𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗶 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗶 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲 // 𝙠𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙩

ʟᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴋɪss ʏᴏᴜ ғᴏʀ ᴇᴛᴇʀɴɪᴛʏ

Mai hated the games. She hated the stupid outfit. She hated the stupid songs. And she loathed the stupid bus.

She hated band with passion.

But, Mai knew if she wanted to get out of Shittyside, she needed to look impressive to colleges. And there was no way she would be a preppy cheerleader or a dumb jock. Although — Kate was a bit of an exception. She was only like half preppy.

Standing outside the bus with Kate, Simon, and Deena, the older teens were all insulting Sunnyvale, talking about how stupid all of those stuck up pricks were. Simon has this ridiculous witch face paint on, and he had been saying earlier "The witch will come for you~" In a "spooky" voice.

"Yeah, fuck Sam too." Deena said, peeking Mai's attention. Weren't they hopelessly in love just a few days ago?

The bus driver pressed on the horn, emitting a loud sound that frankly, scared the shit out of Mai. She let out a very embarrassing 'yelp' as the others looked to her.

Simon started laughing while Kate shushed him. Deena had an amused smile on her face but mostly looked concerned.

"You okay?"

"Yeah it just scared the shit out of me." Deena nodded before putting her arm around Mai's shoulder and guiding her towards the waiting bus.

Mai could feel someone's eyes burning into her back, and when she turned around she saw Kate's worried stare. She looked away quickly when their eyes met, but Mai couldn't help but smile at her concern. Of course, she would never admit it, but knowing that Kate was worried about her was — kinda nice.

As they boarded the bus, Deena walked down the aisle, glaring at all of them. One of them asked if she had quit, and she shot him a look before neglecting his question. Mai went to sit with her but Kate grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her slightly to whisper in her ear due to the loud bus.

"I think Deena needs to have her angsty-missing-Sam time, so you should come sit with me." She smiled so brightly and reassuringly that even if Mai wanted to say no — which she didn't, she would say yes in fear of making that smile on her face disappear.

They found an empty seat near the back, and Simon sat with someone else adjacent to them. Him and Kate seemed to be talking, but Mai had zoned out by now. Slowly her head leaned towards Kate, and she started to doze off. Suddenly, one of Kate's hands came up to the side of Mai's head and softly pushed her down to rest on her shoulder.

The fairies that usually danced in her brain appeared in her stomach, giving Mai this warm funny feeling she didn't ever want to go away.

Kate easily could have moved her hand and let it rest in her lap, but she didn't. Instead, her fingers slowly wound their way threw Mai's hair and softly started scratching.

Mai focused on the warm fuzzy feeling that surrounded her and Kate, like a little love-bubble. Slowly, she fell asleep.

———

"Mai, wake up. We're here."

"Hmm?" Mai asked, lifting her head from Kate's shoulder. She looked into Kate's brown eyes, filled with amusement. Mai lifted her head up and looked aground the bus, empty.

"I wanted to let you sleep," Kate explained. "You looked really tired." She smiled awkwardly.

"Awe, thanks Kate." Besides for Deena and Josh, Mai couldn't remember the last time someone had worried about her, cared about her. It felt so fucking great.