Thea knew accepting the dare was the wrong thing to do even as she decided to do it. She knew she was being hot-headed, and irrational. She knew it probably wouldn’t help. She knew it might even make things worse.

But she simply couldn’t take it anymore.

She was telling herself to stop this madness as she got up from the table, the tittering around her stopping in shocked silence and her cousin calling out her name as a question.

She was berating her own idiocy as she made her way across the cafeteria. Kids and trays moved around her as she walked towards the table. His table.

She was asking after her own sanity as she got close enough to see his face, close enough to touch. 

At first, no one even noticed her, despite her eye-catching appearance. The peers of Hamilton High have long since gotten used to their resident pixie, and her anti-social behavior has earned her a certain, well deserved reputation.

The momentary invisibility didn’t last for long. It couldn’t have. Not when she stopped very close to Andrew Walker. Not when she suddenly apologized, making him turn his face towards her in question.

The perfect opportunity. 

Thea grabbed his face, and kissed him.

It was meant to be a peck—a small touch of the lips to fulfill her end of the bargain and win her and Haruka’s freedom. A barely-there graze, a feathery brush. Nothing bigger than that.

So she honestly had no idea how it got so out of hand. How did she end up sinking into a kiss that was never meant to happen? When did her mouth open up and her tongue decided to play peek-a-boo with his? Who gave her hands the order to sneak into his hair and tug him closer, until they were so flush together it was hard to tell where she started and he began.

They broke apart abruptly, as Thea’s brain caught on to what her body was doing.

They stared at each other for a few moments, both panting hard, both shocked and confused. It was hard to tell who was more surprised by the whole disaster - Thea, Andrew… or the entire cafeteria crowd. Thea had never held the attention of so many people before, which meant the risk of humiliation was in the double digits. 

So she did what any self-respecting woman would. She righted her clothes, cleared her throat, said “thanks” as calmly and she could, and made her way back to Haruka, making sure her pace was unhurried and calm.

Behind her, she could hear Jimmy Nelson ask Andrew “what was that?” in a loud, shrill exclaim. 

“Who knows?” she heard Andrew’s calm reply. A smile threatened to break on her lips. Good, he was playing it the same way.

There’s nothing to see here, move along now. Go back to your food.

She slid into her spot, crossed her legs, and looked up in fake boredom at the trio of blonds gaping at her. She raised her eyebrow at the girl in the middle, who was the prettiest one by a mile, and also the most vicious. Quinn Harper frowned at Thea, but stood up, taking her tray with her.

“Quinn!” one of her friends called after her, hurrying to grab her own tray. 

“A deal is a deal, ladies!” she called in a tone that broke no arguments, causing the third of the blonds to reluctantly pick up her tray as well. After making sure the two were moving along back to their regular table, Quinn turned her sharp eyes on Thea again.

“I’ve underestimated you, Pixie Dust,” she told Thea, making her roll her eyes. “I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever Blondie,” Thea grumbled without much heat behind it. She was still a little too shell shocked by The Kiss to be able to muster honest annoyance. Especially since Quinn seemed to actually follow through with their deal. 

It took another five minutes for conversation to resume its normal course around them, and only then did Thea risk looking at her cousin.

Haruka was studying Thea like she was some sort of alien creature.

「今一体何があった？説明してよ。」she said in Japanese. (“What in the world just happened? Explain this to me,” )

「あああー訳が分かんない。あたしにき聞かないでよ。。。」Thea replied with a sigh. (“I have absolutely no idea. Don’t ask me...”)

Haruka gave her an incredulous look, as if to ask, if I can’t ask you, who can I ask? Thea replied with her own look, a cross between eating a lemon and the duck face, mostly intended to convey her unhappiness with this line of questioning and her general confusion with the world.

「まあ、別に私にどうでもいいけど。。。これ。。。本当に大丈夫かい？。。。」Haruka asked, looking around at all the whispers and stares. (“Well, it’s not like I really care but… is this really okay?” )

“I mean… it’s not like I can do something about it, so…”

「だから最初から「なにもしないで」と言ったじゃん！」Haruka said, rolling her eyes. (“That’s why I said not to do anything from the beginning!”)

「はいはい～春花様は何時も言う通りだね！”」Thea sang, stuffing her mouth full of her pizza slice to signal the conversation was over. (“Yes, yes, Miss Haruka is always right!”) 

「後で私に泣かないで」Haruka said absently. (“Don’t come crying to me later on,” )

「心配ご無用!」 Thea called out. (“No need to worry!”)

But inside, she was worried. 

Very worried.

-~-~-~

Thea spent the entire school day trying not to worry or think about The Kiss, or how it happened. She tried so hard that she barely even registered the whispers and stares that followed her wherever she walked.

Her Goliath efforts continued through dinner at home. She set next to Haruka, facing David, and picked at her food, focusing hard on not thinking. Nope. Nothing to think about here. This is all very normal. 

In the corner of her eyes she saw David and Haruka exchange a look, heard David ask if something happened at school, and felt Haruka shrug in response. But she understood none of it. 

It was only when she was blissfully alone, in her room, with her earphones on and her music playing, that she let herself think about it.

She had kissed Andrew Walker, the resident stoic genius of Hamilton High, one of the popular kids, widely considered to be the best or second best looking boy in her grade, depending on who you asked. 

She had not only kissed him, she had kissed him in the middle of the packed cafeteria.

She had not only kissed him in the cafeteria, but she kissed him good. No boy would respond to a kiss like that if he wasn’t feeling it too, right?

God, how did she get here?

She let herself rewind to the start. Or the middle, depending on where you decided to open the book that was Thea Sullivan’s life. 

A month before, Haruka moved in with David and Thea.

Thea loved her uncle, the man who has been taking care of her for three years now, and knew how much he loved his daughter and wished she lived with him.

Thea loved her cousin, the only person she could freely talk to. She loved her so much that for Haruka’s 13th birthday, Thea surprised her with a skype call entirely in Japanese—Haruka had cried at the gesture, and vowed to put Thea’s new skill to good use. Their conversations hence forth commenced mostly in Japanese, alongside some expletives in English.

She loved her uncle and she loved her cousin, and so Haruka’s move to America should have been a cause for celebration and joy.

It wasn’t. 

Not when it happened because life was a mean bitch who somehow always chose to take a bite out of the good people.

She bit Haruka so hard most of her was missing. 

And so, Misumi, desperate to help her daughter, sent her to the States. To her father.

The change in Haruka was immediately apparent. Gone was the sweet, highly empathetic girl with whom Thea had spoken last. In her stead was a person who barely engaged in life, and couldn’t care less about anything around her. She couldn’t care at all. 

That made Thea care and worry all the more. 

She worried all the way to Haruka’s first day in Hamilton High, and bit her lips when rumors of the new Japanese transfer student spread like wildfire among her classmates. The itch to correct them, to tell them Haruka was only half Japanese, the product of a whirlwind romance between Thea’s uncle and her aunt that ended in disaster. 

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She said nothing. 

She said nothing because Haruka was Japanese, in all the ways that mattered. Haruka was proud of being Japanese, too. And Thea knew, that even had she said something, even if she screamed “Haruka is just like us!” on the top of her lungs, no one will listen. People don’t like things they consider different, especially teenagers, and nothing feels more different than a foreigner. 

And so, Thea found herself physically winching when she heard the way Haruka had been introducing herself to her classmates. She did so while writing the kanji, the characters of her name and explaining them; 

“春 (Haru) like spring, 花 (Ka)　like flower. 小 (ko) like small, 林 (bayashi) like forest. Haruka Kobayashi.”

While some of her classmates saw the beauty in it, and expressed curiosity, many did not. Many felt like Haruka should work on fitting in and be American. 

Among those people were the Wicked Three, or the Barbie Gang, or however else Thea felt like calling the Mean Girls of her high-school. The three took personal offense at Haruka’s unapologetic individualism. 

It didn’t help that Haruka spoke perfect English—it made it worse. Because It made it glaringly obvious that her speaking in Japanese with Thea, or calling their classmates by their last names with honorifics was not due to a lack of understanding, but a deliberate choice on her part. 

Haruka was putting a target on her back, and either she didn’t know, didn’t understand, or didn’t care that she was doing so.

And so, for weeks, Thea watched quietly as her cousin was harassed by their peers, led mostly by Quinn Harper’s antics. They called her names, snickered as she went by, and isolated her from the more decent human beings of Hamilton High.

Thea wanted to shout and scream, but how could she when Haruka herself simply didn’t give a damn? She looked her bullies straight in the eyes, and remained polite. It almost seemed like she was bored by her own ostracizing. 

Thea knew that waging a war Haruka wasn’t interested in would help nothing.

But…

But!

It was getting under Thea’s skin.

Thea wasn’t sure what was more agitating - Quinn’s behavior… or Haruka’s.

And so.

And so. 

When, at lunch, Quinn swooped down to sit in front of Haruka and Thea at their little inconspicuous side table, flanked at both side by Barbie A and Barbie B, Thea was already on the verge of breaking.

And then it all came to a head.

-~-~-~

“Hello, freak,” Barbie A smirked.

“Which one are you talking about, Sandy?” asked Barbie B. 

“Either one works, but I was talking to the Jap this time.” Barbie A shrugged, earning a laugh from B and a smile from Quinn.

“So, Jap, how’s school going? Is it strange not having to bow like a dog to a teacher every day?” Quinn wondered leaning towards them.

“Not in particular, Harper san,” Haruka said absentmindedly. 

「しかしね。。。あなたみたいに無礼な奴よりいぬのほうがましと思います。」 Haruka added dispassionately. (“But, you know… I think it’s better to be a dog than a rude person like you.” )

Thea couldn’t stop a snicker from escaping. 

“What did you say? Say that in a way I understand, you little piece of shit!” Quinn called, getting up and looming over Haruka in a way that would have threatened anyone… anyone but Haruka, who has seen far worse shadows loom over her.

“Get over yourself, Blondie McBlondie,” Thea warned. “This isn’t the fucking mob. Christ!” Thea grumbled.

“The pixie speaks!” Quinn called dramatically, looking around her in exaggerated shock, making Thea roll her eyes while Haruka chewed slowly and looked between the two.

“Seriously, leave us alone. We ain’t doing anything to you, and this is getting old.” Thea said. She knew it won’t end there, but a part of her thought she should at least try solving this nicely.

“I could do that, but this whole thing over here is really cramping out my style,” Quinn said, waving her hand in a circle to encompass the entirety of Haruka. “Although, maybe…” she reconsidered, looking at Thea in calculation.

「止せ、」Haruka warned at the spark in Thea’s eyes. (“Don’t,”)

“Out with it Blondie, some of us actually want to get to enjoy our food today, instead of just barfing it out in the toilet later.” Thea growled meanly, earning an outraged gasp from Sandy. 

“Just for that, I’m going to make it cost you.” Quinn vowed.

“Money ain’t no issue, Bee. Name your price.”

“Oh, you’re going to have to pay in some other currency to get me to leave you two charmers alone. Let’s see…” Quinn tapered off, looking around her, when all of a sudden she stilled. And then she smiled, like the Chester cat at Alice. Slow and long and sinister. 

“I’ll back off if you get up right now, and in front of everyone, kiss him.”

All four girls turned to follow Quinn’s stare, and then;

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Thea hissed, staring at Andrew Walker. It was bad enough that Quinn was basically daring Thea to strut up to a stranger and kiss him, but that stranger had to be him?

“What, is it too much for you to handle? Don’t tell me you value your anonymity more than you do your cousin. Although, I probably won’t blame you even if you do.” Quinn smirked, a victorious, vicious glint in her eyes.

Thea blanched, her eyes remaining on Andrew.

Thea had a complicated, one-sided relationship with Andrew Walker. It had nothing to do with him, and he had done nothing wrong to her. In fact, he and his crew were some of the better folk in Hamilton High, and the fact they were also part of the It crowd never ceased to shock Thea. It seemed so unlikely that decent human beings would belong in the same sentence as Quinn Harper.

But there they were—no, there they ruled.

And yet, Thea had a certain… dislike for Andrew. He was either a genius or a ridiculously hard worker, the top of his class throughout his entire school career. He was incredibly good looking, in a way that kind of reminded Thea of some of her favorite k-pop boy groups. He was never mean, or cruel, and his friend group reflected that. 

But he very rarely smiled, and very rarely spoke to people he was unfamiliar with.

Thea wouldn’t call it pretension or snobbishness, because that wasn’t the vibe, but he was so far removed from everything around him that it made her angry. She wanted to shake him and yell at him to engage in life, which would be highly hypocritical of her seeing as she preferred the solitude of her own company to the company of most other human beings, but she couldn’t tame her own reaction to him.

He reminded her…

Of Haruka.

The strange realization jolted Thea in an almost physical way, making up her mind for her. A strange, unfamiliar sense of calmness washed over her, her body stilling and relaxing. She turned toward Quinn.

“If I do this, you swear you will leave Haruka and me alone from this moment on? Indefinitely? You and your minions?” she demanded. Quinn frowned at Thea, but her smirk didn’t disappear. 

“Sure,” she said easily.

She still didn’t think Thea was going to do it. The knowledge alone made Thea almost giddy.

Thea stood up, a small smile tugging at her lips. 

“You’re on, bitch,” she said breezily, confidently, calmly, in a way she had no business feeling. She knew doing this was the wrong thing to do. She knew she was being hot-headed, and irrational. She knew it probably wouldn’t help, despite Quinn’s promises. Girls like Quinn didn’t keep their word, and so, she knew it might even make things worse.

But she had already made her choice, and for the first time since this whole saga started, Thea finally felt balanced. Like this terrible wrong she was about to do would somehow right the world again.

All three of her adversaries startled as she started walking, even earning a wobbly, questioning “Sullivan?” from Rachel. 

“Thea?” Haruka asked as well, before turning away on a sigh and stuffing some more salad into her mouth, her own brand of protest.

Thea didn’t care. 

She marched on.