Yuna pulls Elise aside before she enters their first class. “I’m sorry about last week. I was an emotional wreck.”

“It’s fine. I know we’re just getting to know each other, but I do want to be a person you can talk to.”

“Meet me in the library during lunch so I can tell you.”

Elise smiles, “Okay!”

Yuna sits through all of her classes without Elise ever leaving her thoughts. The more time she spends with her, the more she likes her. Sunday felt like a fever dream. From sunrise to sunset, they were together. There hasn’t been a day where Yuna can remember it all so clearly.

The lie of Yuele is one she plans to keep for a long time. It’s her selfish desire. Yuna has Elise in those palms and doesn’t want to let that go. It won’t end well. It’ll probably end with the entire world learning her secret. Yuna doesn’t care. For now, the happiness she has found is worth the destruction at its end.

The only way forward now is to get as close to Elise as Yuna. She has to make her fall in love with biological gender for all of this to work if it is even possible, for that destruction of her heart to never happen. What chance does Yuna have if Elise doesn’t even hint to swing that way? Nat hinted that she doesn’t believe Elise when she says she is straight. She’s been wondering what Nat meant by that.

Elise sits across Yuna exactly where they sat last week. “Have you been okay?”

Yuna looks down at her hands, “You said that you like me because I’m able to do what I want without caring what others think. That isn’t true.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a lot of things I hide from everyone. Like how I only make fun of the people who treated me badly in middle school. Or how I force myself to be loud and obnoxious just so people can leave me alone. And how I contradict that by trying to have as many friends as possible because I’m afraid no one actually likes me. Especially with you and how I hated you for so long over something that doesn’t even matter now.”

Elise was wrong. Yuna does wear a mask just to keep up an appearance. She’s just like everyone else. It doesn’t make her any less admirable to Elise. She just becomes more relatable.

“What if I tell you that I’m also hiding a part of me I can’t ever show anyone? That’s what’s been scaring me the most.”

“Why?”

“What if people treat me differently because of it?”

“I won’t.”

Yuna giggles and finally notices the tears forming around her eyes. She wipes them away and lifts her head. “You’re saying that like we’ve been best friends all this time.”

Elise is curious about what Yuna means about a secret side of her. She knows enough to not ask about it right now. After all, Elise keeps one of her hobbies completely secret from everyone. Not even Nat knows. “You should’ve read the fine print when you agreed to my friend request. I come with unwavering support to no end.”

Yuna laughs. “How have we never once run into each other if we live in the same building?”

“I know right?! What floor are you? I’m at the very top.”

“Oh, I guess my family’s not as rich as yours,” Yuna jokes. “I’m up at 17.”

“We should have sleepovers then!”

“Woah, you move fast, don’t you think?”

“It was just an idea, you don’t have to accept. I don’t know. I always thought you were this bitch with no redeemable qualities, Yuna.”

“Aw, thanks!”

“I don’t know. You’re just really easy to talk to. And nice when you want to. The little truce after we got suspended, what was that about? What changed?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Oh nothing,” Yuna looks down to hide her blushing cheeks. After all, it was only a ploy to get close to Elise. “My mom threaten to pull my college money if I got in trouble again.”

“Have you been accepted anywhere yet?”

Yuna nods, “Just Seattle University, nothing fancy. And you?”

“I think we’re just destined to be in each other's lives,” Elise laughs. “I’m going there too.”

Hearing that makes Yuna oddly happy. It’s like it extends the deadline for Elise to fall for her. Knowing that they’ll go to the same university means she’ll have all the time in the world. Yuna rolls her eyes but with a smile so Elise knows it’s sarcastic, “Great, now I’ll have to deal with your ass another four years.”

-

Nat finds Yuna after school by her locker. It’s located in a hallway where hardly anyone travels by so they’re fairly secluded. “Jesus Christ, Yuna. Elise told me what happened. What if she really did want to have sex with you? What would you do? Don’t you think things through?”

“No,” Yuna snarkily smiles. “But yeah, you’re right. That was really dumb.”

“I don’t think you know how much you fucked up. You were supposed to take it slow. She’ll want to have sex with you at some point and you only expedited the process by putting it in her head.”

“Then I’ll just say no?”

Nat sighs and slouches her shoulders down. “Just hope she’s patient enough. How are Yuna and Elise? She mentioned she was meeting you at the library.”

“Slow and steady wins the race, I hope.”

“Yeah if you weren’t a ticking time bomb.”

“What do you want me to do? I just can’t magically make someone gay. It doesn’t work like that.”

“Flirt with her more like you do as Yuele.”

“You say that as if you already know Elise is gay.”

“Not gay. Bi. Or at least I think.”

“How do you know?”

“I read something of hers that I think she meant to keep a secret. It was a poem and very intimate. She wasn’t talking about a guy.”

Yuna remember the notebook that Elise panicked over. She said it was her dairy. Dairies are meant to keep secrets. Elise likes to hide who she really is because she’s afraid people won’t accept her interests. Maybe there’s more that Elise is hiding that she’s afraid of people knowing.

-

Against her better judgment, Yuna invites Elise to her apartment that Friday. Her father walks into her room and catches his daughter moving all of her clothes inside a trash bag. Yuna tosses one inside her closet when it gets full. “Yuna, what are you doing?”

“My friend is coming over! She can’t find out about Yuele.”

“That’s a first, who is it?”

“A girl from class. She’s cool, you’ll like her.”

Her father laughs to himself and leaves to let her hide all of Yuele’s clothes.

Yuna shuts her bedroom door behind them and Elise takes the time to examine it. Unlike her room filled with light colors, Yuna’s has hers dark. Light strips are hung along the edges of the ceiling to add a little bit of ambient light. The walls are covered with posters of music artists and anime characters. She recognizes some of the anime, but none of the artists. The only one she does is of Emmah Melody Ryan. The closet is open but there’s hardly any clothes hanging. To Elise, Yuna’s room resembles more of what a guy would have.

“Does it live up to your standards?”

“Where’s your TV?” Elise asks taking another look around.

“I watch everything on my computer so I don’t need one,” Yuna says as she sits on her computer chair. She spins around once in it when Elise looks over. It was somehow overlooked the first time.

“So what do you do for fun?”

“Video games, again on my computer.” Elise walks over to see Yuna move around the mouse to highlight all the programs on the screen. Like most things, she doesn’t recognize any of them. “If I’m not here, I’m roaming the streets being a thug.”

“Do you think I’m boring?” Elise asks insecure that the only interests she has with Yuna are Manga and one artist she started to listen to.

“Why do you ask?”

“Well,” Elise pauses. “You have more hobbies than I do. You know so much music and play video games,” Elise notices a program icon she recognizes from one of her classes. “Do you make music too? That’s Ableton, right?”

Yuna takes a quick second glance at her screen. It’s something she tried to get into but never found the passion for it. “How does that make you boring?”

“It just makes me feel like you’re right about me. That I really just another plastic doll. You’re much more interesting than I am.”

“Why does that matter? I like you the way you are now.”

Elise looks away and Yuna stands. “Even the way you dress sets you apart from everyone else.”

Yuna remembers Nat’s words and grabs hold of Elise’s shoulders. “Yeah, but I won’t ever be able to brag that I’m yours!”

“Huh?!”

“Your friend! Let me finish!”

“Oh,” Elise laughs. “Right. Right. I’m still getting used to the idea of you not hating my guts for once.”

“Don’t push it,” Yuna smirks. “Want to watch the new episode of One Piece? I still haven’t watched it.”

“I’ve only actually watched the Luffy vs. Lucci fight. I haven’t seen anything else.”

Yuna never thought of something surprising her enough to gasp. “Nuh-uh. That’s unacceptable. You’re going to watch it with me from the very beginning and I’m not letting you say no.”

Elise laughs, “That’s fine with me.”