Dead Guy Magnet Part Three

I knew I must be dreaming because I was wearing a getup that I wouldn't be caught dead in. I looked down at myself and saw that in place of my usual boots jeans and shirt I was wearing a long gown and I was barefoot. The gown was pale blue, like forget me nots. His favorite color, him being the other dead guy in my life. Rowen, the vampire. As soon as I thought of him, there he was standing in front of me. Of course he was looking too beautiful to be real with his black wavy hair that framed the milky smooth skin of his face. As hard as it is to not stare into his gorgeous stormy blue eyes, I somehow managed. Dreams with him are seldom actually just dreams. He smiled, showing a hint of fang just for me. I thought hard, concentrating on my clothes and turned the horrible gown into jeans and a cut up T-shirt. I was still barefoot but oh well.

"That's better," I said, "now what do you want?"

Rowen put is hand on his heart ans staggered back a step or two in a show of mock defeat. Then

he gave me his ridiculously sexy and dangerous smile and said, "what makes you think I want something?" He kept trying to stare me in the eye as I stared hard at his shoulder. I realize that having the sight makes it less harmful for me to meet his gaze, but when it comes to vampires I don't take any chances.

"Oh come on, you must want something for you to barge into my dream like this." I said, exasperation seeping into my voice.

"Maybe I just want to spend time with you. It wouldn't happen otherwise. Maybe if you would stop dodging me, I wouldn't have to."

I sighed, as much as I would like to deny it, it really was getting hard to keep away from Rowen. I know that him being a vampire is bad, but its the first time any guy has payed so much attention to me. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have dated, but none of those guys ever really seemed to like me. Now I know that Rowen is probably just running game on me, but damn he can be convincing. As much as I don't want to admit it, he has a way of making me feel pretty. But none of that matters cause its NEVER gonna happen. Now that I found an new resolve I decided it was safe to speak again.

"But really Rowen, can't you take a hint? How many times does a girl have to turn you down before you finally get it and back off?"

That killer smile showed up on his lips, "only once, if they mean it. You, Rayne, don't really want me to leave you alone."

Damn how I wish he wasn't right. "Well want or not, I need you-" Of course he cut me off.

"That's more like it." He stepped closer to me so that our bodies were almost touching.

Somehow I managed to push him away after swallowing my heart, shoving it back down into my chest while saying, "to leave me alone."

He stood up then and I realized that he had been leaning toward me. Whoa. He stood before me for a moment or two then reached down and brushed my cheek lightly with his hand while moving my head so I was facing him. I stared intently at his mouth for a moment, then thinking better of it flicked my gaze up to rest on his nose. I felt silly for a moment but got over it quickly. Then he spoke, "you are in luck, this time. Dawn approaches," he continued to stroke my cheek while he spoke. Gathering my wits, I pushed his hand away. He stood there, studying my face, but strangely not trying to get me to look him in the eye. "Rayne, I grow tired of your games," he sighed then, to emphasize his point I guess. "What can I do to convince you that I mean you no harm?"

"Well," I said, while hating where this was going. "You could not be a vampire, oh wait, you already are one." I let the sarcasm leak into my words and it felt good. When he didn't say anything back, I found myself lost for words. Shit. I decided it wouldn't hurt to keep him talking till he had to go. Though when I really think about it, what I said next could be the beginning of my undoing if I'm not careful. "What is it you want from me, if not my blood, my mind and/or my soul?" He laughed then, "What's so funny?" I asked, annoyance creeping back into me.

"Nothing, its just, I thought I have been making myself pretty clear. What I want from you Rayne, is your heart, or at least the chance to win it." Damn him! What is it about 200 somethings that makes them so charming?

I steadied myself by taking a deep breath before responding. "Well if you needed to breath I would say don't hold your breath cause it ain't gonna happen. Weather or not I'm into you doesn't matter Rowen. You are a vampire, I'm human, we can't have a normal relationship. Also, I don't trust you not to make me your blood slave." I saw the slightest change in his features that told me that my words may have actually hurt him. Huh. Then the look was gone and he went back to his snarky charm.

"So, you want normal eh? I can do normal-ish, I could stop using my powers where you are concerned, like no more showing up in your dreams."

"Are you missing brain cells? I just told you that it won't happen and I mean it."

"Ah, yes, but I'm an optimist, I'm sure you'll come around."

"Don't you have to be going?" I decided anger was the way to go, cause anger clouds out my other emotions and that is good.

"Yes, soon, but first I want you to agree to let me take you out."

"Not gonna happen, plus I've got too much going on right now."

"Like what?" Judging from the lower half of his face I would say he was giving me a disbelieving look."

"I have to find a dead kid and his killer." Why did I tell him that?

"Ah, well maybe I could help, I've got plenty dead friends."

"Yeah right, if you help me then I'll owe you and I'll have to go out with you."

"Look, Rayne, I will help you no strings attached, promise."

"Yeah, right. Shouldn't you be off being dead to the world?"

"Well, yes I should. But first I want you to know that you can ask me for help if you and your friends hit any dead ends. No strings like I said." He held up his hands as if that could convince me.

"Whatever, bye now!" And just like that he was gone and my alarm was blaring at me. I slapped at it, turning the awful sound off. I lay in bed for a while pissed. I was mad at Rowen for making me want his help and messing with my sleep ( I never feel fully rested after he visits my dreams). I was mad at myself for even briefly entertaining the idea of going out with him and lastly I was mad at Corey for dying and asking me to help him. Mostly I was tired which explained the cranky. Cranky or not I had a full day ahead of me, so I grudgingly got myself out of bed and off to start the day.

Dead Guy Magnet Part Two

After swearing to all things important in my life, that I would help him, Corey finally left me alone. We planned for him to show up just after school tomorrow. I tried to finish my homework but thats kinda hard when you have a murder to solve. So I decided to get down to business. I started by calling my best friend Asha, she is one of those people who somehow happens to know everyone's business, sometimes before even they do. She is also one of two people who aren't my in my family or supernatural in some way who know about my gift. She is also Wiccan, not just some goth kid who says stuff like "blessed be" and the like, she was raised Wicca, her mom is a witch too. So, yeah, I thought talking to her was a great place to start. She answered on the third ring.

"Hey, Rayne, whats up?"

"Hey, I've got some questions for you. You know that kid Corey who went missing not long ago?"

"Yeah," she answered, sounding suspicious.

I spoke again, before she could. "What do you know about him? Like was he dating anyone, having family issues, or anything?"

""Whoa, Rayne, this is sounding a bit crazy even for you. Whats up, why the sudden interest in this guy?"

"Shit," I said, knowing there was no way around telling her. "Well you know how I told you about the ghost who's been hanging around me?"

"Yeah..."

"Well its him, and now he wants me to find his body and his killer."

"Shit."

"Yeah, I already said that. So, will you help me?"

"Of course I will, in any way I can."

"Thanks, first do you know anything about him?"

She paused, I swear I could hear her thinking. "He had been going out with Jessica Renolds, but they broke up like a week before he disappeared."

"Suspect number one, go on."

"Oh come on now, I know Jessica can be a royal bitch, but do you really think she could kill?"

"No, but nobody is innocent until we know for sure. Plus you know what they say, hell hath no fury.."

"Like a woman scorned, yeah, whatever. Any way, lets see... I don't know much about his home life, but his sister Shelly goes to Roosevelt too so we could talk to her."

"Good, we should also interrogate his friends." I said that then thought better of it. "Well of course we can't come off like we're interrogating them. Damn," I said because I realized that one more person had to be brought into this plan. "I guess we should tell Aidan (the third in our trio of bffs), he may not hang with Corey's crowd but he knows a lot of those guys. They might be more willing to talk to him."

"Rayne, I love you but sometimes I swear you've lost some brain cells. He should talk to Shelly. Word is she has a crush on him anyway. You talk to the guys. Your hot, they will so talk to you."

"Ok whatever, but you come with me, your hot too."

"But I'm gay..."

"OK now whose loosing brain cells? What straight male hasn't had a lesbian fantasy?"

She paused, "OK, yeah you got me. I'm in, but I'm not making out with you," she said while dissolving into giggles.

I laughed too before speaking again. "Don't worry, no matter how cute you are that is not on my to do list. Straight girl remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, you know you wanna kiss me. Straight or not, cause everyone wants a piece of me. Ha!" We both laughed good and hard then. Not because she isn't hot, she is, but she isn't full of herself. That is just a part of her personality and humor. She like most truly beautiful people doesn't know just how gorgeous she really is. Her skin is about the same light caramel brown as mine, but hers has a dash of something darker like a drop of dark chocolate. Her hair is that brown that is so dark that it is mistaken for black, it is thick and curly and stops just above her shoulders. The thing that really makes her stand out in a crowd is her eyes. They are the bright green of spring grass with flecks of light brown in them. She gets her eyes from her mom's side, they are mostly from Ireland and Scotland. As you have surely guessed, she too is mixed. Her dad is Black.

As soon as we were both able to speak again we came up with a plan of action. She would call Aidan and brief him on the plan. We would all try our interrogations during lunch the next day. Now that I had a plan of sorts I felt that I could get my homework done.

"Great, thanks Asha, see you in the morning." We hung up and I returned to my studies before passing out.

Dead Guy Magnet

I'll be the first to admit it. I tried to ignore the dead boy who insisted on hanging around me, but damn, the dearly departed really can be persistent. This particular ghost had been haunting me for the past day and a half. I finally gave in when I was in my room doing "homework". He had been hovering by my window making pathetic moaning sounds.

"Seriously," I said while looking up at him. "Where did you learn to be a ghost?" He stared at me, a look of shock on his face. I know that was harsh, but I just wasn't in the mood. I had enough crap going on in my life lately.

Finally he spoke. "Well its not like I had any warning. One day I was living my fairly average teenage life, next thing I know, I'm dead. Dying can be pretty disorienting. The moaning was my last ditch effort to get your attention." He smiled at me, a kind of lopsided grin, that was somehow familiar. I really looked at him for the first time sense he had been haunting me. Ghosts look kind of like walking (floating?) water colors. Not exactly solid, but not quite transparent either. Anyway I was noticing that this one was kinda cute. His hair was brown with subtle streaks that were lighter, almost blond. His hair had the kind of look that people try to get by frosting theirs. His looked natural. His skin gave the impression of mixed heritage. But not like mine (Black, White and Cherokee) he looked like his mix was either Latino or Native and White. His skin was olive with a hint of coppery brown to it. His eyes, whoa, his eyes were the color of tigers eye. I had to shake myself to stop looking. I didn't need any more dead guys in my life.

I guess now would be a good time to explain that last statement. See I have been gifted with what my mothers (and partially my) people call the second sight. I can see ghosts and other specters. I can also see or more like, feel out vampires, lycanthropes, fairies and other things that aren't supposed to exist. Recently a vampire has shown an interest in me. I'm really trying to stay away, but damn he is hot. But anyway, as if that wasn't enough now here comes yet another dead guy. My biggest question is, are all dead guys hot? Cause if they are, then I hope I never meet any more.

Alright now back to the ghost in my bedroom. "I'm sorry, I know I was too harsh on you," I said while sitting up and brushing my dark wavy hair out of my face. "Its just that I have a lot of stuff going on in my life lately. Thats why I've been avoiding you. Also, I haven't ever had a ghost that I don't know hang around me. So anyway, whats up?"

He looked slightly annoyed before starting to speak. "Well," he started, "I was hoping that you could help me find out how I died."

I just looked at him, waiting for him to be serious. He didn't say anything more so I did. "Your kidding."

"I wish I was Rayne, but I'm not. I don't even think anyone knows I'm dead yet, which brings me to my second request. I also need you to help the authorities find my body."

My mind started spinning, at the same time I realized that I did know this ghost. Or at least I knew of him. "Your Corey Hernandez, that kid who's been missing..." I trailed off, because now I knew that he wasn't just missing. "Shit." I said aloud, then thought to myself, why me?

"Shit is right, so will you help me?" He gave me that lopsided grin again. Damn him.

"Stop the grinning, I know what your doing." I leaned my back against the wall, folded my arms across my chest and gave him my own smile. He just looked at me so I continued. "Your trying to win me over with your charm."

His grin got bigger, "so you think I'm charming eh? Is it working?"

I'm pretty sure my face is as red as a firetruck now. "No and no," I said while trying to gain some kind of composure. "I am going to help you though, but I'll have you know, its because I'm a nice person. Thats all." I said that last, hoping I didn't sound like I was trying to convince myself.

"Mmm hmm." He grinned again, "what ever you say."

Damn him, "thank you would suffice."

"Thank you," he said. And thats how I ended up searching for a killer.

Skin Deep Part ten (conclusion)

"Have you eaten?" I asked, she shook her head. "Well then lets go find something to eat." I grabbed her hand and started leading her toward the kitchen.

"But I'm not really hungry," she said, a bit of a whine in her voice.

"But baby, you need to eat." Just then the muffled sound of the care bears on fire song "everybody else" started coming from Izzy's bag

"That's my phone," she said while digging it out of her bag. She looked at it and her expression turned frightened. "Its my mom," she said, then looked up at me. "Should I answer it?"

"Yeah, go ahead babe, I'm here for you no matter what happens."

She answered, "hi mom." Listening to only one side of a conversation is weird. Lucky for me I know Izzy well enough that it was easy to figure out how it was going based on what she said. "Yeah mom I know." She said sighing, I noticed tears forming in her eyes. "Yes mom, I believe you, I love you too." The tears started rolling down her cheeks, "I think I'm gonna stay here mom." She paused, listening, "yes I'm at Alicia's and of course I'm coming home, just not tonight." Her words came out as sobs, but she was smiling. Good sign. "I love you too mom, bye."

She tossed her phone onto the kitchen counter, then threw her arms around me and squeezed tight. When she stepped away I saw a look of hope in her eyes. "Evidently her friend told her she was being stupid and that she should call me." She managed a slightly week, but hopeful smile. "Yeah I guess She freaked after I left and called her closest friend, Julie. Lucky for me Julie is super open minded and really close to my mom. She talked some sense into her."

"Good I'm glad that things are looking up at least a little." I said, smiling. "How are you feeling about everything now?" I asked, suddenly becoming slightly worried.

"Good, I feel good." She smiled at me before continuing. "I don't know what I would do without you"

"So..... what do you want to do now?" I asked.

She hugged me again and kissed me. "Thank you, for being here for me," she said then she kissed me again. "I did have something planed for tonight, but that will have to wait. Food is starting to sound great."

We were already in the kitchen, which is a good place to find food. Well that is unless your me, there was nothing but beer, crackers, dry pasta and some moldy cheese in the fridge and cupboards. So we decided to pool our money together and order a pizza. We sat and watched TV while we ate. After we brushed our teeth and went to my room. She put on a mixed CD she had brought over, of her favorite grrl bands and we sat on my bed. Suddenly I felt this crazy tension fill the room.

Before I could ask what she had planned she started kissing me. Her kisses were deep and frantic, she moaned into my mouth as my kisses matched her urgency. She slid her hands under the edge of my shirt, her thumbs on the outside and began pushing the fabric up my body.

I pulled back slightly. "I took off my bra." I said between kisses.

"I know," she said as she pushed my shirt up over my breasts. She just looked at me "Up," she said. Wow, I lifted my arms and she pulled my shirt over my head. Next she sat back and pulled her shirt over her head, smiling at me as she did it. I pulled her to me, as I kissed her I reached around and undid her bra. She leaned back so I could slip it off. I pushed her down on the bed and climbed on top of her. I just pressed my body against hers for a while, loving the feel of her skin against mine. I buried my face in the crook of her neck and breathed in the scent of her. She ran her nails lightly up the length of my back, causing me to sigh. I bit at the soft flesh of her neck soft at first then harder, just enough to make her squirm underneath me. We teased each other like this for a while until her hands found my breasts. I cried out at the feel of her touch, then lowered my head and kissed down her neck to her chest. As I explored her breasts with my mouth, I moved my hand down to undo her jeans. Soon they had been thrown haphazardly to the floor along with my jeans and our underwear. I pushed myself up enough to look at her and I noticed a look on fer face that I didn't understand.

"Are you okay?" I asked after catching my breath.

"I'm wonderful, its just, I've never done this before."

I smiled. "I know, neither have I."

"No I mean I haven't, ever, with anyone."

Wow. "Are you sure you wan-"

She rose up and cut me off with a kiss. "Yes," she said as she pulled me back down on top of her.

We lost ourselves then to our senses. The musky sweet smells and tastes, the soft, textured and slick feel of our bodies. We heard nothing but the frantic sound of our breathing and the release in our moans. We explored each others bodies with lips, tongues, teeth, fingers and hands. We kept on for hours, finding new ways to bring each other every time, over and over until we were to tired to continue.

"I love you," Izzy whispered just before falling to sleep.

"I love you too." I said and as I drifted off to sleep. I smiled and thought about nothing but how damn lucky I was.

END

Skin Deep Part Nine

The rest of the week just flew by and before I knew it it was Friday. I was sitting in my last class trying not to watch the clock. I had to admit (if only to myself) that I was excited about tonight. It wasn't because I was dying to celebrate our one month, I was just excited to be spending the night together. I soon stopped paying any attention to anything other than my thoughts. I'm not excited just to be spending the night, we have done that before. I am hoping at least a little that we might breach the only shirts can come off rule. Not that it really matters if we don't, but it would be nice if we do. Then before I got too lost in my brain, the bell rang. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I barley noticed that I was walking. Then I found myself out in front of the school waiting for Izzy. I didn't have to wait long, just after I got outside I felt her arms slide around me from behind.

"Hey, that's my move," I say while turning to face her then leaning in for a kiss.

As we pulled away from each other she laughed a little then said, "Why cause your so butch?" She laughed before saying, "Come one lets go." I grabbed her hand and we headed off towards her house. When we arrived we were happy to find the place empty. "Wow, I didn't think we would be this lucky, moms usually here when I get home." She turned to me, a smile on her face and I grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss. I started pulling her toward her room but she stopped me. "I hate to do this, but I'm starving. Lets get a snack first." She said, then noticing the mock disappointment on my face she added, "You can wait 10 minuets can't you?" I smiled then nodded yes, she gave me a quick kiss before turning to head to the kitchen. She stopped in front of the counter then turned around. "Besides," she said while pulling me close as she leaned against the counter. "We do have all night." I couldn't help my self so I kissed her again this time pressing my body against hers. I kissed her like that until both our bodies were telling us to do more. Then I pulled away, she tried to pull me back to her.

I shook my head. "Snack time remember?" I said with a smile.

"Your evil." She said resuming her search for food.

"Hey you started it."

"So you got me." She said with a smile while grabbing some crackers out of a cupboard then heading to the fridge. "You want a pop?" I nodded so she pulled out two cokes and we were off.

After we got to her room and sat on her bed, the snacking didn't last too long. I was considerate though, I did let her eat a handful of crackers before I pounced. I pulled the box out of her hand and set it aside. I raised up to my knees and pulled her to me. We started kissing, slow at first then she pressed her body into mine while squeezing me like she was trying to make us become one body. Our kissing became faster then, more urgent. I was so focused on her that I dismissed the sound I thought I heard coming from the living room as being something from outside or just my imagination. Then Izzy laid down and pulled me on top of her, I grabbed a hold of her shirt. I was just about to pull her shirt off when I heard the door knob turn. We jumped apart just as Izzy's mom pushed the door open.

"Izzy?" She questioned. We just sat there looking at her stupidly. I mean really what could we do?

Izzy tried to answer her mother feebly. "Mom... I, uh... We, uh... We were just..."

Her mother heaved a big sight then turned to me. "Alicia, I think you'd better go now. I need to speak with mu daughter."

Izzy gave me a look that was begging me to stay. Though we both knew I had to go. I leaned closer to her and said in a quiet voice. "It'll be okay, call me." I gave her a look and a squeeze of her hand to reassure her before getting up and heading out the door.

On my way home I tried not to stress too much about what had just happened. I also tried not to think about what might be going on at EIzzy's place. So I spent most of the way home trying not to think at all, and failing miserably. When I got home and opened the door I was greeted by my mom.

"Hey hun," she said, a confused look on her face. "I thought you where staying at Izzy's tonight."

"I was, but her mom asked me to leave." Ok, that was dumb.

"Oh god Alicia, what did you do now?" She said while motioning for me to sit with her.

I walked over and sank into the couch. "Nothing mom, didn't do anything wrong."

Her look sftened, "OK, then why did Izzy's mother ask you to leave?"

I couldn't think of a lie that might work, and sense I started out with honesty I decided to tell the truth. I geuss both Izzy and me were coming out today. "Because, she came home and caught us kissing and freaked." OK so I censored the truth a little.

"I thought so."

"Huh?"

She shook her head. "No I mean I thought that you two were" she paused before continuing, "involved."

"Oh, and your okay with it?"

"You are my daughter, I love you and I'm not a bigot. It will probably take some time for me to be totally okay with it, but that's my own issues. What I think or feel shouldn't stop you from being you." She paused and I watched a thought slide across her face. "Is she good to you?"

This is weird, but kind of cool. "Yes mom, she's awesome."

"Good, really I'm just worried about you."

We talked a for a while, it became apparent that mom had known or at least suspected for almost as long as we had been together. Which explained how cool she was. She had plenty of time to practice. Then soon I realized that I'd been home for about an hour. I was so taken by my mom's reaction to Izzy and me that I forgot to worry about her. Just after realizing this, my phone rang. It was Izzy sounding frantic.

"I'm coming over."

"OK, god Izzy are you okay?"

"I will be if I can stay with you tonight."

"Hold on," I said while holding the phone against my chest to muffle my mom and my voices. "Mom, its Izzy. Can she spend the night?" She shot me a look that said clearly "are you really asking me this?" "Come on mom, she's on her way over now and she's all freaked. We can discuss boundaries later."

She looked at me with that look that most mothers seem to have before giving in. "OK, but I'm going out tonight, I don't want to come home to any surprises."

I held in the laugh that was threatening to surface. "Thanks mom." Then I put the phone back up to my ear. "Yeah."

"Good," she said. Then there was a knock at the door and she had hung up.

I opened the door to see Izzy's tear streaked face. I grabbed her hand and pulled her inside. She stepped in closer to me, threw her arms around me and buried her face between my neck and shoulder and cried. We just stood there like that for a while until Izzy's crying slowed. She took a deep breath, raised her head and took a small step back. I wiped away the tears that still clung to her face then left my hand cupping her face.

"What happened? Are you two okay?" I asked, concerned. She just looked at me for a moment. Then she opened her mouth as if to speak and closed it again. "Come on," I say while taking her hand and leading her over to the couch. I noticed that my mom wasn't in the room any more and wondered when she had gone. We sat down and faced each other, then I just waited for her to speak.

"She cried." Izzy said while looking down at her hands. "At first I thought she was mad, I think maybe she was a little. Then she asked me what was going on again and I told her you are my girlfriend. She just started to cry." She took a deep breath, trying to hold back more tears, then she continued. "She went on for a while about how hard my life will be and why would I want that. I told her about school, how everyone knows and everything is okay. I also told her that I am happy, really happy and that I don't want her and my relationship to get all messed up again. She agreed with me about our relationship, but said that she doesn't know if she can accept you and me as a couple. She said she knew better than to try and interfere with us."

I waited a moment to make sure that she was done before saying anything. "Well, it could be worse, ya know." I pulled her close to me and she froze. "What?"

"Is your mom here?"

I smiled. "Yeah she's here somewhere but its okay, she knows." Izzy suddenly looked frightened. "Really, its okay. She's known for a while now, I guess we weren't slick enough to fool her. We talked when I got home, she knew when she said you could spend the night so really its cool."

She let herself relax against me. "Well at least one of our moms is cool. What am I gonna do?"

"I don't think you have to do anything. I bet after she has some time to deal with her issues, she will come around. It sounds to me like she is more worried than anything."

"Yeah I guess your right."

"Of course I am. But really we are together, shouldn't we be having fun? I seem to remember a celebration was planed."

A smile started to show its self on her face. "I love you," she said.

"Good." I returned her smile, "I love you," I said as I wiped away the last of her tears.

Just then my mom came into the room all dressed for a date. "OK girls I'm off, don't wait up." She said as she opened the door. Then she turned around before leaving and said "No surprises right Alicia?"

"Right." Then she shut the door.

"No surprises, what was that about?"

"It means that if we are going to make our or anything, we should go to my room and lock the door." We laughed.

Skin Deep Part Eight

The next day, hell the rest of the week proved to be interesting. At first we got a lot of looks and a few comments. Though I learned pretty fast that all I had to do was shoot the offender a dirty look and they shut up and left us alone. I guess having a tough girl rep can work to my advantage sometimes. Izzy seemed to agree, she got real tough just like she said she would. I mean, really.

On Tuesday afternoon Izzy and I were heading out of school when a bit of what we were bracing ourselves for happened. Izzy had met me outside of my last class, greeting me with a hug. "Hey baby," I said as I grabbed her hand and we started down the hall.

"Hey you," she responded, then kissed me on the cheek. I smiled, yes I was still getting nervous every time we acted all girlfriendly in school. but I also loved the sense of freedom that came with it. So I chose to ignore the nervousness and focus on the happy. I started to rethink my decision when I heard the gagging sounds behind us. At first we just tried to ignore it but that proved to be impossible.

"Hey, fagots," said the gagger. That stopped us and we turned around to see a blond cocky looking preppy sophomore boy surrounded by four of his friends. I think his name is Bo, but what ever, who cares. I of course was pissed. I was just about to say something when Izzy stepped forward.

"What did you just call us?" She said in a voice that was trying to stay calm. She took a breath before continuing. "Because it sounded like you called us fagots. Is that true?" She asked while cocking her hip to the side and placing her hands on her hips. Her voice was nice and steady now, with the slightest hint of contempt. The boys snickered from behind their friend. Izzy walked up to stand right in front of him and I saw his cocky smile falter. I scrambled to get a better view of both their faces.

"Yeah," he said, regaining his confidence. "What, you deaf too?" Izzy actually laughed, it did sound a little nervous but her face didn't show it at all.

"No," she answered, "not deaf just making sure you are as dumb as you look." He looked like he was about to explode, then he really almost lost it when his friend's snickers turned into laughter. Before He could say anything she stepped so close to him that he had to back up to avoid their bodies touching. She continued, "sense we are girls the correct slur would be dykes. I mean really, if your gonna insult someone, at least use the right words." Blondie was visibly uncomfortable but seemed unable to move. I noticed that quite a crowd had grown around us. Thats not good, crowds bring teachers. I tried to get Izzy's attention but she was too focused on the boy in front of her. "One more thing, you are not ever going to give me and my girlfriend trouble again." I cracked my knuckles then for dramatic effect and say him shoot a slightly frightened glance at me. I noticed that his friends had moved back a few feet. Just then what I had been worried about happened. The vice principal Mrs Hampton, stepped into the circle around us.

"Is there a problem here?" She asked, while raising one of her dark severe eyebrows.

"No Mrs. Hampton," Izzy answered . Then slyly shooting blondie a look she continued, "We were just talking." The vice principal turned her attention to blondie.

"Is that true Bo?" She asked. Huh, I got his name right, I thought as I looked to him, willing him not to snitch. Though it was pretty unlikely that he would, being a guy and all. Tattling would make him look like even more of a wuss to his friends that he already did.

"Yeah," he said, sounding fairly believable. "Everything is cool." Mrs. Hampton stood there for a moment thinking. She had a look on her face that said clearly that she didn't believe them. "Well then, lets get moving everyone." She turned to leave, then all the spectators scattered like cockroaches when the lights come on. We just stood there for a moment before leaving. As we walked, Izzy laced her fingers through mine and I could feel her shaking.

"Baby, that was awesome! I swear I thought he was gonna pee his pants before you were done with him." I squeezed her hand and looked at her. I noticed that she didn't look like she was breathing. I stopped just after we got out the front door and pulled her off to the side a little. "Izzy? Whats wrong?" She didn't answer, she just stood there staring with a kinda freaky smile on her face. She still didn't look like she was breathing. "Baby?" I said, getting worried now.

Finally she looked at me then. "Whoa," she said after letting out the breath she had been holding. Then she looked at me and her smiled changed to be full of excitement. "Oh my god! I can't believe I just did that!" She smiled at me and squeezed my hand.

"I know that was great! You really did toughen up." I hugged her then, I couldn't help myself. I really wanted to grab her and kiss her full on the mouth. But I wasn't sure if that would be OK.

"That felt really good to tell that kid off." She was smiling so big, then I got the answer to my question. She leaned over and kissed me. Wow. It wasn't full on but it was definatley not how you would kiss your mother.

The next day it was obvious that news of Izzy and Bo's little talk had gotten around. The comments and most of the looks were a distant memory. We did get some looks and comments of approval though. It was kinda weird, some people even started commending us like we were making some kind of statement. It was all strange and kinda annoying. I mean we weren't doing anything all that strange, we just happened to be two girls doing it. OK so I don't always feel like that but I wish I did and everyone else could too. My brain was buzzing with this and other stuff concerning Izzy and me as I made my way to our favorite outside table for lunch. As I stepped outside I saw Izzy waving me over. Jesse, Parker and Ashlee were sitting with her.



"Hey gorgeous," Ashley said as I sat down.

"Ash, I never knew you felt that way about me!" I said in mock surprise as I scooted over to let David, Ashley's boyfriend sit across from her. "Hey Dave," I said while smiling. "I'd keep my eye on this one if I were you." I motioned toward Ashley before going on, "she thinks I'm hot."

He hung his head in "defeat," causing his short dreads to swing forward. Then he looked up, an expression on his face that I think was supposed to be hurt but couldn't chase the laughter from his hazel eyes. "Oh Ash, not you! Whats a straight guy to do?"

"Parker raised her and, "hey, I'm single, straight and female!"

"Hey now!" Ashley piped up, "You, my darling, have nothing to worry about." She pulled him to her and kissed him.

"Well, now that thats cleared up," Parker said, "lets move on." David and Ashley broke apart and we all laughed.

We all ate for a while, not really talking about much, then I spoke up. "So does anyone else think that all the positive response to Izzy and me being out is kinda weird?" That shut everybody up.

"How do you mean?" Ashley asked.

"Its just, people are acting like were making some big statement. That is not my intention, or yours, I mean, is it Izzy?"

"Oh no, I just wanna be with my girlfriend." She smiled at me and squeezed my hand.

David spoke up. "Well, I guess its because there are only a few kids other than you out at school. Also, you two are the only open couple here. Its like if it were 1980 it would probably be like that for Ashley an me cause of me being black and her white. Its kinda like just being open is political whether you mean it to be or not."

"Yeah, I get that. Its just weird, ya know?"

"Yeah," Izzy chimed in, "it is kinda weird that us being together means so much to other people. Good and bad."

"Kinda along the same lines," Ashley started, "now that your out at school, has either of you thought about coming out to your families?"

Izzy and I looked at each other, then at the same time said, "no."

"I don't really tell my mom anything personal." I said, then thinking about it added, "Though she usually figures me out any way."

Izzy looked nervous. "I don't think I'll be telling my mom any time soon. We just patched things up not long ago, I don't want to risk screwing that up."

Jesse (who is out to his mom, but not his dad) spoke up then. "I'm with you girls, though its nice having my mom know, my dad would probably drop dead, or kill me."

"Do you think your mom would freak though Izzy?" Ashley asked.

"I don't know, she was pretty messed up toward your dad that one time, remember?" Side note, Ashley's dad is gay. During the school's open house Izzy's mom called him and his partner fairies. In her defense, she was drunk, but still.

"Yeah but she was still drinking then."

"Yeah, uh can we change the subject?" Izzy asked, I squeezed her hand under the table.

"I agree with my girl here, why worry about stuff that's not gonna happen for a while?" I said, "We will deal with it when it comes." Izzy looked a thank you at me and kissed my cheek.

David jumped in then talking about something and I just slipped into my brain while they all talked. I thought about the past three weeks and how much had changed, everything that happened with Blake and now being with Izzy. A year ago, hell three months ago I wouldn't have believed it if someone told me I would be in a happy relationship with a girl, let alone, Izzy. The great thing is that I wouldn't trade her for a million guys or girls for that matter. Who knew I could be so happy? Izzy tapped me on the shoulder just then and I noticed that everyone was getting up.

"Hey, Izzy you walking with me to class?" Jesse asked her as he hefted his book bag onto his shoulder.

"No," she responded, "I'm gonna walk Alicia to class first."

"Cool, well see ya," he said while catching up to everyone else who had already waved their goodbyes.

As Izzy and I got up and started walking, she looped her arm with mine and leaned into me. "Thanks for the save back there."

"Any time baby. I could tell that you were uncomfortable."

"Yeah... Do you think your mom would freak?"

"I don't know. She is pretty cool so I doubt it, but she was raised Catholic. She even goes to church once in a while."

"Weird." Izzy said before pausing for a moment. "Did you know that we will have have been together for a month on Friday?"

"Really? Wow, that's, wow." I kissed her cheek then."

"Yeah, so I was thinking we could celebrate. Wanna spend the night Friday? Mom has a hot date so she'll be out late."

"Ooooo! Sounds great count me in!" Just then we made it to my class and the bell rang.

"Oh! I better go, see you after school." Then she gave me a quick kiss before hurrying off to her next class.

Skin Deep Part Seven

The rest of my shift was pretty boring, at least until Izzy got there. Sure Parker was there to talk to and what not, but work is work right? It was such a slow night that Parker and I had everything cleaned and ready for closing by 11:00. So the three of us just sat around and talked until the last movie let out and every body left. I let Parker go out the front before I locked up, then Izzy and I left out the back. Izzy pushed me up against the wall right as we got outside and kissed me. She pulled away breathless.

"Whoa, getting a little aggressive?" I say smiling.

She smiled back at me. "Are you kidding? I've been waiting to do that for hours."

"Well," I said while leaning into her. "Why did you stop then?" I kissed her again deeper, more urgent this time. The sound of footsteps stopped us and we pulled away. I turned to see Blake standing there. Great, I thought to myself. Just great.


He took a step towards us. "Ssso this who yer ssing now?" He asked sounding both drunk and angry.

"Yes Blake, she is. You got a problem with that?" I said, taking a step closer to him forcing myself not to back down. Even though my heart was beating so hard and fast that I thought I might die.

He stumbled a little, the look on his face turning from anger to a leer. "I juss didn't know you turned into a dyke. Its kinda hot though, can I watch, maybe join in?"

"Oh shut up!" Yelled Izzy from behind me. Wow, points for my girl.

That got him going again. "Don't you talk to me like that you little bitch!" He yelled as her strode right towards us. "Giddouta the way Aleeshia." He slurred.

"No." I said, standing my ground. He tried to push me aside, lucky for me he was too drunk and missed. I pushed him hard, putting almost all of my weight into it. It was forceful and he was drunk enough that he fell down. "Now Blake, we are leaving and you will not follow and I don't want to do this again. So leave me and Izzy ALONE!" I said making sure he got my point this time, then turned to Izzy grabbing her hand. "Come on lets go." I said and we left Blake on his ass in the parking lot.

We made it to my place both of us whole, unhurt and stupid ex boyfriend free. I found a note that my mom left out for me. It said that she would be out, possibly all night, that there was food in the kitchen and for me and my friend to have a good time. I turned to Izzy and she looked spooked. I walked over to her and put my arms around her. "Its gonna be okay Izzy, Blake is more talk than anything, trust me we are fine. He might even stop bugging me now that he knows we're doing whatever it is we're doing."

She pulled away from me. "But what if he tells someone at school? And what do you mean whatever it is we're doing? I thought you were okay with taking things slow."

I sighed a heavy sigh, I didn't want this conversation to go like this. "First off Izzy who cares if he tells someone? I bet most people wouldn't believe it any way and so what if they did? Its the truth isn't it?" I took a deep breath to calm myself before I kept going, I didn't want this to be a fight. "Izzy, I like you, you like me, whats the big deal? I mean why not just call it like it is. Like I know I want us to be together and I think you do too. There is no reason why we can't be together and take things slow, right?"

Izzy's face softened as she stepped closer to me. "Your right," she said, looking down and when she looked up she had tears in her eyes. "I guess I'm just scared. Scared of what other people will think or how they will treat us. Scared of what my mom will do and even a little scared by how much I feel for you." I closed the distance between us and put my arms around her. She put her arms around me and relaxed into my body for a moment, resting her head on my shoulder. Then she pulled back just far enough to look at me, our arms still around each other. "Aren't you sacred, even just a little?"

"Well yeah, but I know what I want and I don't want anything getting in the way. Yeah it can be scary but Izzy, your the first person that I've really ever been real with. I mean all the way, I'm never acting around you. I don't feel like I have to hide behind what every body expects of me when I'm around you. That's gotta mean something, so yeah I get scared but I don't want to screw this up." She kissed me hard like she would die if we weren't kissing. When she pulled away she was smiling at me.

"Ok." She said and I looked a question at her. "Lets do it, lets be girlfriends."

"Are you sure? I mean really sure, cause whether I like it or not I can wait." I said, feeling all mixed up. I didn't expect this to be so easy.

She paused before she spoke, still smiling at me. "Yes I'm sure, your right. I wanna be with you, I've just been scared. I've actually been thinking about it all day and my fear is the only thing that's stopping me. That shouldn't be enough, so yes I'm sure I want us to be together." I kissed her, I couldn't help myself.

The rest of the night we just hung out you know, talked, watched TV and of course we made out some more. As I fell asleep that night I was nothing but happy. Giddy even, I should have known it wouldn't last forever.

The next week went by with no evidence that Blake had blabbed to anyone. That didn't stop Izzy and I from being slightly edgy at school. We decided to keep the pda to a serious minimum, meaning none really at all. That is aside from quick hugs. It was fine, mostly. It only really bothered me when I would see other couples being all lovey dovey in the halls. But other than that I was cool. I was crazy happy. Being with Izzy was great even tho we had to be secretive. It helped that both Jesse and Piper knew about us. At least we could be open around them. I was finally starting to really be ok with our situation when Sunday rolled around. Izzy and I were hanging out at the park. We had been sitting close together talking, her hand resting on my thigh when we heard someone call her name. We automatically jumped apart and as her hand slid off my leg she looked behind us. I looked then too and saw one of her oldest friends, Ashley, walking toward us.

"Hey Izzy, Alicia" She said. Then she turned her attention fully to Izzy. "I've been trying to get a hold of you all day, whats up?"

"Oh," Izzy said while getting out her phone and looking at it. "Sorry I guess I forgot to turn it on. Why whats going on?"

They started talking and I just sort of tuned them out. I was a little bothered by what had just happened. Not that I didn't have a part in freaking as much as Izzy. But I didn't really like how fast we broke apart, like we didn't even have to think about it. I don't know maybe it just the uneasy feelings I've been having. What ever it is I don't like it. I don't really know whats bugging me so much. I mean just last weekend I was telling Izzy that being scared was a stupid reason not to be together. I meant it and I'm not having second thoughts so why the uneasiness? I vaguely heard Ashley say good bye before Izzy waved her hand in front of my face. I looked at her then.

"Whoa, where were you just then?"

"Nowhere, just thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing, really." I lied.

"Like I'm gonna believe that." she said, giving me a look that clearly said, 'just tell me."

I sighed. "I don't know I've just been feeling kinda uneasy and The way we just broke apart so fast bothered me a little."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, it kinda bothered me too."

"Really?"

"Well yeah, I may not be ready for everyone to know about us, but that doesn't mean that hiding isn't gonna bother me."

"Yeah, its weird isn't it? I mean who woulda thought that you and me of all people would be weird about being out about being together."

"Yeah, maybe its cause we have both been through some rumor worthy stuff this year. For me thinking about the possibility that people other than Parker and Jesse might know something kinda sucks." She said thoughtfully. "No that's not it, its thinking that other people at school might get some skewed idea about us from someone like Blake. That's what I'm afraid of."

I thought about that for a second before speaking. "Yeah, I know what you mean cause I felt the same way, but Blake has known for a week and he hasn't said anything. I know Blake, he is not the type to sit on things. Chances are that he doesn't remember, or if he does, he thinks it was a dream or something. He was wasted so..."

"Yes, I guess your right. So now I guess we just need to figure out what our terms are and when we're ready for people to know."

Izzy agreed and we spent some time talking about it. We decided that we weren't gonna deny that we were together if anyone asked us right out. We also promised each other that even if it got bad we would talk, really talk before just calling things off cause we got scared. Lastly we decided that we weren't gonna try to hide our relationship, but we also weren't gonna be super public about it yet. As far as pda we would expand a little, like no kissing in the halls, but that typical girl things like holding hands or linking arms now and then would be ok. At least until we were 100 percent about everything and had some better ideas about how to deal with people's questions. We talked for so long that it started getting late enough that we should go home.Neither of us really wanted to go, but we kinda had to so I walked her home. We were feeling so good about us that we even risked a quick kiss before Izzy went inside.

It felt good to have talked about stuff, I was no longer waiting for things to get messed up. I got home and my mom was actually there. We ate dinner and talked for a while, it was nice. Then Izzy called just before I was about to go to bed. That was really nice. We talked for a while then took way too long getting off the phone. I went to sleep that night thinking of her and how awesome everything was going. I only had the slightest worry about school the next day. But any not so happy thought got pushed away by the dreams I had of Izzy all night.


The next morning I woke up feeling the slightest bit of apprehension but overall ready to face the day. As I suspected there was still no sign that Blake told anyone about Izzy and me. The only people who talked to either of us about us were Paige and Jesse. So all was well. The next week went by pretty quick. I found that it was kinda fun passing notes and sneaking kisses here and there. As time continued to pass all seemed well. We hung out with Parker and Jesse and his boyfriend a lot and spent as much time alone as we could. It wasn't until about the middle of the fourth week that our somewhat clandestine status started to bug me again. It was hard not to touch her when ever I wanted. It got really bad when suddenly it seemed that every straight couple in the school was kissing and holding hands and even making out ALL THE TIME! Now I know this probably isn't what was really happening, but it sure seemed like it. My hyper awareness of hetero pda at school made me mad. I started feeling like I wanted people to know about Izzy and me. Not only so I could kiss her in the hall if I wanted to, but because the fact that I couldn't just wasn't fair. Also, I was finally with a truly awesome person and I couldn't be open about it. Only five people know about us, two being us, two more being Jesse and Parker and the fifth one I'm not even sure he knows that he knows! My feelings about this seemed to follow me around like big nasty storm clouds. I knew I was being moody but just couldn't stop myself from feeling like shit. I was thinking about all this Friday while having lunch outside with Izzy.

"Hello! Alicia!" Izzy said, sounding frustrated and waving a hand in my face.

I snapped out of my trance to see my girlfriends pissed off face. "Huh? Oh, Izzy I'm sorry I was just thinking."

"Obviously. What were you thinking about? You've been kinda weird the past couple of days."

"Yeah well, I'm just in a mood I guess." I said suddenly getting annoyed. We just sat there for a while until she realized that I wasn't about to say anything else.

Her expression softened a little to end in a mixture of frustration and worry. "Whats up? Are you mad at me or something?"

That chilled me out a bit. "Oh, no Izzy I'm not mad at you. Not really."

"Not really?" She said, the frustration taking over the worry. "Well which is it? Are you mad at me or not?"

Shit now I've done it. "Izzy," I said while reaching for her hand then realizing what I was about to do and pulling away. That made my anger rush in and I hit the table with my fist. "Damn it! Izzy, I'm not mad at you." I said, trying to keep my voice down but failing. I noticed that people were starting to look at us, so I took a deep breath trying to calm down so I wasn't yelling. I leaned in so we were closer to each other. "Its, just (sigh) I'm mad at the situation we're in. But I don't know if this is the best place to have this conversation."

Before she started to speak I noticed there were tears in he eyes. "Well where would be a good place?" She asked.

God I'm making her cry, I'm such an ass. I almost grabbed her hand again so I sat on my hands before answering her. "I don't know th-" I was interrupted by the bell. "You wanna ditch and finish talking or wait until after school?"

She wiped away a tear. "Are you kidding, lets ditch, I think I'd go crazy if I had to wait till the end of the day." We gathered up our stuff and got up.

"Park?" I asked.

"Sure."

We were silent the whole way there, the tension was almost unbearable. I was having a hell of a time staying even a little calm. I put my arm around her for a bit but she seemed like she didn't want me to touch her like that which just amped up my anger. When we got to the park we headed to our favorite bench. She sat down and I started pacing in front of her.

"Alicia!" She said in a loud voice. "Stop pacing, your making me even more nervous that I already am!"

I stopped. "Sorry" I mumbled.

"Alicia," she said her tone and face softening. "Please sit down and talk to me."

I sighed a deep sigh, then sat next to her turning so we were facing each other. "Izzy, I really like you..."

She cut me off, a look of worry on her face. "But..." She said.

I shook my head, then raised my voice practically yelling at her I said "but nothing Izzy, that's the thing." I don't know why I was so mad, it kinda felt good to be mad.

She looked a question at me. "If your not mad at me then stop yelling at me!" She said, raising her own voice. "Your not making sense. What did you mean earlier by your mad at the situation we're in?"

"What I meant is I think it sucks that we're hiding our relationship, that we feel like we have to." I realized that I was still nearly yelling and tried to lower my voice. "I know I agreed to not be obvious about us, and it was ok for awhile." There I said that using almost my normal voice, points for me. I sighed and went on finally able to sound more calm even though I was still a little mad. "I hate looking all around and seeing couples holding hands and kissing in the halls, I want us to feel okay doing those things." A look of relief crossed her face then she laughed a little, that caught me off guard. "Whats so funny?" I asked, almost offended. I was being serious.

"Its just Alicia, your mad cause you wanna hold hands. You. You've gotta admit that's kinda funny."

I laughed the tension finally starting to really leave me. "Yeah I see what you mean, but seriously Izzy I'm gonna freak if things don't change soon. I don't want to push you into something your not ready to do but I feel like I can't be around you at school cause I always wanna touch you. Like more than linking arms or hugs. Then when I realize that I can't I get all pissed. You are my girlfriend it feels shitty to feel wrong about touching you just cause someone might see."

She just looked at me for a moment before she spoke. "I know what you mean." She said, and I couldn't believe it. "But I would be lying if I said I was sure I was ready to be out about us. I'm scared, really scared but at the same time I'm mad that I'm scared and that I feel like we have to hide." She leaned in for a quick kiss before continuing. "I know what you mean about the not touching stuff, funny thing is I don't know if it would make much of a difference in some cases."

"What do you mean?"

"Ashley, she keeps asking me all these questions about you, I think she knows there is something going on with us. That doesn't mean that I'm ready to tell every one. But it couldn't hurt to maybe relax on the touching rule."

"Okay, so what does that mean, relaxing on the touching rule?" I asked hoping for, what I'm not sure but anything would be better at this point.

"Well, I'm not ready to make out in the halls but neutral touching that borders on more would be okay. Like hugs that linger, an arm around the shoulders, a hand on a leg, that sort of thing." She said, looking at me hopefully.

I guess I was hoping for more, but that would do for a start. "Okay, but I think if either of of us wants more we should talk about it right away. That way we won't end up fighting."

"Whoa, did we just have our first fight?"

"Yeah," I said, giving her a look and smiling. "So uh, you wanna ditch the rest of the day and go make up? My mom won't be home yet." I leaned into her and gave her a long hard kiss so she couldn't say no. When I pulled away she had to catch her breath, man I'm good.

"Okay." Was all she said and we headed off to my place.


We made it to my place and started kissing as soon as the door was closed behind us. I backed her up to the couch and we fell on it and each other. I felt and urgency about her that I had never noticed before. We seemed to have lost ourselves to any sense other than touch. There was nothing more important than each others bodies, we were all lips, teeth, tongues, arms and hands. Then I started to be aware of my other senses. I noticed the sound of our frantic breathing. Then moving down from her face and opening my eyes I watched the pulse in her neck and breathed in the smell of her skin and hair. We had been sitting kind of side by side, turned toward each other. I kissed and bit along her neck and collar bone before pulling back a little. I just looked at her like I was memorizing her face before pushing her down and climbing on top of her. She kissed me and pulled me close, pressing our bodies together like she was trying to push right through me. We stayed like that for some time before I pulled back just enough to move my mouth to just behind her ear. I trailed kisses down her neck to work my way across her collar to the other side of her neck. I pulled a hand free from underneath her and let it slide down her body to her waist. Then I found what I was looking for and slid my fingers just under her shirt. When she didn't stop me I moved so I could push her legs apart with mine so I was kneeling between hers. I pushed her shirt up, stopping just before her breasts and leaned down to explore her stomach with my mouth. She squirmed under me and started making small sounds in her throat. I moved to push her shirt up farther and I felt her body grow tense. I pulled back till I was sitting on my knees between her legs and just looked at her.

We were both breathing heavily, when she caught her breath she spoke. "Why did you stop?"

For some reason the question annoyed me, but I did my best not to Let it show. "I thought you wanted to stop, you froze up." I said, getting a little confused then started moving down toward her again. "Do you want me to stop?" I said, my voice dropping low.

"No," she said while pulling me into a kiss. I picked up right where we were and pushed her shirt up over her breasts. I let my hand slide across the front of her, causing her breath to catch in her throat. I pulled away from her kiss to lower my mouth to her chest, kissing down until I reached the edge of her bra. At the same time I reached back to undo the little hooks. As I started to push the fabric out of my way, she tensed up again.

I pulled away to look at her again. "Do you want me to stop now?" I asked.

"No, yes, I don't know." She said while pulling her shirt down and sitting up. "God I'm sorry, you must think I'm so dumb."

"No, Izzy I don't think your dumb. I am confused though, I mean it felt like you wanted-"

She cut me off. "I do, its just, I don't know if I'm ready just yet. I mean this is all new, ya know?"

"Yeah I know, but damn, you make it hard."

She blushed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, your just so, mmm." I said as I moved in to her for another kiss. Then I pulled away a little. Just looking at her I started to realize how far and fast I was falling. She smiled and looked a question at me. "How about we keep things how they are but hands can roam. Clothes will stay on, I promise."

Her smile deepened. "How about shirts can come off," that got a smile from me and I grabbed her hand. "But, bras stay, for now."

I climbed off the couch, still holding on to her. "Sounds good, lets go to my room." She smiled as she got up and gave me a look that made me wish we could do more. We made our way to my room and closed the door behind us.

The rest of the weekend went by way too slowly. I had to work both Saturday and Sunday during the day so I couldn't see Izzy as much as I would have liked. Parker worked with me both days which was nice, even though she kept on bugging me about Izzy and me. Izzy showed up at the theater on Sunday with Ashley. At first it was awkward until I realized that Ashley had guessed right about us. Even though I don't really know if I even like her it was nice that someone else knew. Especially knowing how close her and Izzy had been it made me feel good. That night Izzy and I got to together as usual. We ended up talking a lot about how school was gonna go with our new relaxed rules about touching. Well mostly Izzy talked about it. I finally got her to calm down and convinced her that it would all be okay. I walked her home and then headed home myself. As I fell asleep, I couldn't help but be excited about the coming weeks. I thought about what it would be like if anyone tried to start something because of us. I drifted off with a smile on my face.

Somewhat to my disappointment, it seemed like everyone at school was blind. The whole week went by with no incident. I did notice a few curious looks here and there but nothing more. Sadly Jesse got duped that Friday. So that weekend Izzy spent a lot of time with Jesse helping him deal with the break up. I hung out with them a little but mostly stayed away. I figured he wouldn't want to be around a couple, see I can be sensitive. I guess that because of all that was going on I let my guard down some the next week at school. I wasn't even thinking about people at school finding out about Izzy and I until I ran into a certain ex best friend of mine. I was walking down the hall after the last bell looking for Izzy, when I herd a familiar laugh behind me.

"What do you want Mary?" I asked as I turned to face her, not even trying to hide how annoyed I was.

"Nothing I just thought you might be looking for your girlfriend." She said with a smug look on her face.

"And?"

She laughed. "So its true," she said, sounding way too amused. "I must say I'm surprised, I didn't take you for a queer."

"And what makes you think I care?" I asked. "In case you forgot we aren't friends so I really don't care what you think." Just then Izzy walked up, great timing I thought with the hall full of people.

"Whats going on?" Izzy asked.

"Oh and here's the girlfriend now, come to save the day Izzy?" Mary spat.

I felt Izzy grow tense beside me, I was so freaked. Then she did one of the last things I could have ever expected. She just shot Mary a deadly look then grabbed my hand and turned us down the hall away from her. Izzy was squeezing my hand, she was so nervous. I was so focused on her that I didn't have any time to react before she was wrenched away by Mary pulling on her hair. I spun around just in time to grab her hand before she could do any more damage. She struggled against my grip then kicked me in the shins. I fought not to let go of her then as I did I slapped her hard with my other had.

"God what is your problem Mary?" I asked, my voice just below screaming. "You jealous?" I asked, smiling. "Funny I thought you were straight." I said, utterly pissed. "Now I suggest that you go before I stop being nice," I said with a smile. She just stood there staring at me with a stupid expression on her face. I turned to look for Izzy and saw that she had moved up to stand next to me. I put my hands on her face and asked, "Are you okay?" She nodded and I let one hand drop down to her hand and she grabbed on. I looked up to notice Amy running away and everyone in the hall staring at us. "What?" I asked, venom in my voice. Suddenly everyone just went about their usual business. Izzy and I turned to leave and were stopped by Jesse who had a big smile on his face but still managed to look concerned.

He looked at Izzy then me. "Are you okay?" He asked.

I nodded then we both looked at Izzy, she took her time to answer. "Yeah, I think so." She said, obviously stunned.

Jesse hugged her then turned to me. "Alicia, your my hero, that was awesome!"

I couldn't help but smile, then I felt Izzy squeeze my hand. "Thanks Jesse," I said. "I think we should go now though."

"Oh," he said, while looking over at Izzy. "Oh yeah, well I'll see you two tomorrow."

"Bye." We both said in unison as we headed for the door.

We left school and headed straight for the park with out talking about it. When we got there we went right to our bench and sat down. I turned to face her and tried to figure out what was going on for her just by looking. She looked really shocked and her breathing was heavy but beyond that I couldn't tell what she was thinking. I waited for a minuet to see if she would speak or even look at me. She didn't so finally I spoke up.

"So, uh how are you doing?" I asked letting the concern I was feeling show in my voice. "Are you okay?"

She turned toward me, a smile forming on her face. "Yeah, yeah I am," she said. "Actually I feel good, kind of exhilarated."

"Really? I mean even though we got outed in the hall in front of so many people?"

"Well I admit it didn't go quite how I would have wanted, but yeah. I think I was ready for it, I just didn't know how to go about it. It felt good just turning away from Mary like that. Though I wish I would have said something. I'm not so freaked anymore cause I know by tomorrow the whole school will know."

I looked at her for a moment feeling really surprised. "I don't want to ask again, but I've got to. Are you sure? Its just that the other day you were so worried."

"Yeah, but I realized that I was hating hiding just as much as you. So I guess I'll just have to toughen up a little if anyone gives us crap."

That made me smile. "That's my girl."

She blushed. "But you, Jesse was right that was awesome, not to mention lucky. I mean that no teachers saw." She said, then a look crossed her face. "God, are you okay? I mean Mary used to be your best friend."

"Yeah I'm okay, it kinda sucked but shes a bitch anyway. I don't really know why we stayed friends for as long as we did." She gave me a look that said, are you sure? "Besides, I have you and Jesse and Parker, emphasis on you." I smiled and kissed her, I had to. As I pulled away she smiled back at me.

"I think I love you," she said immediately looking nervous.

I smiled, that was the first time anyone said that to me when I really believed it. I even believed myself when I said back to her, "Me too, I mean you. I love you." Then I kissed her again, deeper this time not caring who might see, not that I ever really did. We had to go home soon after that to study some but ended up talking on the phone that night before going to bed. We rehashed the events of that afternoon again then talked about what it was gonna be like that next day. We both agreed it would be interesting to say the least.