It Feels Like Gravity (When I'm With You)

Linchpin

Linchpin. It was a word that Kara heard often, particularly in her Discovering Democracy class at school. Her biological mother Alura used to be a lawyer, and her father a scientist. So she was familiar with the word in their respective careers, and when it came time to choose her elective sophomore classes, Kara thought it apt to choose classes which could help her on her journey in following her parents footsteps.

She liked to think she was making them proud in wanting to make change to the world, but in the small town of Lima, Ohio, there wasn't much change she could bring, particularly as a sophomore. But, she was determined as ever to honour her parents. It wasn't until the end of her sophomore year that actually understood what Linchpin had meant.

Sure she could google a definition, or listen to the countless ways her teacher had explained it, but nothing ever truly sunk. The word still seemed foreign, until one day it didn't. But that day was yet to come.

Speaking of making change though, Kara's sophomore year was the biggest change in her high schooling life. Of course the transition of middle school to freshman was a wide awakening, but it just couldn't top her sophomore year.

Her sister, Alex, a senior at Lima had warned Kara that sophomore year was the year that everything changed. It would be the year that the kids she had spent middle school and freshman year with, started to mature into the people they would soon be. It was the year of discovery, rebellion, drinking, and even sex.

And Alex had first hand experience with all those scenarios. Upon stating her sophomore year was also the unfortunate and hilarious beginning of Alex's 'goth phase'. Even Kara was afraid of how much her adoptive sister changed during the year, but luckily Alex was able to find someone who grounded her again, another sophomore, Maggie.

Alex now being in her senior year, was just itching to get out of school, out of Ohio and move in with her girlfriend. Kara didn't mind Maggie, infact she liked the girl more than any other of Alex's other girlfriends. Maggie was intimidating and fierce at first, particularly for her size. But slowly the layers peeled, and a softer side of Maggie was revealed. Her most favourable trait, in Kara's opinion, was she never thought of herself as more superior than others, even as many seniors did, she had time for anyone and everyone.

Maggie's wasn't afraid to pull Kara in for a bear-crushing hug in the middle of the cafeteria, Maggie wasn't afraid to go sit by Kara in the courtyard at lunch times in plain view of the entire school. Maggie wasn't afraid to give Kara a lift home, or to school, all the while having N Sync and the Backstreet boys on full volume, and she definitely wasn't afraid about yelling "Little Danvers!" at the top of her lungs each time she saw the younger girl in the corridors.

And while, for so long Kara envied what her sister and Maggie had, for a while it seemed, she couldn't say she was jealous. A rather cute looking boy had joined the sophomore class at the beginning of the year all the way from Canada. He was a child prodigy, the next Joe Montana in quarterback history, and for some reason, out of all the hormonal girls who threw themselves at him with lust filled gazes and cringe worthy giggles, he took a liking to Kara.

The two shared a few classes together, Drama, Math and PE. At first it was just stolen glances and small smiles. Eventually it turned into waves, then "hello's", then soon enough, Kara found herself falling in love with the charming boy.

The seller was after he joined the school's Glee Club, and Kara was assigned a duet with him. He was nervous and avoided looking at Kara the whole time, but his voice carried the soul of a thousand people, and the love of thousand hearts. He had later admitted that he only joined so he could spend more time with Kara.

It was a match made in heaven. Kara helped him with his monologues and performances in drama class, he really was woeful, and she helped him during math if he ever got stuck during algorithms or advanced trig, always allowing him to figure the answers out himself though, instead of just giving him the answers. And Mike helped the uncoordinated Kara in PE, he might have even saved Kara a few soccer balls to the face a few times aswell.