"What do you mean, 'you can't accept me'?"

There were a lot of things that Sondra truly didn't understand, and one of them was how her best friend of six years could shun her so easily, and for something as trivial as her sexual orientation. Who cared?

Obviously, Tina did care, enough to narrow her eyes and snarl, "Dyke," right in her face. The redhead's lips drew into a thin, worried line, holding back tears as the person she had come to think of as a sister flipped to the other side of the social pole.

"Why?" she whispered.

"Because I don't hang out with freaks," she growled out, flipping her hair over her shoulder and huffing.

The sixteen-year-old shook her head sadly, spinning on her heel and walking hastily out the door. At the door, though, she shot into a dead run, not caring where she was going…

And, not noticing until she plowed into them that a person was right in front of her, she knocked them both to the ground.

Murmuring apologies for her clumsiness, she stood, helping the other person up as well, and glanced at who she had mowed over.

And blushed. Heavily.

The girl watching her, curiosity in her eyes, just so happened to stand at 5'7, had honey-blond, straight hair to the middle of her back, almond-shaped sky blue eyes and had fair skin. She also happened to be the school's most popular girl this year, and she was a senior.

Sondra swallowed, eyes wide and mind scattering to find something, anything, to say.

She managed to squeak out an apology, then turned to bolt out of the school.

A hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked her back from her run.

"Hey," the senior murmured. "Are you okay?"

The sophomore shuddered gently, jerking her arm free from the other girl's grip. "No," she answered simply, turning and walking from the blonde girl. The popular one of the two didn't bother to stop her, and Sondra didn't bother to look back. If she had, she would have noticed the confused and worried expression that the eighteen-year-old wore.

It took less than a day for both rumors and truths to spread around the school, and from there, the town. By the next day, everyone knew of Sondra's confession, and everyone avoided her like the plague.

It worsened as she neared the school. Teenagers who she had once held at least some amount of respect for the sixteen-year-old now watched her with disgust and hatred. The redhead sighed under her breath.

It only took a few minutes for her to find the source of her social murder: Tina.

Her ex-best friend was chatting to a group of girls, but the conversation ceased and turned to gossipy half-whispers as Sondra walked up to them. She tossed them a glare, letting her gaze linger on each for a couple of seconds before grabbing Tina's wrist and dragging her around the corner, into an empty classroom.

"What are you going to do?" the gossip queen asked sarcastically. "Kill me?"

"How could you?" the redhead asked softly, hurt and ignoring the other girl's taunting. "I know you're vindictive, but this… this is too low… even for you."

Tina scoffed and lifted her chin arrogantly. "Well, it would've gotten out somehow. I just helped it along." She shrugged. "Besides, you're not my friend any more, and anyone who's not my friend is either ignored, my enemy, or, in your case, since this was way too good to pass up…" A malicious grin curved her lips. "Rumor bait."

Sondra's grey eyes saddened, her eyebrows curving upward in the middle in a worried, hurt way. "Why?" she asked in a mere whisper. "Why is it so wrong?"

"It just is," Tina sighed irritably. "Men and women are supposed to be together. Women are not supposed to be together. The only thing lesbians are good for is porn for the guys." She turned to leave, an exaggerated and perfected swagger on her hips.

"I thought…" the sixteen-year-old paused to collect her thoughts. "I thought your friends were more important than anything else was. I remember you saying it."

"Yeah, well." Tina shrugged. "You're not my friend, therefore, you aren't important."

The redhead's eyes widened as the words sank in, and although she wanted to run again, she couldn't. She was just… frozen.

The bell's shrill ring came only a few seconds after Sondra leapt out of her seat, anticipating the bell easily. There were only two places that she actually felt safe, and one of them was here in the school.

The swim room. She had always enjoyed it, because the school kept it open once after-school practicing for the swim team was over. It was also the only place she knew she wouldn't stay too long in. Had she gone to the library, she just knew it would be a long, long trip, and by the time she looked up, she would have stayed two hours over her curfew. She didn't want that.

So, swim room it was.

She didn't bother with the locker room – it wasn't open after swim practice. Besides, she didn't need to change, per se. She always made sure that, in the morning, her clothes went over her swimsuit. She never wore bras or panties for that very reason.

The suit actually was quite simple, but it was a swimmer's suit. It was built for speed, even though she wasn't on the team. It was a one-piece, since she never had been comfortable with two-pieces. The top half was blue and the color V'd down, a white stripe following it. Then there was a blue strip, and after that it was white the rest of the way down.

Sighing, she sank into the Jacuzzi, thankful that the school even had a swim room, and further thankful that they had a Jacuzzi. Almost no other school she knew of had such a thing, and she knew that it was because this one was one of the best around. It had money to spare, and that money went toward all kinds of things.

She might have actually liked school if she was like everyone else, who simply saw it as a minor amount of work with mostly play with their friends.

Her head tilted back to rest on the cement edge, but it shot back up at the sound of a splash. She whipped around to see who would be here at this time besides her. Nobody else ever came here, not after school, except her. Especially on days when there was no swim practice, like today.

Her grey eyes widened at the teen who was lingering near the edge of the pool.

Loraine seemed relaxed, obviously here just for the fun of it. She sometimes practiced with the swim team, but today she must have just wanted the water.

Swiftly, she turned around, sinking deeper into the water. Hopefully, she was low enough that her hair wasn't seen over the edge of the Jacuzzi. Aw, shit… I really hope she doesn't see me…

After one lap around the pool, Loraine decided to take a break. While getting out of the pool, however, she noticed that someone else was in here, and that someone had a very familiar dark red shade of hair… much like the one that girl who mowed her over yesterday had.

She wrung her hair out slightly and walked over, sitting down on the edge of the Jacuzzi with her lower legs and feet in the water. When she glanced over, she also leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the girl's face, currently blocked by her hair. An eyebrow rose, and without really thinking, she reached over to move the hair aside and smiled.

"I thought that was you," she laughed, holding her hand out. "You have a very distinctive hair color. I'm Loraine."

Grey eyes snapped up to watch her, and Sondra hesitantly took the hand offered, shaking it just a few times before letting go. "I'm-"

"Sondra, I know," Loraine interrupted, smiling again. That smile only lasted a few seconds, though, before she sobered and a worried frown replaced it as she watched the other girl. "So… Yesterday I asked if you were okay, and you said no… what was that all about?"

Grey eyes watched her carefully, cautious and slightly fearful. "Why d'you care?" she asked quietly.

Loraine sat back slightly, swishing her legs delicately and glancing down at the red mop of hair. "I don't know. You just seemed upset and I was wondering why."

The redhead shrugged, straightening enough to rest her elbows on the edge of the Jacuzzi. "My best friend shunned me."

"Why?" The senior's brows furrowed in confusion, as if she thought there was no reason whatsoever that this sophomore girl should be subject to social isolation.

The sixteen-year-old pinned her gaze on the water, absently watching the bubbles on the surface form and disappear with tiny pops. "You've heard the latest rumor going around… right?"

"Which one?" Loraine sighed, obviously thinking that to be far too broad a hint. "There's the one about Kathy and Tristan, Kendal having five girlfriends at once, and there's that one that just started today about the-" She caught herself, blinked, and stopped speaking. "Oh."

Sondra only nodded once, not bothering to meet the sky blue eyes she knew were watching her.

Aaaand the door slam's coming in five… four… three… two…

Loraine stood and walked out of the swim room, the door clanging shut behind her.

Sondra heaved a deep sigh, breath coming out in a whoosh at the end. "Why's it so wrong?" she murmured under her breath. To be who I am? To love who I love? Why would she do this to me? Fucking backstabbing bitch!

She was so completely enveloped by her thoughts that she didn't notice a certain honey-haired eighteen-year-old had returned until a Hershey's bar was shoved into her hand. She blinked and glanced at it with her head tilted, and then up at Loraine with a brow furrowed in confusion.

The blonde smiled sheepishly at her, shrugging. "I'd give you alcohol, but we're both underage so chocolate will have to do."

The redhead couldn't help but giggle quietly, un-wrapping the candy bar carefully and breaking off a tiny piece from it.

"Thank you."

"No problem. I carry them all the time."

"No, no," Sondra corrected. "I mean… thanks for staying."

One perfect eyebrow rose, and the taller girl slid into the hot water like a cat slinking through a jungle. "Look," she sighed. "The way I see it, you're still human, you bleed red like everyone else, and from what I can tell, you're not nuts… so why should I hate you? It looks like you're going through enough right now, with the whole school against you."

The sophomore blinked, a nervous, shaky, wary smile just barely curving her lips. "Thanks. And, yeah, I have… it's not the greatest thing in the world when the person you trust the most stabs you in the back for being a lesbian without even thinking twice about it." She took another chomp from the candy bar, just realizing that she was staring at Loraine when the older girl daintily unwrapped her own chocolate and nibbled at it.

The senior glanced at her, and she blushed and looked down again.

"Um… thank you again… for… for the chocolate," she stammered out, embarrassed that she'd been caught… and embarrassed that she had been staring at all. "Ah… I should probably get going so I don't… uh… depress you or anything."

Despite her less-than joyous attitude, when she started to climb out to leave, an arm wrapped around her waist and dragged her back in.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it."

Sondra squeaked in surprise as she was dragged back into the water, somehow ending up pressed against Loraine with the senior's arm wrapped around her. She swallowed hard and her cheeks reddened, her gaze re-pinning itself to the surface of the water.

"Who said you were making me depressed?" she laughed. "And besides, what if I want you to stay?"

The redhead froze, glancing up at the older girl. "I-I-I- "

"But," the blonde sighed. "If you really want to go, I'll walk you home."

"How d'you know I don't take the bus?"

The blonde grinned mischievously at her, chuckling. "'Cause the buses left twenty minutes ago," she replied. "And if it was that far, you wouldn't have the time to stay here."

"…"

"That's what I thought," she affirmed. "Come on – I'll walk you home."

"Don't you have to go home, too?"

She shrugged. "I don't really have to be anywhere. My parents actually don't care where I go, as long as I'm back by, at the latest, nine, and do my homework."

"Lucky you," the younger one murmured quietly, and even with her hearing, Loraine couldn't decipher what she said.

"Hm?"

"It's nothing."

As they walked to Sondra's house, the sophomore became quieter and quieter, until she simply shut up altogether.

Sighing, Loraine place a hand on her younger companion's shoulder, stopping her and moving in front of her to look her in the eye. "What's wrong? You've been getting quieter and quieter."

The younger girl shook her head. "It's nothing-"

"It is too something! There's no way in hell that the look on your face is nothing!"

The redhead bit her lip gently and glanced away, trying to walk around the older girl and being stopped by an arm that wrapped around her waist.

"Look, I can tell when something's wrong with someone. You're obviously not fine, so can you please tell me?" She sighed again. "I just-" She blinked as she noticed something. "What is that?"

A scabbed-over cut lay on Sondra's upper arm, and she snatched her wrist to pull the younger one closer for a better look. "What- how did you get this?" she asked, gently running her fingers over it. Her hand slipped from the sophomore's wrist, but hit a sore spot on her side. The redhead yelped in pain, flinching away with her back arching from Loraine.

"Sondra…" the senior murmured, worried. "What happened?"

Sondra shook her head slightly, refusing to meet the senior's sky blue eyes. If she let herself, the blonde would be able to see right through her, and she didn't want that.

An exasperated, impatient sigh escaped Loraine when the girl wouldn't meet her eyes, and instead of waiting for her to say what happened, she moved behind the redhead, lifting the top enough to see Sondra's back and sides.

Blue eyes widened, then narrowed, darkening in fury.

Welts, bruises, and cuts lined the sixteen-year-old's body, the worst ones on her sides. Gently, she reached out to run her fingers over the wounded skin, eyes softening when Sondra whimpered and flinched again, spinning and backing up while hastily pulling her shirt back down. The wounds on her body disappeared underneath it, but the amount of pain that she was in didn't escape the blonde.

"I-I really need to get home-"

"Not without letting me treat those first," the older one argued.

Sondra shook her head, grey gaze pinned on the ground. "No, really, I have to go."

Loraine sighed, fisting one hand on her hip and the other on Sondra's shoulder. "Look, you're not going anywhere until you let me help you out with those. My parents won't mind if I bring you over."

"But…"

A deep blue stare, determined to help, stopped her from saying anything further. She glanced down, and then finally nodded. "Okay."

Surprisingly, it only took them about fifteen minutes to reach Loraine's house… well, mansion, actually. With six bedrooms, a giant kitchen, a living room that covered the entire first floor, nearly, two bathrooms, and various storerooms, it hardly qualified as a 'house.'

"Come on," Loraine grinned. "My bedroom's this way." She grabbed Sondra's hand and dragged her up the stairs, to a room with a theme of mostly light colors. A large… actually, giant, bed sat in the corner of the bedroom. A desk was right next to it, with a laptop sitting on it and a printer nearby. Various CD holders were stacked up on the desk, ranging from classical to pop and everything else.

"It's a bit of a mess… sorry about that," the older girl laughed, giving a sheepish smile. Upon remembering why she had dragged the girl to her house, she glanced over. "Take off your clothes," she requested.

"What?"

"Take off your clothing," she reiterated. "I can't really help unless I can see what I'm working with. The bra, too, cause it'll get in my way. I'm going downstairs to grab some stuff, but I'll be back in a couple minutes."

Turning, she exited the room, half-running down the staircase to grab some of her mother's medical supplies; an oil her mom had mixed together, band-aids and wrapping bandages, pain reliever, chamomile tea as a relaxant, and various ointments.

Balancing everything in her arms, she walked back upstairs, nearly dropping the supplies in surprise. The redhead stood with her back facing the door, obviously quite embarrassed and looking quite ashamed. The senior forced herself to jerk out of her awed state, however, kickstarting her brain in the right direction – which was the role of medic, not seducer. She had to do something about the bruises across Sondra's body.

"Um… go siddown…" she commanded hastily.

Sondra nodded once and obeyed, sitting on the edge of the bed with her hands clasped in her lap.

Loraine walked over and set her supplies on the bed, crawling over it to sit down behind the sixteen-year-old, and started to examine the redhead's bruises. "Damn, these are really something…" she mumbled, sighing. "How did you get them? Bullies? Accident? Parents?"

Sondra flinched on the last one, and the older of the two sighed. "Your parents, then…"

The younger shook her head silently, and the blonde's brow furrowed.

"Whaddya mean 'no'?" When Sondra didn't respond she sighed. "Okay, okay, I understand…" Uncapping the oil, she poured a small amount into her palm and began rubbing it onto Sondra's back, working it into the skin.

Had she not been so sore, Loraine's hands on her skin would have felt heavenly. Instead, every time the older one hit a sore spot, she winced. One particularly sensitive spot actually made her whimper, and the blonde paused.

"I'm sorry…" she murmured. "It's just, this is a real bad bruise here."

"S'ok. Doesn't h- ow!"

"Were you just about to say 'Doesn't hurt too much'?" the older asked, laughing.

"Well… yeah…"

"Suuuurre…"

Despite the fact that the massage actually hurt, Sondra couldn't help the fact that her heart was racing. She'd had a crush on this same girl for so long, and now she was sitting in the older girl's room while the blonde took care of her wounds. And she was over half naked. Which was very embarrassing.

Loraine could see it, too. After a moment, her hands paused, and she glanced over Sondra's shoulder at her face. "Hey, you know you don't need to be embarrassed, right? I mean, we're both girls."

The redhead chewed her lip for a moment. "It doesn't bug you at all that I'm…"

Loraine blinked. "No. Should it?"

Sondra shrugged. "I dunno."

The blonde giggled quietly, returning to her task of rubbing oil into the younger girl's skin. It actually wasn't a bad job – she certainly didn't mind.

… Which, to be honest, made Loraine wonder about her own sexuality.

Despite the various thoughts going through her head, she shoved that one to the back of her consciousness for right now, saving it for later.

"I already told you that I don't care what you are," she said, working her thumb against a bruise.

Sondra flinched.

It took the senior a second to realize what had caused the reaction, and as soon as she had, she gasped and paused, glancing over Sondra's shoulder at the younger girl.

"I didn't mean it like that," she amended quickly. When the sixteen-year-old kept silent, she sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just, what I think sorta misses that 'Do Not Say' filter, and instead it just comes straight out of my mouth."

Sondra chewed on her bottom lip and nodded. "It's okay," she murmured. "It doesn't really affect me."

The older girl sighed. "Yes it does," she murmured, her eyes sad. Sondra didn't say anything for a moment, but she had something in her mind that she wanted to spit out.

"Okay, it kind of does," she agreed. "But it's okay. You didn't mean it."

Loraine smiled weakly. "Thanks."

She ran her eyes over the wounded skin on Sondra's back, and they widened at the mottled way that it looked. What really caught her attention, though, was a scar that spread from one shoulder to the other, and then down into a semi-triangular point.

"What happened here?" she asked softly, running her fingertips over it. Sondra flinched, her eyes closing, and said nothing.

"Come on," the older girl prompted. "Tell me."

"I can't," Sondra whispered back, sighing.

"I'm not going to say anything." She traced the edges of the scar with her fingers, analyzing it. "This is an older scar, huh?"

Sondra nodded, sighed again, and relented. "Someone took a flamethrower to my back," she murmured, wincing at the memory. "Didn't even care how it looked. They just wanted to make a mark on me."

Loraine froze, her eyes narrowing. "Who was it?" she asked, practically hissing.

Sondra shook her head. "I'm not telling you that," she murmured. "No way. I already have a death threat over my head."

The older girl was silent for a long moment. "I'm sorry," she murmured, and the redhead smiled.

"You didn't do anything."

"But I wish I could help."

Sondra shrugged.

It took a while to release the tension in Sondra's muscles, but as soon as she finished, she stood and planted her feet firmly on the ground. The younger one watched, interested, as she murmured something under her breath.

It took a matter of seconds, and Loraine jumped back up onto the bed, flopping over on her back and pointing at the cup on her bedside table. "Drink that," she said. "It's chamomile tea. It'll help you relax."

"Thanks," the other one murmured, taking a sip of it.

"No problemo. My mom stashes tea all over the house. Dunno why, but it comes in handy." Laughing, she rolled over onto her side, watching the younger one. "Hey, just out of curiosity, have you ever been kissed?"

The redhead shrugged. "Yeah. First one was a dare, though, so I don't really count it. The second was an end-of-date kiss from this girl called Alisha, and then the rest have all been from my previous girlfriend, Valorie…"

She faded off, shaking her head and hiding oncoming tears with another sip from her tea. "Anyway, we're done now."

The blonde was quiet, simply watching her with her head pillowed on her arm. "She hurt you, didn't she?"

The redhead flinched. "Not physically, no. She never abused me," she murmured. "But she went off to college in London-"

"College?" Loraine interrupted. "How old was she?"

"I was fourteen… she was eighteen." She sighed and shook her head. "She'd be twenty now."

"Pretty big age gap there," the blonde murmured. Sondra shrugged.

"I loved her," she replied. "It didn't really matter to me that she was four years older. She was the most important person in my life, and I didn't give a damn about laws and all that that crap about statutory rape." She shrugged, pulling one knee up to her chest.

"So what happened?"

The redhead sighed. "Well, she went off to London, and when she came back to visit her family, I went over and, well, she had a new girlfriend." Her jaw clenched. "That ended it pretty abruptly."

Loraine winced in sympathy for the girl. "Sorry that it didn't work out," she murmured in condolence. "And that she cheated on you."

Sondra shrugged. "It's alright now. I've gotten over her since then, so it doesn't really bother me anymore."

"That depressed expression is really convincing me," the brunette murmured. She moved so that she was able to wipe the girl's tears away, her thumb making slow strokes on Sondra's cheek and ridding her of the tears. She tilted her head and smiled, brushing a strand of hair from the other girl's face. "Hey, don't shed tears over her. If she wouldn't stay with you and she cheated on you, she isn't worth 'em."

Sondra smiled and nodded. "Okay. Thank you for the tea."

"Hey, I told you, my mom's got tea coming out her ears."

"Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Taylor."

"No problem," the kind woman responded. "Anything for Loraine's friends."

Sondra gave a shaky smile and nodded, holding her things to her. "Um… I have to go now so…" She turned and began walking back up to the house.

"Hey!" The shout made her turn back to see her blonde friend bouncing toward her. She looked like she was prepared to give a hug, but reconsidered quickly. "I would give you a hug, but you're probably sore still."

The redhead smiled. "It's fine. Thank you for… everything. I'm starting to feel better."

"Like I said, no problem." The blonde watched Sondra thoughtfully for just a second, and as soon as she made her mind up, she leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Sondra froze, shocked and hardly registering the small giggle from Loraine. The older girl smiled at her and wrapped her arms around her in a careful hug, not hurting her, and pulled away after a moment.

She was practically hanging out the window as she waved to Sondra. "Hey, I'll see you at school, Sondra!" she shouted over the revving engine.

She watched the car disappear around the corner and, dazed, she reached up to touch her cheek. Loraine had actually kissed her cheek. A gentle smile appeared on her lips, and she sighed, content.

As she turned, she couldn't help but think of Loraine. The girl was so sweet to her, so much unlike the other populars that it was astonishing. She smiled, turning to go into the house to her room.