Red

Disclaimers / Authors note

DISCLAIMERS:

Firstly, YES, this story DOES contain some graphic descriptions of Lesbian Sexual encounters and activity, and detailed descriptions of the female form and anatomy.  These are NOT for gratification purposes, but simply part of the characters experiences as they experience them.
If you are not comfortable with this sort of content, I recommend you stop reading now, and go find another book to read.
I considered cutting/editing these scenes, but to be honest, the story and the characters suffered too much as a result. 
In the end, I decided to accept the 'Mature' rating and accept that this will unfortunately restrict this story from some younger readers.
Considering the target audience for this book is actually an older demographic, this is a price I'm willing to pay.

Next, this story has a very multi-cultural cast, much like the people around me when I was growing up.   In my class in Grade 7 for example, we had Italian, Greek, Polish, Vietnamese, American, Aboriginal, German, Aussie and yes, an adorable red-headed English girl, that I just so happen to have had a huge crush on.
Regrettably, she moved away after only one semester before I could work up the courage to make a move.  I have not thought about her in many years, and is only now, as I write this note, that I wonder if she subconsciously, inspired one of the lead characters in this story.
Who knows WHAT goes on inside my head, I sure don't.

But I digress.
Some of these Character's speech has been written in a way to promote their accent, it is NOT intended to be disparaging or insulting.   I am NOT trying to make someone who speaks English poorly sound dumb or unintelligent.  They speak a completely different language fluently, which I can't, so that must make ME the dumb one, right?   No, it is just to help build the characters. While writing, I would picture a celeb of the appropriate nationality and try to imagine them saying the lines, then mis-spell the text so that you will read it the way I hear them saying it in my head.  I think my spell-checker must have just about run out of red ink.   
It can be a little heavy going at times I admit.
Trying to do just enough to immerse you in it, without making it unreadable is a very tough balancing act. I hope I got it right.

Each character has their own personality, mode of speech, slang, phrases, etc, and I have tried to show everyone is unique, whether they are VERY different or kinda similar, they are still unique in one way or another.

Which leads me to my last disclaimer.
I have tried to be open, honest and promote understanding of how LGBTQ+ life differs from Hetero-Norm life.  I hope you will agree, that even for those of us that live in it, the rules/definitions of the LGBTQ+ world, can be very confusing and contradictory.   If you do not agree with the way these characters see their 'world', that's ok, because honestly, many real-world LGBTQ+ people don't see eye to eye about some things either.

At no point is anything here intended to be insulting, degrading or belittling to any one, group, race, sexuality, or any other minority or community, etc.
The last thing I want to do is insult ANYONE.
If you come across something you feel is insulting, please know in advance, it is not meant that way.  I welcome you to express your point of view as long as you do it in a respectful manner.

Respect for others is what it is all about.

Authors Note:

Warning: Contains mild spoilers, kinda, but nothing specific.  If you are worried this could spoil the story for you, please feel free to skip the rest and move straight to Chapter One.  You can always come back and read this later, if you are interested in a small behind-the-scenes glimpse of my writing process on this story.

I have been working on this story for just under two years and it is my first, so like all first timers, I ask you to be gentle with me.  ;)

I still can't believe I actually finished it.  I never finish ANYTHING!

That's why I didn't start posting as I was writing, because I didn't think I would actually complete it and I didn't want to leave anyone hanging, like I have been left hanging before while reading other stories.
If you were going doing me the honour of reading my ravings, I needed to have the decency to give you a completed ramble, not a half-finished let-down.

As for rambling, the story blew out from my expected 20-30 chapters to almost 60.

I know I talk a lot, but REALLY?  300,000 words?

The intro on the previous page is the idea that first came into my head for this story, and slowly, bit by bit, I built the rest of the story from there.  I didn't know these girls all that well yet, and I had no idea what trouble they were going to cause me.   They misbehaved like you wouldn't believe.  This is supposed to be MY story, My idea, but they went and made it about themselves.  They refused to follow my script or do as I told them.  They instead came up with their own ideas which were never part of my plan, and the problems that resulted from their detours were none of my doing.  It may have been my fingers doing the typing, but the girls wrote their own story.  Or at least, that's the way it felt.  Hell, they even managed to convince a character from a book by one of my favourite authors to put in a Cameo.  I certainly hadn't planned THAT.

So if you don't like it, don't blame me, blame them, lol.

At least all MY plans and ideas weren't wasted.  They just got pushed back to the ideas-board and have become the basis for several new stories.  The bad news is, that I now have to write THOSE stories too, and if this book was anything to go by, I am not expecting smooth sailing while trying to write them.

I also promised myself at the start, that I was NOT going to fall into all the clichés we find in almost every other Lesbi-fiction out there, but by the end, as I was reading through proofing and editing, I realised I had ticked them off one by one almost like a checklist, lol.

Rich girl, poor girl, Check.
Car Accident, Check.
A parent who refuses to accept their child is Gay/Bi/Different, Check.
Someone goes ballistic when the protagonist comes out as gay and attacks them, Check.
Someone gets shot, Check.
Someone is in a coma while their loved ones wait to see if they live or die, Check.
A lover dies, Check.
Someone has to come to terms with losing someone they love, Check.
Check, check, check, check, CHECK.... Argh.  I hate it!  I'm so disappointed in myself.

I did manage to avoid Arranged marriages, Kidnapping, Cheerleaders, Nerds and the classic 'beep, beep, beep, wake up to the alarm clock' opening though, so I guess that's something.

No alarm clocks, I promise!   Not a single one in the entire book.

Although the cliché events are there, I think they included themselves in such a way that they are not at all what you expect.  Partially because they slipped in on their own and I didn't even realise they were there until they had become integral to the story.  So, if even I didn't realise they were there, maybe they won't be too obvious to you either.   They were certainly not planned and definitely not forced, they just happened.   As I said, these girls had minds of their own, and every single cliché is a result of one or the other of them doing something I hadn't planned.
The girls even called themselves out sometimes as being cliché.  They were not just included because 'they are supposed to be there', this is just what happened to/with these particular people.

Don't worry, the fourth wall is safely in tact.  Although, I have fallen in love with these people and places, that I truly wish that I could step into the pages and visit these places that are now, more familiar to me than my own neighbourhood.

Yes, I am getting nostalgic for places that only exist in my mind, and on these pages, so shoot me. 
On second thoughts, please don't, apparently it hurts like hell.

Luv U all

T

P.s. Thank you so much for reading, I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.