old woman."
She deadpans. "And why does that matter anyway? Big whoop."

I hold back a scoff "It matters because I don't want all of my firsts to be fake. If I am gonna be making out with somebody, I want it to be real."

She has the decency to look sheepish for maybe a second, and then her eyes cloud with confusion.

"But- Okay but you kissed me first." I kind of just stare at her for a beat, or four before turning back to our contract.

"This is non-negotiable."

She let her head fall back in defeat and sighs "Ugh, fine-" She stands up and starts to pace around the table, "but we need to figure something out. People are going to get very suspicious if you're not going to touch me and vice versa."

Clever girl.

"Okay, um, yeah you have a point. Oh what about this? I can put my hand in your back pocket." I emphasize the words with the pen in my hand.

She turns and looks at me puzzled "Is this some sort of ploy to touch Kawaii~Chan's ass?"

My face had never been more red. Not in seventh grade, not with Aph, not after the letters got out. I feel like I'm on literal fire.