Bette hadn’t told her new friend about her severe crush – or whatever it was – on ms Kennard. After all, she didn’t want their friendship to turn into the one that she and Shane were now having. Shane and Bette always talked about the same subject: ms Kennard or Carmen. Of course, it was always Bette starting to talk about ms Kennard, but she felt she had no choice. She had to talk about her or the feelings drove her nuts and Shane was the only one she trusted.

Emily was a very free person with parents that trusted her completely. She did whatever she felt like, no matter what the consequences were. If they were negative, she had to deal with them because she had caused them. Bette’s life wasn’t very different, but the fact that she did what she wanted was because her father simply didn’t care. And her options weren’t completely unlimited; she was still expected to get the highest grades, be the best at sports and lead a conventional life.

They were drifting apart and Bette knew she had to feel aweful about this, but her friendship with Emily seemed to soften the feeling. The fact that there were no hard feelings between them added to the acceptance as well.

“B-but… why?” Bette stuttered, feeling sick and looking pale.

“But there are so many other schools… why mine?”

How could Bette explain this? How could she explain that this meant she had to tell her about her feelings for ms K, as she had started to call her in thoughts. She had her routine, knowing where the wait for her when so she could see her. She had her way of making up questions to get to talk to her. She would certainly notice how she blushed and stumbled when she handed in something she had written for the LGBT group. Hell, she hadn’t even mentioned to Emily she was gay!

“Bette…” Emily said softly, in her reassuring voice that drove her crazy because it reminded her of how she wanted ms K to talk to her again, like she had when Bette had told her about the dearth of her mother. “Tell me what’s wrong.”