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“Are you sure?”

I nodded and sat down, letting my hand touch hers. We hadn’t come out to the team or the girls we lived with yet. It was clear we were more at ease, but we hadn’t put it into words, so to speak.

“I'm sure, shorty.”

“Okay…”

Veronica's smile was a source of strength at that moment.

“No more resting, I want the whole choreography from the beginning!” Karlee's voice started to sound more like the devil, but we had no option. All we could do was practice more and more until we reached exactly what she wanted.

The coach wasn't wrong, the more times we did the entire choreography perfectly, the less chance we had of making mistakes in Daytona. And at the end of the day, that's what we all wanted, so everyone there chose to feel more muscle pain while pushing their bodies beyond what was possible.

My laptop was on my lap as I read through some texts and class slides, making notes in my journal and had a bottle of cold water and a large cup of coffee next to me. The semester was almost over, there was really very little left and so I needed to not only get ahead on the last assignments, but also review the content needed for the tests.

The ice pack on my ankles was also present, along with the hot water bottle under my belly, as if all the post-workout pains weren't enough, I was still having to deal with the hell of PMS.

The text on Texas history was painful, but at least the damn thing was over.

Around nine o'clock, I finished my study session. A few minutes later, someone knocked on the bedroom door and I told them to come in.

“Hey, Ken!” It was Jaz. “Ivan invited me to go to karaoke tomorrow. Do you want to go with me? Sid already said she's going with Taylor.”

The grimace that appeared on my face was expressive enough to make Jazmine laugh.

“It's Friday, Kendra, we deserve a break!”

“Well, you're only 19 once, right?!” I grumbled. “Let's go.”

My roommate gave me a wide, friendly smile before leaving the room.

It probably wasn’t the best idea to hit a karaoke bar after the hellish week we’d just been through. It was even worse to be there after taking a muscle relaxant and not being able to drink, but at least I was surrounded by people I liked and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Kendra sat beside me, sipping a martini while I stuck to my Coke. It was probably for the best—if I drank, I might mess things up even more during my daily arguments with Emily. She hadn’t been caught using drugs again, but it only took a glance at her at certain times of the day to see it was obvious she still was. In fact, at that exact moment she was euphoric talking to Logan and Becker while Troian remained quiet, because, like me, she was pissed off about the situation.

“Hey…” Ken’s shoulders bumped into mine, pulling me out of my reverie. “Are you okay?”

December had already caught up with us, so I believed that the fatigue, beyond normal, that had hit me that day was also the fault of the time of year.

“Yes, yes. I was just thinking that I'm dying to go to the bedroom and lie down with you.” I confessed, which was also a thought that was renting a significant space in my mind.

“Well, that's two of us.”

Kendra's hands came over mine, holding them. Her fingers began to intertwine with mine and something playful sparked between us, our fingers touching each other. I ended up laughing and Kendra let her head fall onto my shoulder. We were both finally feeling comfortable in our relationship and I was so happy to see her like that.

“Wow…” Becker’s voice echoed. “For two people who wanted to murder each other at the beginning of the semester, you two seem pretty close now…” He was teasing us, I knew, but not in a mean tone.

Kendra straightened up but didn't let go of my hand as she declared: “Yeah, usually when you're dating someone you get close.”

The table was silent for a moment before everyone started talking at the same time as if it were the final of a championship and we had won. From “I knew it” to congratulations, everyone was talking a lot.

We thanked them.

“How cliché is it that you two are cheerleaders?” Jaz joked. “Wow, actually that would make a great movie.”

“Yeah, it's a shame that all the studios and streaming services hate sapphics.” Kendra replied. And the saddest thing was that my girlfriend was right, there weren't enough series or movies for us. Although the ones that existed were good for the most part.

After our revelation that we were dating, Troian announced that she was leaving. And when she came to say goodbye to me, she said that she didn't know what to do anymore and that we needed to act. I gave my friend a big hug and assured her that we would take care of things the next day. Becker ended up leaving with Troian and, although those two were the first to kiss in our group, the words "boyfriend and girlfriend" had not yet been uttered, even though, deep down, they already acted like a well-established couple. He was careful and the way he looked at her was beautiful. It was like my friend was the only girl in the world and that was rare. As soon as the two of them walked away, I whispered to Kendra: