welcome to derane academy.

[Richard Vann]

Wow, what a way to feel like an idiot. Not only had Richard been called both gay and a girl, he'd also kissed Aliyah, a junior who he hardly knew. To prove he wasn't gay. Hah. He could laugh.

Richard slammed open the door of his dorm room and threw his notebook down at the floor, before lying back heavily onto his bed. Why the hell had he just done that? Because she wanted proof. No. Did she? No, I wanted proof. Did I? Ugh.

He didn't fancy Aliyah, he knew that much; she was sweet, but not really his type. And at the time, it had seemed like the only way of proving his sexuality-- well, that or get a girlfriend. As if that was going to happen any time soon.

Hearing a faint knock at his door, Richard pulled his pillow from underneath him and held it over his head. After realising the person wasn't going to stop he groaned and stood up, slightly dishevelled-looking, and made his way towards the door.

[Aliyah Patterson]

Aliyah was still in shock when Richard had got up and left her sitting there. It took her a long time to simply suck it all in. She sat there in the front lawn for at least 5 minutes. She took a deep breath. She picked a daisy and got up, dusting her green dress off. She finally decided to go talk to Richard. She needed to sort this out. Did he like her? If not, why did he kiss her? She licked her lips, trying to get the Richard taste off of them.

It had been truly embarrassing. A lot of her classmates had seen it- the kiss, that is- and now rumors were going to fly over the school and the remixed version will be all over the school paper's gossip column. She sighed. So much for a first kiss, she thought to herself.

Knocking on his dorm door seemed like the most logical thing at the moment. They needed to talk this out. She kept knocking lightly. No one answered at first, but as she continued to knocking. She heard a groan and footsteps coming to the door. She pushed the door open gently. Then, she closed it behind her.

“Look, Richard,” she began, her delicate fingers crossed behind her back. “Look, I just wanted to figure out what happened back there…” she stopped. What was she supposed to say? Do you like me? Are you bisexual, not gay? She sighed.

[Richard Vann]

Richard groaned inwardly as he saw who had come into his dorm room. What was he meant to say to her when he didn't even know what to think? He regretted everything that had just happened, but as much as he'd love to forget about it, it didn't change the fact that it had still happened.

"It didn't mean anything," Richard said slowly, sitting back on his bed. "It just.. urgh." He rubbed his eyes with his fists before pressing them into his forehead. "Look, I didn't do it because it was you-- I mean, no offense or anything, but you're not my type. I just wanted you to shut up, stop calling me gay, and I acted before I thought-- I don't know what I thought. Like if I kissed you you'd realise..."

"Seriously," he continued slowly. "If one of my classmates had heard you saying that to me I'd be fucking dead right now, you know? I'd have no reason to live. Just think about it, would you go out with someone who everyone said was gay? My life sucks enough as it is, without all of this..."

He breathed deeply for a few seconds, screwing his eyes shut, before saying in a strained voice, "I'd rather you just left right now please."

[Aliyah Patterson]

Aliyah picked up her dress slightly so she could walk around without tripping on her dress. She took a seat across from Richard, on a big computer chair. Her eyes lingered in Richard's eyes for a second. Then he rubbed his eyes, breaking it.

Aliyah listened intently, twirling her hair, but she still prevailed to keep rapt attention to his every word that came from his mouth. She nodded slowly as he went on. She tried several times to say something, but he started up again before she could actually get anything out.

After he had finished, she didn't leave. She sat there for a second, looking out the window, trying to take all this in. "Okay," she said in the same, slow tone Richard had used. "I get it. You don't like me- like me- the kiss meant nothing. Also, I would be dead if I said that in front of you're classmates." she took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Richard." she said. "I didn't know how difficult it was for you."

Then, she did the thing you would least expect to happen. Well, maybe not from Aliyah. She got up from the chair, bent down next to Richard, and lightly kissed him on the cheek. "That's to tell you I'm sorry for everything." she said with her poetic, airy voice again. "I hope everything gets better." She squeezed his hand.