i keep having to remind myself that since this is my just for fun story it doesn't have to be my normal word count!! it's a few hundred words short but that's alright.

also, thank you guys so much for 100 votes. keep voting and commenting, i love reading what you guys have to say. enjoy ;)

"Elise!" The brunette was just about to shut her locker when Julie Molina shouted from the end of the hallway.

She hustled over quickly, Elise smiled a hello and turned to face the other girl in full.

"Hey, Molina. What's up?" She tucked her hair behind her ears.

"I was wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with me and Flynn today, if you don't already have plans. I asked her and she said she didn't mind getting to know you some more." Elise wanted to, like, a lot. But for the past two weeks she had been more distant from Payton than ever, who'd been her best and only friend for a number of years. She couldn't continue ignoring them much longer. Even if it had been entirely on accident, guilt still sat heavy in her soul.

"I wish I could, I'd ask Payton but I'm sure they don't want to eat with their little sister." Julie laughed and nodded her head, the slightest hint of disappointment present on her face. Elise felt the slightest pang in her chest.

"Yeah, I understand. I wouldn't want to eat with Carlos. He scares me." She grabbed mindlessly at the end of her ponytail. "Oh- and I almost forgot. Flynn got us a gig for tonight. I hope that's fine."

"Really? Awesome!" Elise grasped the straps of her backpack tightly, smiling at the news. "Where?"

"Well..." Elise cocked an eyebrow at her hesitance and Julie laughed. "It's at the school dance tonight."

Her face changed in the matter of a split second, it was held as if she were resisting the urge to tear apart the idea. She hadn't been to a dance since the first month of sixth grade, and she had absolutely no interest in attending another.

As the story goes, Elise was asked to the dance by a boy in her grade (who most likely was just using her to get closer to her twin,) way before she had even considered the possibility of liking a girl. It was every kind of awkward, way beyond the typical awkward middle school dance experience. They danced together, she tried to keep as much distance as possible. When he went in for a kiss at the end of the night, she ran to the bathroom sick to her stomach. She cringed just thinking about it.

"I know it's not anyone's first choice, but it's a start." Elise had to agree there, if they wanted to go big they had to start somewhere. Even if she really didn't like the idea.

"Yeah, you're right." She grudgingly agreed.

"Good. Practice at my place after school?"

"I'll meet you there." Julie walked backwards as she redirected to meet Flynn once more in the music room.

"Five, don't be late!" She called out just as she rounded the corner and disappeared from sight.

So Flynn didn't hate her; this was a new development. Two weeks ago, she was sitting in the passenger seat of Payton's car wallowing in self pity because people judged her off her family: Flynn being her most devout hater. So much had changed in such little time, it was almost too much to handle. She wasn't well equipped to handle change, but she was dealing the best she could.

Elise turned in the other direction, a smile on her lips and the slightest blush peppering her cheeks as she turned into the next hallway.

Luke was leaning on the cement wall the next hallway over, she let out a yelp when she saw him. He grinned when she came into his view, and Elise could not stop herself from rolling her eyes. She never could when he was around. The boys still creeped her out; they were everywhere.

"Does someone have a crush on Julie?" She kept walking, and he fell in step beside her. His tone spoke the implied accusation for him: You. It's totally you.

"Does someone have a crush on Reggie...?" He scrunched his face up and shoved his hands into his pocket, puffing air out of his nose. "That wasn't a no."

"I asked first." She sighed, moving her eyes to the left as to avoid his burning gaze.

"I don't have a crush on her. She's cute, though, I guess."

"You guess? Oh, come on, Wilson." She glared at him, but he didn't give it up. "Quit lying to yourself."

"I'm not ly–"

"No, you TOTALLY are." She didn't have the energy to protest, so she just shook her head and sighed. Elise was not the type to fall easily. Even if she'd never been in a relationship that lasted more than a few months, she had been hurt far too many times to still allow her heart to wander. That had been her fatal flaw for the longest time: she cared too much too fast. She was learning.

She felt something for the girl, that was indisputable, but she wouldn't go too far as to call it a crush. It was surface level; it would come and go in two weeks time.

"Whatever it is, it's not that big a deal. It's not like she'd ever like me back." His face fell from the playful one he'd constructed. He bit the inside of his cheek in thought and allowed silence to take hold of them for a few moments. Suprisingly, silence around Luke was never awkward.

"You can't know that for sure." She cocked her neck to look at him, taking a deep breath. This was becoming much too personal for comfort.

"And what about Reggie?" He didn't seem to want to talk about himself either, but he didn't put any effort into avoiding the subject.

"Oh, you know. Same old same old." He rubbed the back of his head, smiling sadly. "Alex definitely knows something's up but Reggie is clueless as ever. And he's straight, probably."

She knit her eyebrows, unbelieving. "There is no way that boy isn't bisexual. Have you seen the way he sits?"

This earned a good laugh from Luke, and she laughed along after a moment. To say the least, this conversation was odd, especially coming from two people that tended to put their own emotions on the back burner. Before today, the two had only ever jokingly insulted each other. But she couldn't complain, it was nice having someone be transparent with her. She wondered if this conversation was the initial point of his presence, or if he had just gotten stir crazy waiting around in the studio.

"You should talk to him." He sighed. "As you said, you can never know for sure."

"Yeah, maybe." They took a right at the next intersection, the little square of courtyard she ate in every day was just up ahead. It was fortunate that she hadn't encountered anyone in the short stretch where she'd been talking to Luke. "It's so frustrating. I just want to throttle him sometimes."

She laughed, she most definitely knew what he meant."I hear you."

They approached the door, stopping just short of the window so anyone outside wouldn't be able to see her seemingly talking to air. She spun on here heel so that she could look at him. "Alright, it's time to face the beast. Catch you after school." 

"I'll see you later, daddy issues." He poofed away (mid evil laugh) before he could see her reaction, but he didn't have to be there to know that it took her nearly three minutes to stop laughing.

Lunch with Payton was as dry as any other day the had been the past few weeks.

She tried her very hardest to make conversation, but everything she said was stale. Now that there was this giant secret looming over them – even unbeknownst to Payton – things felt too different.

Maybe she should just tell them, what would they say? Even if they weren't close enough to confide much in each other, they were all they had. She didn't want this to go to waste, even if she did find herself growing closer to Julie and the boys every day.

When they finally said their goodbyes and Elise stood to make her way to her fifth class of the day, she was stopped by a hand closing around her wrist. She pivoted back around immediately, trying her best to keep any signs of annoyance or shock out of her features.

"Look, Elise." They sighed, standing quickly to remain on the same level as her. "Something's been bothering you, I can tell. You're acting so... different."

She took a deep breath in, mind running through mountains of things to say that wouldn't arouse suspicion. Were they on to her? Would it be best to tell them now before things were beyond repair?

"I- I know neither of us is good at talking about these kinds of things, but you know I'm here for you if you need it, right?" She smiled, partially in gratitude and partially in relief.

"Yeah, I know. I haven't really been here- I'm sorry about that." She swallowed thickly, making the split-second decision to reveal just a little of what had been going on with her life. She need something – anything – to bring them closer to the truth. "I joined a band, the ones I played with at the pep rally?"

They nodded, cracking a genuine smile. "Yeah, with my sister's best friend?"

"That's the one."

"Try not to replace me with Flynn. I know she can be charming." Sarcasm dripped from their words. They laughed together, and Elise felt just the slightest weight lifting from her shoulders. "She's been oddly happy lately."

"We'll see." They parted ways then, and soon Elise found herself sitting behind her ratty math desk.

Over the past few days she'd realized that more people had started talking to her. She was almost certain it was because of their show at the pep rally; people were already finding out about the dance that was to happen in just a few short hours, and she was approached multiple times with random questions or comments. A group of freshman boys even came up to give her silent fist-bumps. She wasn't sure how to address the interactions. They were probably just trying to get in her good graces in case their band made it big, but it was nice to be seen as something other than a sister.

She excitedly awaited the end of the day, her favorite feeling was playing with Julie and the boys. She never realized exactly how much music meant to her until now, when she had the option to make it her entire life. She was raised with music, but she'd always followed her sister and her dad. This music was entirely her own, and for once she was sharing it.

Still, she was dreading her last period. And not because it was difficult, despite being college level, because every day she had to face her twin sister.  It was semi-convenient, if she was too tired to skate home she'd just grab her board from where she always left in the locker rooms and steal a ride with the blonde, but that didn't make putting up with her for an hour at the end of every day any less draining. Especially on a Monday.

To top it all off, Carrie's friends were always somehow more annoying than Carrie herself. The weird thing was that Carrie never actually went out of her way to mess with Elise, but she seemed to show no interest in making her friends quit it. They were the only ones in school that didn't flinch anytime she looked too hard, she wasn't sure what Carrie had told them but whatever it was she was sure would piss her off.

The rest of her last weekend was spent, for the most part, far far away from her family. After she left Julie's she was met with an empty house, her dad and Carrie had gone downtown for whatever reason. She enjoyed her alone time.

But it was easy to get lonely in such a big empty house, she settled on playing music to keep her company. Inspiration had been at the forefront of her mind ever since they performed Bright for the school. When her family returned that night, she was already sound asleep, and the next day she spent almost entirely in her bedroom asleep.

"Good afternoon, everyone." Their teacher stood in front of the class, a generic smile accompanying his greeting. His hair was somewhat disheveled, his glasses askew. He was just as exhausted as they were. "It has come to my attention that there is more talking getting done in this class than there is work. As of today, I will be giving you assigned seats until we can pull ourselves together."

A collective groan fell over the class, Elise glanced to the left to express her annoyance to the girl she typically sat beside. This was one of the only classes that she had with an acquaintance, one of those friends that you can't stop laughing with and then completely forget about the moment the bell interrupts your conversation. She returned this with an elongated sigh and a shake of her head.

Please don't be alphabetical, please don't be alphabetical, please don't be–

She could have screamed in frustration as he began reading through the role, sitting students in the order in which their name was called. This left her in the very back of the class, not two feet from her twin. 

She really did not have the energy to deal with this on a Monday.

She decided she would not be the instigator of any fights; that much was up to her. Carrie was her sister, after all. It's not like she ever wanted to argue.

Carrie slid into the seat to her left, Elise was right up against a wall that her back rested on. She offered a small smile, which surprisingly was returned.

One of the other members of Dirty Candy was sat just in front of her, Elise had never had much issue with her but she still seemed to be quite stand-offish and rude from time to time. It was nothing she couldn't handle. 

She found it hard to focus on the content; her eyes kept floating back and forth between her sister and the whiteboard at the front of the room. Carrie must have been in a good mood that day, she didn't spend very much on interacting. 

Elise checked her phone every few minutes as if it would make the clock go any faster. Her leg bounced up and down as she awaited the ringing of the final bell. 

Other than the seat change, history class was uneventful. She tried her best to be productive with her work, occasionally leaning over to her sister to ask a question or share an answer.

She accepted Carrie's ride today, realizing she'd left her guitar at home, and climbed into the passenger seat wordlessly.

"So," Carrie began as they pulled out of the school parking lot. "Your band. Does it have a name yet?"

Elise pressed her lips together, praying this would not lead to conflict. "No, not yet." She nodded.

"Julie, Is she...?" Her sentence trailed off and she shook her head almost sadly. Elise squinted her eyes, curiosity blooming. Had Carrie just NICELY tried to talk about her band? She wondered if, just maybe, Carrie regretted the way her and Julie's friendship had ended all those years ago.

Even if that's where the conversation ended, happiness swelled in her chest. It was a work in progress, it would most definitely take time, but at least they were getting somewhere.

The car ride was silent after that. They pulled through the security gate and the sisters climbed out, grabbing their things and walking up the front steps side by side.