Closing the Distance

by Jabbie

Chapters

• Prologue - Three of a Kind
• Ch. 1 - A Different Angle
• Ch. 2 - Redrawing the Lines
• Ch. 3 - Scalene Love
• Ch. 4 - One-Eighty
• Ch. 5 - Three Sided Story

Prologue - Three of a Kind

Three little girls played in the large backyard of an old farm house. One girl with glasses as thick as her eyebrows sat on a tire swing, her long red hair with a purple stripe waving behind her as she was pushed. The girl pushing her had sparkling braces and a face splattered with freckles, her green striped magenta ponytail hanging over her shoulder.

"Higher, Sour! Higher!" the girl shouted, her eyes closed as she soared through the air, spinning on the rope.

Sour Sweet beamed. "You asked for it, Moondancer."

The third girl stood watching with crossed arms at how closely the tire came to the trunk of the tree from which it hung. She had low frosty white pigtails and leered over the top of her glasses with inquisitive purple eyes. "I wouldn't recommend it."

"Hush, Sugarcoat," Moondancer shouted.

Sugarcoat closed her eyes and shrugged.

Sour Sweet gave a final shove to the tire, then stumbled forward before falling to the ground and scraping her knees. Moondancer smiled widely as she went higher than ever before, then squealed as the tired smacked against the tree trunk.

"Told you." Sugarcoat grinned.

Moondancer fell onto her rear and dropped her glasses, tears instantly filling her eyes. Sour quickly ran to her side and helped her to her feet, brushing the dirt from her clothes.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a wide smile.

Moondancer stifled her tears and nodded. "That was scary."

"That was awesome! Wanna do it again?" Sour asked with excitement brimming in her eyes.

Sugarcoat smacked herself in the forehead and sighed. "Do you want to suffer an injury?"

"We'll be fine." Sour laughed as she climbed on top of the tire. "Push me now Moonie. I wanna hit the tree too!"

"Okay!" Moondancer straightened her glasses and shoved the swing.

Sugarcoat watched with a twisted frown, then widened her eyes. "Wait, stop! It's supposed to be my turn to swing!"

"Get on then," Sour called out, hopping off and stumbling backwards.

Sugarcoat climbed onto the tire, then the two pushed her as high as they could.

Each girl laughed as they watched Sugarcoat clinging onto the rope for dear life, then eventually she demanded to be let down. They continued playing for hours, the summer sun casting a warm orange glow across the sky as the day came to an end.

The three best friends couldn't have been happier, never closer. They'd never grow apart, of that they were certain.

Ch. 1 - A Different Angle

"Like I told you, Moondancer, the events that transpired at Canterlot High School are beyond the realm of logic and can only be described as magic. I know how ridiculous it sounds, but I lack a better way of explaining it." A girl with hair as icy as her tone of voice pushed up her glasses and crossed her arms.

"Sugarcoat, you of all people should be able to provide a more rational answer than that," Moondancer said. "Frankly, I'm disappointed."

"Right, I'm the disappointment." Sugarcoat stood up and forcefully planted the palms of her hands onto the library table. "I've described in detail everything I saw. If you want a more thorough explanation then contact Twilight Sparkle. Are we done here?"

"Forget it. Thank you for your assistance. I'll figure the rest out myself," Moondancer spat and averted her eyes. "Cinch is counting on me."

"Of course." Sugarcoat sneered before turning around and marching out of the library. "Good luck," she added with a halfhearted wave before rounding the corner.

Moondancer grimaced and rested her forehead on her hand as she looked over her notes. "Don't let her get to you," she grumbled.

In her free hand she twirled a pencil between her fingers and chewed on her tongue. She looked at the same bits of information over and over--inter-dimensional rifts, giant attacking vines, girls with wings flying about: All nonsense.

"Magic..." she muttered beneath her breath. "I don't have enough information."

Moondancer glanced to her side and saw a girl with bright green hair scratching her head as she was clearly struggling to comprehend whatever book she held. She raised an eyebrow and crept up behind her.

"Lemon Zest," she called.

Lemon continued reading her book.

"Hello, I could use your help if you have a minute." Moondancer shifted her weight and glanced around as she was ignored, her cheeks growing hot.

Lemon turned the page and sighed.

"I'm trying to talk to you!" she shouted.

Lemon Zest flinched and pulled out an earbud from beneath her hair. "Whoa, what's up dude?"

Moondancer blushed and lowered her voice as the other students stared at her with contempt. "I... Look, I just need to ask you a few questions if you don't mind," she whispered.

Lemon furrowed her brow and shook her head. "Man, I'm really trying to study right now. I have this dumb chemistry test next period and I need to at least get a 'C' or I'm screwed."

Moondancer rolled her eyes and snatched the book away. She glanced over it and flipped through the pages. "I can't say cramming an hour before a test is a good idea, however, this is a subject I particularly excel at. I can help you absorb the information you'll need to achieve your low goal if you just take a couple of minutes to help me out first. Sound good?"

Lemon raised her eyebrow and shrugged. "You're kind of a weirdo, huh. Moondancer, right?"

Moondancer placed her fingers on her forehead and took a deep breath. "You're correct... on both counts. So will you help me or not?"

"It's all good, man. I'm a weirdo too. Us weirdos gotta stick together and help each other out. Plus, we got a little squid pro crow back scratching going on. Let's do it." Lemon held up her thumb with a wide sparkling smile.

"Right..." Moondancer cringed, suddenly doubting the value of her source. "So, you're one of the few people I haven't interviewed regarding this incident. I just wanted to ask you about a few things that happened during the Friendship Games at Canterlot High two years ago."

"Oh yeah, they say it was a tie but we totally won. Hands down." Lemon proudly nodded.

"Sure, but can you describe some of the strange events you witnessed?" Moondancer asked.

Lemon looked up and placed her hand on her chin. "Hmm, like what?"

"Like the magic!" Moondancer said sternly, gritting her teeth. "What do you think I'm talking about?"

"Ah, okay." Lemon nodded. "So, like, Principal Cinch made us all sing a song about unleashing magic, then Twilight Sparkle went nuts! She was like a demon lady who made a giant hole in the ground that was, like, another dimension. Pretty freaky, huh?"

"You sang a song..." Moondancer scribbled in her notebook. "Do you think the song had something to do with Twilight's transformation? Also, did you see in what manor her magic was 'unleashed?'"

Lemon looked down at the table as she thought deeply. "She had a makeup thingy, like with a mirror."

"A compact?" Moondancer interjected.

"Yeah, I think so." Lemon shrugged.

"That's a little cliche, don't you think?" Moondancer scoffed as she jotted down the info. "Are you saying that it was the source of the magic?"

Lemon closed her eyes as she forced the memory to the surface. "I don't know for sure. I know who might be more helpful than me, though."

Moondancer tilted her head. "Who?"

"My girlfriend goes to that school. If you want, I can text her to come over later tonight and she can give you a better rundown than me. Plus, she's friends with Twilight, I think." Lemon beamed as she whipped out her phone and her thumbs went to work.

"Alright. I'll take what I can get, I suppose." Moondancer sighed and closed her notebook, a few strands of her tied back hair falling loose and dangling in her face.

"Sweet! She's coming over." Lemon giggled deviously and tucked her phone away. "So are you gonna help me study now or what?"

Moondancer huffed with her chin on the table. "Sure, why not?"

Lemon perked up and watched as her new tutor flipped through the pages of her textbook.

"Okay, so I'll ask a few basic questions to see where you're at with this." Moondancer licked her thumb and flipped one more page. "Alright, so what is a covalent bond?"

Lemon paused for a moment, then shook her head. "Pass. When do we get to the part where we make crazy explosions?"

Moondancer groaned and smacked her forehead against the table. "This isn't gonna be easy..."

★★★

Several hours later, Moondancer could be found fast asleep sitting at the same table in the otherwise unoccupied library. She rested her cheek on her open notebook where a small pool of saliva formed beneath her open mouth.

"Dude!" A voice called out.

Moondancer sat upright and wiped her mouth, her vision blurry and a sticky note attached to her face.

"Hey sleepyhead. Guess what?" Lemon Zest leaned over the table in front of her and slammed a paper down on the desk with shimmering eyes.

Moondancer cleared her throat and picked it up as her vision focused, then noticed the grade circled at the top. "Oh, you got a 'B' on your test. You exceeded your goal."

"Thanks to you!" Lemon snatched the paper back and held it up next to her face. "This is going right on my mom's refrigerator."

"Wonderful. Now if that's all, I really need to get back to work." Moondancer stifled a yawn and dried her notebook with her sleeve.

Lemon frowned and took a seat across from her, noting the girl's tired eyes and messy hair. "Have you been in here all day?"

Moondancer absentmindedly nodded as she took a book from the top of a tall stack next to her. "Busy, busy, busy," she muttered and skimmed the pages.

"Why are you so worried about what happened back at CHS?" Lemon asked.

Moondancer grunted and stared into her book. "This is a special assignment. I need to read, so please... hush!"

Lemon leaned back in her seat and balanced it on its two rear legs. "Look, I was kinda sorta messing with you a little earlier. If you want, since you really did help me with my test, I can answer your questions a little better."

Moondancer glared over the top of her glasses and bit her lip, her pencil snapping in two beneath her clenched fist. "You what?"

"Sorry, heh." Lemon closed her eyes and swallowed hard. "I'm trying to do right by you, so... did you wanna ask some more questions?"

Moondancer's eye twitched and she exhaled deeply. She groaned and flipped back several pages in her notebook, then briefly skimmed the information she had written down regarding Lemon's descriptions. "This is a nightmare! It's unsolvable! There's not enough information, and the information required doesn't exist! Why?! Why have I been assigned this impossible task?!"

"Whoa!" Lemon flinched and fell backwards in her chair. She stood up and backed away. "What are you talking about? What exactly are you assigned to do?"

Moondancer deflated and buried her face in her notes. "Principal Cinch wants me to gather data regarding the inexplicable events that transpired during the Friendship Games and rationalize it in a way that can be presented to the school board," she explained, her voice muffled. "Magic isn't real and nothing supernatural happened--these are the requirements for my report. Cinch is convinced that CHS cheated but can't convince anyone of anything, and nothing anyone says adds up."

"That's dumb. Who cares about what Cinch thinks anyway? She's not your boss anymore." Lemon walked around the table and grabbed her arm. "Look, it's pretty obvious that you're way too stressed out over this. Let's take a break, alright?"

"Let's?" She scoffed. "Your whole life is a break, and I don't have time for that right now. This is due by the end of the year and we only have a month of school left."

Lemon chuckled and tugged her to her feet. "Come on, you."

"What do you think you're doing?!" Moondancer resisted as she was pulled towards the exit.

"We're going to hang out for a bit," Lemon explained. "I can tell you need to step away from this crap right now."

"I don't have time!" Moondancer objected and yanked her arm free. "Just leave me alone, please."

Lemon fell to her knees and placed her hands together. "Please, Moonie. You can't get anything done right now anyway. You said so yourself; you don't have the information you need, and I'm sure those books won't help you. Hang out with me until Vinyl shows up, then you can take more notes based on what she has to say."

Moondancer glared down at her and crossed her arms. "Why do you care what I'm doing?"

"I feel bad for not helping you out more earlier when you did an awesome job helping me." Lemon pouted. "I'll feel super guilty if you don't let me return the favor."

Moondancer rolled her eyes, then yawned and stretched her back. "Fine. But just until your friend shows up and tells me what I need to know."

Lemon hopped up and nodded towards the hallway. "That's what I like to hear. Let's go!"

"What am I getting myself into?" Moondancer muttered as she followed Lemon through the hall.

A short walk later, Lemon arrived at her dorm room. She pushed the door open and welcomed her guest inside.

Moondancer walked into the room and instantly noticed a clear line across the middle. On the right side of the room was a cluttered mess of clothing and electronics strewn about around a messy bed. On the other side she saw nothing but neatness, and on that bed sat a girl with a long magenta ponytail painting her toenails.

"Moondancer," the girl coldly greeted her.

"Sour Sweet," Moondancer replied.

Lemon plopped down on her bed and nervously smiled. "So you two already know each other. Cool, cool."

Sour glanced up through her bangs with a harsh glare. "Yes, Lemon. Very observant of you."

Moondancer tentatively traversed the maze of clothing and sat at the edge of Lemon's bed, her hands on her knees. "She's just making small talk because she's nervous. No need to be so condescending."

"What makes you think I was being condescending? That's awfully rude of you to assume a compliment towards my roommate is anything but earnest." Sour went back to painting her nails, her eyes sharp.

"I wouldn't consider arriving at a conclusion based on context clues to be an assumption. It's clear to me that you're lashing out at Lemon Zest because you're intimidated by my presence," Moondancer retorted.

Lemon gulped and glanced back and forth between the two girls.

Sour blew on her nails, then closed the cap on her bottle of polish. "Lemon, for the hundredth time, please let me know when you intend to invite people into our room. Remember, this is my room, too."

"Yeah, my bad. Sorry." Lemon scratched the back of her head and blushed. "I just thought..."

Moondancer placed her hand on Lemon's shoulder. "Don't apologize, Lemon. You don't need permission to invite a friend over after class. Like she said, this is your room, too."

"Friend?" Lemon quietly chirped.

"Is a little courtesy warning too much to ask for? Maybe I'd like to have the opportunity to change or tidy up before company arrives, provided they're worth the effort. I suppose that isn't the case this time, but still." Sour stretched her legs out, wearing short sleep shorts and a small white t-shirt. "So you two are friends now? Odd."

Lemon lifted her finger to speak, but Moondancer beat her to it.

"What's so odd about it?" she asked.

"You two just don't seem like you'd get along very well. I mean, Lemon is fun, charming, and awesome. And you're... well, you're you." Sour leered across the room.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Moondancer asked, her voice taking on a harsh edge.

"It means you suck and shouldn't be here!" Sour shouted.

"You suck!" Moondancer stood off the bed and balled her fist.

"Whoa, let's simmer down, girls." Lemon stood between the two fiery redheads and laughed. "What's going on here?"

Moondancer walked past her and opened up the door. "Nothing. I just didn't realize that she was your roommate. I'm leaving."

"Bye!" Sour sarcastically waved.

Lemon flinched as Moondancer slammed the door behind herself. "Sour! Really?!"

Sour Sweet rolled over and faced the wall. "Good riddance."

"What is your problem?" Lemon asked with her arms crossed.

Sour grumbled into her pillow, still facing away.

"If you don't answer me I'm gonna do it," Lemon warned.

Sour curled up in a ball and squeezed her pillow. "Don't."

"I'm gonna!" Lemon shouted.

Sour remained silent.

Lemon switched on her guitar amplifier, her electric guitar sitting directly in front of it. She increased the volume and piercing feedback filled the room.

"Oh my god, Lemon. Just stop!" Sour covered her head with her pillow.

"Tell my why you chased Moondancer away then!" Lemon balled her fists and cringed beneath the sound.

"It's none of your business!" Sour shouted.

"I was trying to help her out and you ruined it!"

"So what?! I don't care about her!"

Lemon flipped off the amp and plopped down on Sour's bed. "She's dealing with something really stressful right now, and she still took time to help me pass my test. So I just... damn it, Sour. I wanted to help her feel better."

"She helped you out?" Sour leaned up and hugged her pillow. "That's unlike her."

"What do you mean?" Lemon asked. "What history do you guys have?"

Sour looked away and shook her head. "We used to be friends a few years ago. Just before you came to our school, we had a huge fight over... it doesn't matter why. We just don't get along anymore, and she isn't a nice person."

"She seems pretty nice to me. She's just a weirdo." Lemon chuckled. "If you guys were friends before, then you should make up already. You two are a lot alike, actually."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say. Ever." Sour narrowed her eyes. "We're nothing alike."

"Well, for starters you're both smart." Lemon winked. "And more importantly, you have pretty much the same hair color. She just has a purple stripe and you have a green stripe. I mean, if that's not BFF material then I really don't know what is."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Lemon. I'm not gonna be friends with that girl, so just drop it!" Sour demanded. "Next time just have me help you study instead."

Lemon shook her head. "I'd rather not because you're too mean. I'm gonna go get her to come back here and you need to apologize."

"That's not going to happen and you know it." Sour crossed her arms. "She's the one who needs to apologize to me."

Lemon opened the door to find Moondancer standing just outside. "Oh, hey. Sour wants to say sorry for being so moody. Come back in."

Moondancer skeptically glanced inside the room and saw Sour shaking her head. "Not likely. I'm just waiting for your friend to give me her story so I can leave and never interact with Sour Sweet again."

Lemon shut the door and nervously chuckled. "Eh, I don't get it. What happened between you guys?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Moondancer mumbled.

"I did, but she won't say anything." Lemon placed her arm around Moondancer's shoulder and guided her down the hallway. "Let's take a walk and talk a bit."

"This is really none of your business," Moondancer said, then took a deep breath and lowered her eyes.

Lemon laughed. "Oh come on. Now you sound just like her."

Moondancer winced and balled her fist. "I don't mean to, really. Her and I have history involving a mutual... acquaintance. I'm sure she'd rather I didn't go into details. I'd also prefer not to, myself."

Lemon rolled her eyes with a playful smile. "Ooh, so much drama. I heard you guys were friends before, so I can't figure out why you wouldn't just make up. That kind of tension from just being in the same room can't be healthy."

"It's true that we used to be friends, yes, but the way things currently are, it'll be impossible for us to be friends again," Moondancer explained. "It's far too complicated of a situation to amend with simple apologies."

Lemon took a seat on a bench next to a trophy case and tapped the spot next to her. "You know what helps me when I'm feeling confused or hurt?"

Moondancer hesitantly took a seat next to Lemon, then looked away. "What?"

"Talking it out!" She held up her thumb and smiled widely. "It feels good to find a person that you can relate to. Even if I might not be able to directly relate to whatever's going on between you guys, just talking at all can be a huge relief. So talk it out with me and let's see if we can get to the bottom of this."

"I highly doubt that talking it out will change anything." Moondancer scoffed. "You really have a simplistic outlook on things, don't you..."

Lemon sighed and lowered her head. "I don't know why, but I really feel like I'm supposed to be helping you out right now. Will you just let me?"

"I don't understand." Moondancer crossed her legs and hugged her notebook. "Is this because you expect me to continue tutoring you? Because that isn't happening."

"Nah, that would be awesome, but..." Lemon placed her hand on her forehead and smiled. "Look, you seem miserable and depressed, and I've been trying pretty damn hard to make Sour be nicer to people. If I can help work things out between you two, then it's like a win win, you know?"

Moondancer straightened her glasses and tapped her knees. "Something about you seems so genuine. I don't believe you can help me fix things with Sour, and honestly I'm not even sure I want to fix things, but I'll let you try."

"Aw yeah!" Lemon reached over and hugged Moondancer, who sat still with wide eyes. "So tell me what happened."

"Ahem..." Moondancer cleared her throat and readjusted her crooked glasses after the surprise hug. "Where do I begin? Okay, back in the beginning of junior high when we first got assigned our dorm rooms, Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat, and I were all close friends. I was lucky enough to have Sugarcoat be assigned as my roommate. We did our homework and studied together every night."

Lemon rubbed her chin as she listened and instantly put two and two together, softly looking her new friend in the eye as she spoke.

"It was near the end of the ninth grade that things went awry. It turned out that both Sour Sweet and I had a crush on Sugarcoat. It was alright at first, because Sour and I agreed to leave things as they were so we could all remain best friends. That was until the Hearth's Warming party, where Sour pulled some stunt with a mistletoe and kissed Sugarcoat behind my back. I was devastated and requested to leave the campus so I could stay at home, because I knew I couldn't bear to share a room with Sugarcoat after that." Moondancer winced and covered her face. "It wasn't too long afterwards that they started dating. I saw them make out at that really dumb tropical themed dance."

Lemon placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "Ouch. That's pretty rough. So did you ever confront her about it?"

Moondancer nodded. "Yeah, but not at first. I just wanted to get away from them because I didn't know what to do or say. It wasn't until last year that I finally had enough of them rubbing their romance in my face and I snapped. I mean, they started dating and just dropped me like a sack of garbage, then they didn't even acknowledge my existence while they were holding hands in the library or hugging after classes we shared. It was so frustrating."

Lemon pulled her hand away. She sat still at a loss for words and shook her head.

"Once I finally had enough, I cornered Sour when she was alone, and I told her it was bad enough that she took my best friend away from me. She didn't need to go around flaunting it in front of me all the time." Moondancer furrowed her brow and frowned. "I was so mad at her and I said some horrible things in the heat of it. I just wanted to hit her."

"I don't blame you," Lemon said with a twisted frown. "I kinda wanna hit her now, too."

Moondancer glanced up through her glasses with a half smile. "So do you realize now how far gone our friendship is?"

"I mean, sure it's a tough time for you guys." Lemon admittedly shrugged. "But you're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?" Moondancer asked.

"I've been sharing a room with that chick for going on three years now, so while you two have been ignoring each other, I've been getting to know the person she's become." Lemon held up her finger as her friend was about to object. "I know she's rough to talk to, but she's just as genuine and nice of a person as I am on the inside. And I know that there's a good chance she misses being your friend."

"Even if that's true, there's no way she'll work things out with me." Moondancer glanced away. "And Sugarcoat is even worse," she added.

"Yeah dude, Sugarcoat's a tough shell to crack, but I bet we can pull it off." Lemon patted her friend's head.

"Quit that!" Moondancer's cheeks turned red and she huffed as she smacked Lemon's hand away. "Alright, so it's increasingly obvious that you aren't going to just let this go. I can only imagine that you suffer from some sort of juvenile nonsensical optimism. One thing I know for certain is that those girls are going to tear you apart when you try to make them do something they don't want to do, and I'll have no part in it. Do what you will, and I'll take notes. At the very least I suspect this will have some interesting results worth observing."

Lemon chuckled and shrugged. "And I suspect that there's more to this story than you're telling me. Let's learn together and see if we can't make things right between all of you."

Moondancer closed her eyes and leaned back. "You're right, I don't know much about Sour and Sugarcoat's side of the story. Good luck getting Sour to fill you in."

★★★

Sour Sweet stood inside of Sugarcoat's dorm room, holding both of her hands. "You'll never guess who Lemon dragged into my room today."

Sugarcoat tilted her head.

"Moondancer." Sour rolled her eyes.

"Wow, really? That's unfortunate," Sugarcoat said with the utmost sense of disdain. "Strange coincidence, too. Moondancer asked me to recount the events of the Friendship Games to her today. It was extremely unpleasant to say the least."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. That sounds awful." Sour giggled, then leaned forward until her nose brushed against Sugarcoat's.

Sugarcoat tilted her head and closed her eyes as she rested her hand on Sour's hip. "I'll live."

Sour parted her lips and interlocked them with Sugarcoat's, sharing a loving kiss. She placed her hand on her cheek and brushed the gleaming white hair away. As they parted, Sour lowered her eyes. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I'll miss you as well," Sugarcoat said. "I won't be gone long, though. You know this."

Sour shifted her weight from side to side and groaned. "I wish you'd stay. I'll never get used to you leaving every weekend like this."

"You know I can't." Sugarcoat sighed. "Maybe one day, but right now it just isn't an option."

"I know..." Sour took a deep breath. "Call me tonight?"

"Of course." Sugarcoat hugged her girlfriend tightly, then stepped back and slung her backpack over her shoulder. "I'm going to head outside. My parents will be here any minute now."

Sour grimaced and covered her mouth, then nodded. "Okay. I love you."

Sugarcoat smiled. "The feeling is mutual."

Sour forced back her tears and crossed her arms, staring at the floor.

Sugarcoat swallowed the lump in her throat and placed her hand on Sour's cheek. "I'm sorry, Sour. I love you too. I really do."

Sour cracked a half smile and looked up into her eyes. "Hurry back."

Sugarcoat nodded and stepped into the hallway. "I'll be back in forty-eight hours. Relatively speaking, not very long at all."

Sour looked at her phone, then faced the screen at Sugarcoat, showing a timer counting down. "Forty-seven hours and fifty-nine minutes left."

Sugarcoat laughed, then planted a final peck on Sour's cheek before turning around and walking down the hallway.

Sour stood still, staring forlornly as her lover stepped out of sight. She sighed deeply and tucked her phone back into her pocket, then turned around and headed in the opposite direction towards her room. She gritted her teeth and cringed as the pangs in her chest threatened to overwhelm her, then she picked up her pace. Her thoughts churned like a brewing storm, and she found herself torn between anger and sorrow.

"Move!" Sour shouted as she shoved an unsuspecting fellow student out of her way, stomping back to her room.

She stepped inside and slammed the door behind herself, then plopped down on her bed. She angrily wiped her tears away and tried to calm her quick breaths, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Why can't I handle this?" she asked herself.

She fell onto her back and stared at the ceiling, her lip quivering. "I'll be fine."

She took several deep breaths and closed her eyes. "I'm fine."

★★★

A tall white girl with vivid blue hair casually leaned against the trophy case, her legs crossed. "So yeah, that's pretty much it. Before it was music, then it was whatever talents they were most interested in. Don't even ask about the bullshit that went down at Camp Everfree last summer. It just gets stupid after the Friendship Games."

Moondancer jotted down all of the information in her book. "Thank you, Vinyl. Not so surprisingly you've been the most helpful yet, by quite some margin. It seems to me that there's a lot more to this magic business than Cinch is letting on. I just wish I had seen it for myself."

Vinyl smiled and held up her thumb. "No problem! I heard you were stressing out over this."

Moondancer nodded. "Yes, and that's mostly because I'm surrounded by useless idiots."

Lemon raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"I didn't mean you," Moondancer quickly added, touching Lemon's shoulder.

"Nah, that's fair. I sorta dropped the ball earlier." Lemon laughed. "We're cool."

Vinyl glanced towards Moondancer's hand, then grinned. "Looks like you made a new friend, huh?"

"That's the plan," Lemon answered. "She's pretty rad and is basically Sour's worst enemy. She'll keep things interesting for me."

"I never agreed to this," Moondancer said with a crooked smile. "Now that I have my notes, I need to--"

"Give it rest, Moonie." Lemon interrupted as she playfully ruffled her hair. "Can't you see that Principal Cinch is playing you? Of course there was magic back at CHS. She's just trying to be vindictive and using you to make an unbiased report so she can try get her job as principal back. Don't let her."

Moondancer huffed and dropped her notebook into her lap. "What do you mean she's just trying to be vindictive?"

Vinyl chimed in. "She was pretty pissed after that girl told her off. Then she lost her job? Seems kinda revenge-y if you ask me."

"That was Sugarcoat!" Lemon laughed and slapped her knee. "Yeah man, that was awesome."

Moondancer raised an eyebrow. "Sugarcoat talked back to Cinch? I don't buy it."

"That's putting it lightly," Vinyl added. "She's kinda scary."

Lemon nodded in agreement.

Moondancer rubbed her chin and looked down. "Alright. What will Cinch accomplish by having me draft a report that she can present to the school board? What is she trying to gain by proving that CHS attempted to cheat? I doubt that a report written by a student would ever sway the Student Council's decision."

"Who knows?" Vinyl glanced to Lemon and shrugged. "I don't think she's planned that far ahead."

Moondancer huffed and stood up. "This is all too ridiculous. I need to investigate further if I'm going to write an accurate report. If you'll excuse me."

"Are you really going to spend all weekend worrying about this?" Lemon asked. "Why don't you come hang out with me and Vinyl for a while. If that's okay with you, babe."

"I don't care." Vinyl flashed a bright smile. "What's she into?"

Lemon shrugged. "Let's take her bowling. Friday night is cosmic bowling! Pretty rad."

"We could do that," Vinyl said with a quick nod. "If she doesn't like bowling then we can always go play the arcade games at Crave & Thruster's. Plus, my step mom works there and she'll give us drinks.

Moondancer shook her head. "Did you consider asking me what I thought before you started making plans?"

Lemon flicked her wrist. "Nah. I'd rather not spend all night at the library."

"Well luckily for you the library's closed at night!" Moondancer shouted. "And you can forget it anyway because I'm not going anywhere with you guys."

Vinyl poked Lemon's nose as she was about to argue, then stood directly in front of Moondancer with her arm against the wall, lifting her large purple sunglasses onto her head. "Hey, relax. We're sorry, alright? So tell me what you like to do for fun and maybe we'll figure something out."

Moondancer gulped, losing herself in Vinyl's deep pink eyes. "I..."

Lemon chuckled and placed her hand on her forehead.

"It's alright," Vinyl said with a subtle smile. "Don't be shy. Just tell me how you like to spend your time when you aren't studying or whatever."

Moondancer blushed and glanced over to Lemon, who raised an eyebrow and wore a crooked grin. "I guess I like to listen to music."

"Now we're talkin'." Vinyl nodded and winked. "What kind of music?"

Moondancer tilted her head and swayed her shoulders as she thought. "I like Stylix and Neon Raindrops. That kind of stuff."

"Wow! Me too." Vinyl unzipped her white jacket to show off her shirt, which was decorated with a large lightning bolt in the shape of a capital S. "Nice to meet another EDM fan."

"We need more metal fans!" Lemon pumped her fist.

Moondancer giggled and pushed up her glasses. "I like all kinds of music, really. Electronic stuff is my favorite though."

"Yessss!" Vinyl stuck her tongue out at Lemon, who shook her head.

"Boo!" Lemon called out.

Vinyl flicked her shoulder and faced Moondancer. "I have something awesome to show you, Moon. Come check out my car."

"Oh, you're gonna love this!" Lemon wrapped her arm around Moondancer's neck as the three of them headed down the hallway.

Moondancer sighed and lowered her eyes, losing the urge to resist. "Well... okay. I guess I can take one night off."

Ch. 2 - Redrawing the Lines

Sour Sweet sat at the edge of her bed. In her lap she held a large scrapbook and couldn't help but smile as she turned the pages. As she flipped through the collection of photos, a particular image struck her. It was a photograph of her standing next to her best friend with an arm around her shoulder, and beneath it read, 'Sugarcoat + Sour Sweet, 6th Grade.' The girl on the left had icy white hair done up in high pigtails, glasses too big for her face, and a gaze far too fierce for her age. The freckled girl next to her sported a cute magenta ponytail with a green stripe running through, and she smiled widely despite her large braces sparkling in the sunlight.

We've changed so much since then. I can't believe we're graduating next year... she thought. She ran her finger over the photo and sighed, then turned to the next page. The entire page was dedicated to a single photo. Sour and Sugarcoat were slightly older, and in between them was a third girl. The three smiled together and appeared to be very close friends, their cheeks touching.

"Moondancer..." Sour muttered before forcefully shutting the scrapbook.

She placed the book on the nightstand next to her bed and walked up to the mirror around the corner. She leaned on the sink and stared at herself, noting the freckles on her cheeks mostly hidden by the foundation she wore. She turned on the faucet and splashed her face, then dried herself with a hand towel. Suddenly her freckles were much more visible, and she lowered her eyes. She then headed back to her bed, where she fell onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

"What a way to spend a Friday night," she muttered to herself.

Glancing to her left, she spotted the picture of Sugarcoat that sat atop her nightstand. Her heart skipped a beat and she bit down on her thumbnail. I wonder if you think about me even half as much as I think about you...

The sound of the doorknob jiggling stole her attention and she sat upright. As the door opened, her roommate stumbled in, an array of clutter and garbage instantly spilling from her arms.

"Oh my god Lemon, really? What is all that junk?" Sour asked as she tightly crossed her arms.

Lemon Zest spread her arms wide and dropped the rest of the many opened packages she was holding onto the floor. She held up her thumb and winked behind her long messy green bangs. "Dude, these are glow-sticks. Duh."

Sour lowered her eyebrows as she noticed the glowing rings around her arms and neck. "Okay? So why are you dropping them all over the floor? And... just why in general?!"

"Me and Vinyl are going to have a rave tonight at Moondancer's house and she asked me if I could buy some. I wanted to try them out so I opened some of them up. So what?" Lemon tossed an uncracked stick to her roommate.

Sour caught the stick and eyed it for a moment, then sighed and shook her head. "Whatever. I honestly don't care. Just clean this mess up before you go, got it?"

"Yes mom." Lemon teased. "You know, you should totally come with us. I bet you'd have some fun there."

Sour flinched and grimaced. "No way."

"Oh come on," Lemon pleaded as she scooped her remaining sticks off of the floor and into her backpack. "I'll feel bad if you just sit here sulking by yourself all night."

"I'm not sulking! I'm just... Don't worry about me, okay?" Sour looked away and grabbed her phone. "I have no interest in spending time with Moondancer. I'll find something to do on my own."

Lemon frowned and tossed her backpack over her shoulder. "Okay sure. But the offer's still on the table if you change your mind. You know, I bet Moondancer would really like to be friends with you again. Wink wink."

"Noted." Sour rolled her eyes and scrolled through her contacts list, an empty pit in her stomach forming as she failed to find someone to message.

Lemon placed a hand on the doorknob, then looked back. "Come on, Double S, Sugarcoat isn't coming back until Sunday, so you may as well try and enjoy yourself without her. Just come hang out for a bit. If you end up having a bad time I'll drive you back here whenever you want. Cool?"

"Uhm, first of all, never call me that again." Sour locked her phone's screen and dropped it into her lap, then looked away with a huff. "Secondly, I really doubt Moondancer wants me anywhere near her right now. In case you forgot, we weren't exactly amicable when she was over here earlier today."

"Dude, Moonie was just feeling a little awkward and lashed out. That's how she is, you know." Lemon chuckled and scratched the back of her head. "Look, honestly, I just think you'll have a good time hanging out with me and Vinyl. If you end up chatting with Moondancer then that's a bonus. It'll just be the four of us."

Sour crossed her legs and skeptically shook her head. "Why are you doing this? It's so out of the blue. And what exactly is a 'rave' anyway? It doesn't sound to me like something Moondancer would be interested in."

"That's just the thing, right? You don't really know Moonie anymore, so you don't know what she does or doesn't like. A rave is just a party with EDM and... I guess glow-sticks. I don't really know how to describe it, but I do know Vinyl's raves are always lots of fun!" Lemon grinned and raised her eyebrows. "Give it a chance and maybe she'll keep surprising you. Worst case scenario I'll just end up driving you back here and calling it a night early. I think you'll have a good time though. I really do."

Sour rubbed her forehead and smiled. "Alright then, I'll go, if only to see this all turn out to be a miserable mess for Moondancer. But you better drive me back the second I decide I want to leave, got it?"

"You got it, buddy." Lemon grabbed Sour's hand and tugged her towards her closet. "Let's get a cool rave-y outfit picked out for you."

Sour squinted and frowned. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well..." Lemon rubbed her chin and looked her friend over, then snatched up a couple articles of clothing. "I think you'll look really hot in this outfit. You really can't go wrong with denim shorts and a black tank-top. Now we just need to brighten you up a bit. I know! Put on those black and white striped thigh-highs, then we'll add color with these rad glow-sticks."

Sour giggled and crossed her legs. "Really? You're sure I won't look stupid?"

"Nah, it'll be sexy. Trust me," Lemon said as she dug through her backpack for a pair of black fingerless gloves. "The white stripes will glow in the black-light and look freakin' awesome. Put these on and some glow-sticks and boom! You're ready to rave!"

Sour pulled up her striped socks and eyed the gloves that were dropped on the bed next to her. She picked them up and slipped her fingers through, then wiggled them around. "I feel stupid."

"Okay, lose the gloves and let's go. You look great, alright?" Lemon winked and tugged Sour to her feet.

"Fine I'm coming." Sour rolled her eyes and grinned. "You seem pretty excited about this."

"I just don't want us to be late," Lemon explained. "Plus, I always get excited when I'm gonna hang out with my girlfriend."

Sour glanced away and dropped her smile, clutching her phone tightly.

Lemon recoiled and waved her hands in front of herself. "Oh, sorry dude. I know you miss Sugarcoat. There's no way she'd come to this rave with us though."

Sour shrugged and nodded. "That's true, especially not at Moondancer's house, but if she were here I wouldn't want to go in the first place."

Lemon scoffed and nudged Sour through the front door. "Don't pretend you aren't totally stoked about this. It's gonna be awesome and you know it!"

"We'll see about that..." Sour muttered. "Just don't forget our deal."

"I won't, but it doesn't matter. Once we get there you'll never wanna come back home!" Lemon chuckled as they headed down the empty hallway, then she stopped by the courtesy desk at the main entrance to the dormitory.

"You're as hopelessly optimistic as ever," Sour muttered.

"Best way to live, you know." Lemon winked as she scribbled with a faulty pen until it began to write.

Sour stood behind Lemon as she signed herself out, then did the same. She paused when considering what to write down for the estimated time of return. "What time should I say we'll be back?"

"The party don't stop til the sun comes up." Lemon laughed. "So just write sunrise or something."

Sour inspected her friend's line, then sighed. "All you did was write your name down and the word rave..."

"Eh." Lemon shrugged and held open the front door, nodding outside. "Let's roll, baby."

Sour groaned and smacked the pen against the desk. "You know, you're gonna get us in trouble if you're not careful. Also, I don't think rave is an acceptable excuse for leaving campus after hours."

"That's weird," Lemon said as she searched her pockets. "I can't find it."

Sour tilted her head. "Can't find what?"

"The fuck I'm supposed to give. Now let's go before we're late!" Lemon laughed and walked outside, then unlocked her car via remote.

Sour rubbed her temples and shook her head as she followed her friend to her car. She glanced back at the large school building, then took one last look at her phone. No new messages. She took a deep breath and tucked the device away, then climbed into the car.

Lemon looked over to see Sour sitting tall with wide, confident eyes. "Oh hey, you didn't cover your freckles. Nice!"

Sour flinched and touched her cheeks, then forcefully pulled down the car's visor and examined herself in its mirror. "Wait! Crap I forgot I washed my foundation off. I didn't plan on leaving the room again. I have to run back inside for a second."

"Nope! We're already gonna be late as it is. Just roll with it, you look freakin' cute with those freckles anyway." Lemon reached over and pinched her cheek as she backed out of the parking lot.

"Don't." Sour smacked her hand away. "You know, this is just going to increase my chances of feeling awkward and wanting to leave."

"Oh come on. Since when are you so embarrassed about them?" Lemon asked, her eyes on the road.

Sour looked down and huffed. "I'm not, really. I just think they make me look younger."

"They do, and that's a good thing." Lemon glanced down at her phone and followed the directions indicated by her GPS. "It'll be too dark to see them there anyway. No worries, girl."

"I hope you're right." Sour covered her cheeks with her hands, then dragged them down with a deep sigh.

Lemon reached over and touched Sour's thigh. "Relax, okay?"

Sour stared at her friend's hand and blushed. "Okay."

Lemon smiled and pulled her hand away. "Good girl."

Sour chuckled and shook her head. "I don't know why I let you talk me into these random things."

"When Moondancer said there was absolutely no way I'd get you to come, I told her that you and I are super ultra BFF's and that you'd do anything for me." Lemon winked and elbowed her friend. "I couldn't let her be right, you know."

Sour scoffed and shook her head. "If you told me she said that earlier then you would have had a much easier time getting me to come along."

Lemon rested her arm on the open window as she cruised through the city. "So it's like a twenty minute drive to Moondancer's house. Mind if we talk about something on the way?"

Sour shrugged. "Sure. What's on your mind?"

"Moondancer," Lemon said with a smug smile. "And you."

"I'm guessing you guys talked about me earlier and she made me seem like the most awful person in existence, right?" Sour averted her gaze and stared out the window, watching the endless string of streetlights passing her by.

"Pretty much, but I'm not buying it. I know there's two sides to that story, so I'm asking you, as a friend, please fill me in." Lemon spoke softly, but held conviction in her tone.

Sour tapped her fingers on the center console's arm rest and lowered her eyes. "I screwed her over. I accept that, but she crossed some lines herself. After the things she did and said to me, I won't forgive her."

"So I know this all revolves around you two having crushes on Sugarcoat. What happened back in the ninth grade?" Lemon asked.

"Right, that's where it all began to fall apart. We were pretty close before that, but after I told Moondancer about my crush on Sugarcoat, she changed. As you know, it turned out she had a crush on her too, and even though we agreed that neither of us would act on it, she never treated me the same again." Sour gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. "We grew apart over the course of that school year to the point that we weren't even talking anymore at all. It wasn't my choice, either. She just felt cold and distant anytime we tried to hang out without Sugarcoat, and eventually she just starting making excuses as to why she couldn't see me anymore. And when the three of us were together, it was almost like I didn't even exist to her. She hardly even acknowledged me when I spoke, and having a conversation that included all three of us was near impossible. I could tell that she was trying to make me seem like an outcast so that Sugarcoat would want it to be just the two of them."

Lemon slowly nodded. "This is making a little more sense already. So then what happened?"

"The point of me not telling Sugarcoat how I felt was so that the three of us could stay friends, but I felt like Moondancer wasn't my friend anymore. I didn't care about preserving what weak thread of our friendship remained, so I decided that my feelings for Sugarcoat were more important." Sour smiled. "I don't regret what I did at all. I'd never trade what I have with Sugarcoat for anything, even though we have our... challenges."

"Right, I hear ya," Lemon answered. "Now that it's been a couple years, why is it so hard for you three to move past everything and be friends again? From what I can tell Moondancer has no interest in dating Sugarcoat anymore, so that shouldn't be an issue."

"Moondancer has a bit of an anger problem. I don't need that kind of drama in my life." Sour huffed and crossed her arms.

"Dude..." Lemon laughed. "You're one of the most hotheaded girls I've ever met. I don't think you're allowed to accuse someone of having anger problems."

Sour narrowed her eyes and balled her fist.

"See?" Lemon nervously chuckled. "Look how mad you're getting."

Sour rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Maybe I have more in common with Moondancer than I realize."

"Moondancer isn't so bad. She's got a lot of messed up emotions and is feeling pretty stressed out right now, so you gotta understand that she isn't gonna be a ball of sunshine all the time." Lemon tapped Sour's knee. "A lot like you, actually."

Sour covered her forehead with the palm of her hand, her bangs poking out through her fingers. "Why are we doing this?"

"Doing what? Talking?" Lemon asked.

"No. Why are we going to this party at her house? Why is she even having one? What did you and Vinyl say to her to convince her that this was a good idea? I can't even begin to fathom a universe in which she'd agree to it." Sour leaned back in her seat and kicked her feet onto the dashboard, her phone slipping out of her pocket.

"We were trying to figure out what we could do to distract Moonie from her dumb assignment and then they and started talking about the music they like, and it turned out they have a lot of common interests in that area," Lemon explained. "Before I knew it I was buying some glow sticks and trying to figure out how I was gonna convince you to come along to this rave thingy they decided to have."

"Wait, so you're actually telling me that Moondancer was in on it from the start?" Sour skeptically asked.

"Totally. I think it was her idea all together, actually. Her parents are gone for the weekend and she told Vinyl to come over and show off her cool portable DJ-ing thing she has built into her car." Lemon shrugged and glanced down at her phone, which led her down a rural, unlit side road. "I guess she lives in the middle of a big plot of farm land outside of the suburbs. I dunno, I sorta tuned out and started playing on my phone while they talked about a bunch of stuff I don't understand, so... Yeah, they hit it off like a million times better than I could have hoped."

"I know where she lives and it should just be her grandpa there. I've been to her house plenty of times before, you know. Speaking of which, we're almost there." Sour felt a lump growing in her throat as she traveled down the familiar road. "Her grandpa is a farmer, her dad isn't around anymore, and her mom is a corporate suit who works in the city. She takes a lot of business trips so her grandpa pretty much raised her himself."

Lemon glanced over to Sour, who was staring outside with a half smile. "Interesting."

"Not really." Sour huffed. "What's really interesting is that someone like Vinyl was able to immediately get on Moondancer's good side."

"Don't you get it yet, Sour?" Lemon asked, her voice suddenly stern. "You haven't talked to Moondancer since she was a fifteen year old kid. She's seventeen now, and she's grown up a lot since then. She's a completely different person. You can't keep pretending you know what she's thinking or what she likes. Think about how much you've changed since you were fifteen."

Sour lowered her eyes and tugged down on her shorts. "I..."

"You can't lie to me either, because I was there you know." Lemon turned to face her and smiled, grabbing her hand. "I could barely stand being around you when I first got assigned to be your roommate, I even requested a new room several times. I'm glad that never went through, because now you're easily my best friend."

Sour smiled back and nodded, squeezing Lemon's hand. "I get what you're saying."

"I know things are really tense between you and Moondancer, but you gotta realize she's not the same person as she was back then. Maybe in a lot of ways she is, but she's also much more mature about it. Give tonight a fair shot and I promise you I'll make it up to you somehow." Lemon took a deep breath as she pulled up to the big house.

Sour stared at the familiar home, then gave a quick nod. "I'll do my best, but the second she says or does something to tick me off, this whole conversation goes out the window."

Lemon snickered and parked the car. "Just do your best."

As the engine died, Sour could hear the faint sound of deep rhythmic bass echoing. "Sounds like they started without us."

"I knew we we're gonna be late! I told Vinyl to start without me if I wasn't here in an hour, because if I wasn't here by then it meant I wasn't coming." Lemon climbed out of the car and quickly texted her girlfriend.

"You mean you would have stayed with me if I refused to come?" Sour stood next to her and swallowed the lump in her throat as a rush of childhood memories filled her mind.

"Of course, dude. I wasn't gonna leave you alone all night when you're upset," Lemon explained.

Can she really see right through me? Sour wondered. Then the front door opened.

"Zesty!" a familiar voice shouted, then she noted the many glowing rings around her neck and wrists. "You brought the glow sticks!"

"Hey babe!" Lemon quickly ran up the porch stairs and dropped her backpack filled with glow sticks, then tightly hugged Vinyl.

Sour eyed Moondancer, who quietly stood behind the two affectionate girls and stared back. Sour glanced away and dug the toe of her shoe into the dirt, then offered the most subtle of waves with two fingers.

Moondancer quickly turned and walked inside, her long hair whipping around behind her.

"Alright, I'm ready to go home, Lemon." Sour crossed her arms and turned her back.

Vinyl walked down the steps and put her hand on Sour's shoulder. She lifted her large sunglasses and revealed her deep pink eyes. "You okay?" she asked.

Sour turned around and locked eyes with her, and her temper was instantly diffused. "Yeah."

"You look really good. I hope you're ready to dance." Vinyl winked, then lowered her shades and nodded towards the front door as she headed back inside.

Sour stood still for a moment, dumbfounded before shaking her head and snapping back into reality. "Lemon!"

"What." Lemon poked her head out of the front door.

"Why is Vinyl so cool?" she asked as she headed indoors.

"I wish I knew!" Lemon laughed and wrapped he arm around Sour's neck, shutting the door behind her.

Sour gulped and stood with her arms tightly tucked at her sides, noticing half a dozen unfamiliar faces mingling and dancing in the front room. "I thought you said it was just going to be the four of us? Who are these people?"

"I dunno." Lemon looked around and shrugged. "Must be Vinyl's friends."

Sour took a deep breath and calmed herself. "I really wish I hadn't washed my foundation off. These people are going think I'm weird."

Lemon grabbed both of Sour's shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. "Dude, for the last time, no one thinks freckles are weird. People either don't notice them or they like them. No one says ew I hate freckles. That's not a thing."

"I don't look like a little kid?" Sour asked with a crooked smile.

"Not at all." Lemon poked her nose and turned around. "Oh hey I know her! It's Octavia! Hi Octy!" she shouted as she headed across the room, dragging Sour with her.

Sour blushed and waved at the strange girl with long elegant black hair. She wore a classy low-cut black sweater and a sparkling silver necklace rested on her chest.

Lemon introduced the two. "Sour, this is Octavia, Vinyl's best friend. Octy, this is Sour Sweet, my best friend."

"Lemon, I'll have to ask you again not to refer to me by those dreadful nicknames. Wonderful to meet you, Sour Sweet." Octavia held out her hand and Sour gripped it.

"I'm glad to see I'm not the only one disturbed by the terrible nicknames she comes up with. Nice to meet you, too." Sour smiled with confidence as she shook the girl's hand.

"Guys, my nicknames rock." Lemon simultaneously patted each girl on the head. "So I like to refer to Octy as Vinyl's Sour Sweet, and Vinyl refers to Double S here as my Octavia. It's cool to finally see you two together."

Each of the two girls shot a fierce glance in Lemon's direction.

Lemon recoiled and backed away. "You two should chat. I'll be around."

Sour felt a sudden burst of panic in her chest as she watched Lemon leave her alone with the strange girl, but it was short-lived as she quickly steeled herself. "I really like your top. Compared to you I feel pretty underdressed. I wish I had known I'd be meeting new people tonight, especially a stunning girl like you."

Octavia responded well to her confidence and offered a smile. "You flatter me. And don't worry, dear. I must admit that I'm the one who's overdressed for such a casual last-minute event."

"Nah you look great." Sour shifted her weight and put her hand on her hip. "So, you're friends with Vinyl, huh? I don't mean to sound rude, but you don't really seem like you have similar interests."

Octavia shrugged with one shoulder and nodded. "That's correct. We've been friends since childhood, and although we've grown apart both musically and culturally--as I'm sure you've plainly noticed--she's a wonderful friend as well as a musical genius and an inspiration to me nonetheless."

"You're a musician too, then?" Sour asked, eyeing her necklace. "I guess that explains the treble clef you're wearing."

Octavia lifted the charm on her silver chain and smiled. "I am, though I specialize in traditional instruments. And you?"

"I suppose that makes me the odd one out in this quartet. I'm afraid not." Sour looked past her new acquaintance and spotted a table with red plastic cups. "Wanna grab a drink?"

Octavia cleared her throat and glanced to the side as a familiar song caught her attention. "I'd love to."

Meanwhile, Lemon Zest was in the backyard wildly jumping from side to side and shaking her hips, her colorful glowing rings spinning around her limbs. In front of her Vinyl had her car and portable DJ table in full swing. Strobe lights flashed and the arrangement of large speakers as they boomed.

Moondancer stood next to the booth with her fists in front of her chest and her eyes closed, swaying her shoulders from side to side in time with the beat. "This is awesome!" she shouted.

Vinyl held up her thumb with a wide flashy smile.

Sour Sweet stepped through the open sliding glass door leading to the backyard in time to see Vinyl skillfully improvising a lead on a large rounded keyboard. She sipped her drink with crossed arms and raised her eyebrows.

"Amazing, isn't she?" Octavia asked, standing next to her, and Sour nodded.

"Octy! Sour!" Lemon shouted. "Come dance with me!"

Sour shrugged and sat her cup down on a patio table, then joined her friend. She stole some of Lemon's plentiful glowing rings and then matched her dance. She swayed her hips and while hopping to the tune. Her ponytail bounced and she held her arms over her head, twisting her waist and rocking her shoulders as she jumped. With each bounce, her small black tank top flared up and revealed her bellybutton.

Moondancer narrowed her eyes and noticed the other girls were watching her. She then glanced over to Vinyl, who was banging her head while twirling her finger in the air. She took a deep breath and swallowed her jealousy, then forced Sour out of her mind as she continued enjoying the music.

Vinyl's song came to an end, then she spun a record and climbed out of her car, a popular tune playing at a slightly lower volume. "That was fun. What did you guys think?"

Sour wiped her forehead and arched her back. "Wow, did you write that?" she asked as she caught her breath.

"Yeah man. This is part the EP I'm releasing next month," Vinyl explained. "I sorta changed the lead a bit because I forgot it while playing, but it's more or less the same."

Sour placed her hands on her cheeks and beamed. "That was really amaz--"

"I loved it!" Moondancer interrupted, hugging Vinyl from behind. "That was so cool."

Vinyl laughed and put her hands on her hips. "Thanks, Moon. I'm glad ya liked it. I hope you're enjoying yourself tonight, you really needed a break from that nonsense you're working on, eh?"

"It's clear to me now more than ever that I did. The stress was really getting to me. I appreciate you and Lemon doing this for me." Moondancer bowed and gestured towards Lemon.

Lemon held out her fist. "No problem dude. You need to go put some glow sticks on though. Come on everyone, let's go find some glow sticks for Sour and Moondancer. You two wait out here while we go... find glow sticks. Cool?"

Vinyl and Octavia simultaneously rolled their eyes as Lemon led them back inside.

Sour shifted her weight, and despite the upbeat music playing from Vinyl's car, the air felt painfully silent.

Moondancer stared at the ground and balled her fists. "This was supposed to be a fun night, but... you just had to come and ruin it for me, didn't you..."

Sour Sweet gritted her teeth and tightly crossed her arms. "Lemon practically begged me to come. Do you honestly think I wanted to be here?"

"I suppose not. If you don't want to be here, and I don't want you here, then that begs the question: What the hell are you doing here? Why didn't you just tell Lemon that you didn't want to come?" Moondancer stomped her foot and stared straight into Sour's eyes.

Sour leaned forward lowered her eyebrows. "I did tell her that, but she convinced me that I'd have a good time. She said you wanted to be friends with me again. Is that even true?"

"That's a blatant lie." Moondancer turned around and leaned over on the DJ booth. "Well... it's not like you'd want to be friends with me again anyway. Right?"

"Definitely not!" Sour turned around and grabbed her cup off of the patio table, then frowned after gulping down the last of her drink. "Not that it matters. You just confirmed that you don't want to be friends either way."

"Then we're in agreement." Moondancer swallowed her urge to sigh and stared at the waveform on the dashboard.

Sour scoffed and shook her head. "Whatever."

Moondancer leaned up and looked past the booth, spotting a large tree near a shed. She noticed the old tire swing still dangling from a low hanging branch, and her eyes glistened. She recalled a memory of Sour pushing her on the swing, then gritted her teeth and forced her eyes shut.

Sour ran her fingers over the wooden railing around the patio, then stopped. She lifted her arm and examined a faint scar on her elbow.

"You're such a clumsy idiot," Moondancer said, suddenly standing behind Sour.

Sour flinched and dropped her elbow. "Don't..."

"I think my grandpa told you about a dozen times that if you didn't stop walking on the railing, that you'd break your arm. Sure enough, you faceplanted right in the dirt and ended up wearing a cast for the first half of summer." Moondancer wore a mirthful smirk and crossed her arms.

"I'm lucky I didn't break my neck." Sour rubbed her elbow and turned around. "What are we doing here? Why are you talking to me now?"

"I don't know." Moondancer lowered her eyes. "Why aren't you talking down to me and pushing me away?"

"Maybe for the same reason you aren't insisting that I leave immediately." Sour gently kicked Moondancer's shoe. "Do you actually want to..."

"I don't know. Do you?" she asked.

"After all this time..." Sour covered her forehead and looked up at the stars.

Moondancer took a deep breath. "Your freckles."

"What about them?" Sour asked with a harsh tone.

"Nothing, it's just that I haven't seen them in so long. You usually wear all that makeup at school, so..." Moondancer shrugged. "You just look more familiar to me, I guess."

"I washed my foundation off before I knew Lemon was going to drag me out here. That's all," Sour explained. "I hate my freckles."

Moondancer touched Sour's cheek with her thumb. "I always liked them. You look so much less hostile when you let them show."

Sour stepped backwards and covered her mouth, her eyes glistening. "Don't touch me like that."

"I'm sorry." Moondancer cringed and bit her thumb.

Sour dropped her shoulders and looked past her former friend. "You were remembering when we used to play on that tire swing, weren't you?"

"Yeah." Moondancer feigned a subtle laugh and glanced back over her shoulder. "I remember when we used to climb across that branch and get on top of the shed, too."

"Oh yeah. And your grandpa would always yell at us saying we were gonna fall through. Good thing that prophecy never came to fruition, right?" Sour chuckled and shook her head.

"Yeah no kidding." Moondancer loosed a sincere laugh, then held up her hand as she attempted to stifle her laughter. "Wait. Remember when we trapped Sugarcoat inside with the spiders because we thought it would cure her arachnophobia?"

Sour placed her hand on Moondancer's shoulder as she burst into laughter. "Oh my god don't remind me. I thought she was going murder both of us when she got out of there."

"Lot's of memories out here. Memories I've been forced to try and forget." Moondancer glanced around the large open yard.

Sour widened her eyes and took Moondancer's hand. "I can't imagine how hard it must be, living here, where the three of us used to spend all of our time together outside of school."

Moondancer's lip quivered and she used her other hand to straighten her glasses. "Yeah..."

Sour took a deep breath, then pulled Moondancer into a hug. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought back the tears as she tightly held her old friend. Her scent filled Sour's lungs as she rubbed her cheek against her hair.

"Woooo!" Lemon shouted. "I knew it!"

Sour glanced to her side to see a small crowd gathered at the sliding glass door, staring at the two.

Moondancer backed away and blushed. "We'll talk more later?"

"Sure," Sour replied. "I'm glad that... you know."

"I'm glad too." Moondancer smiled and walked up the stairs. "Okay! The spectacle's over. Let's get back to the party please."

Sour plopped down on a patio chair and wiped a stray tear. "Lemon, you were right?"

"Of course I was, dude. I'm always right about everything!" Lemon sat down on a chair across from Sour and kicked her feet onto her lap.

Sour shook her head. "You're almost never right about anything. I never imagined this happening. I thought we were done for good."

"Come on man, friendships are stronger than that. You just gotta learn to not hold a grudge. The past is the past. Bygones are gone. Water goes under bridges. It's all copacetic dude." Lemon held up her thumb with a goofy smile.

"Are you alright?" Sour tilted her head.

"Heh, yeah totally." Lemon stuck her tongue out and winked. "So change of plans, by the way. We're crashing here tonight."

Sour covered her face with both hands and disdainfully shook her head. "You are so lucky that I'm willing to work things out with Moondancer, or I might have to chalk you up as another best friend I'd never talk to again."

"Nawwww man." Lemon stood up and walked back inside, then promptly returned with two full red cups. "Loosen up a bit more, S.S."

Sour grabbed the cup and raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell Sugarcoat," she stated before taking a swig.

"While you're chalking things up, chalk that up on the list of things we aren't gonna tell Sugarcoat. Am I right? Huh?" Lemon elbowed her and obnoxiously winked.

Sour's cheeks instantly turned deep red and she rapidly shook her head. "Hey! Shush, you!"

"Haha! Don't worry, cool cat. Your secrets are locked up in the old Lemon Vault. Except, of course I had to tell Vinyl." Lemon laughed as she stumbled down the stairs and wrapped her arm around her girlfriend.

Sour winced and sighed deeply, then quickly gulped down her drink. "Shut up, Lemon," she muttered.

Moondancer stepped back outside and took a seat across from Sour. "So you guys are staying the night..."

Sour groaned and shrugged. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that... well, I mean, I could probably drive her home, but."

"Don't worry about it," Moondancer smiled. "No need to take unnecessary risks."

"Thanks. Lemon should have known better, and... Augh, I appreciate it." Sour's cheeks remained red as she finished her cup. "So where should I sleep?"

Moondancer raised an eyebrow. "I was going to have you sleep on the livingroom floor, but all things considered, maybe you can sleep in the usual spot."

"You mean, in y-your, uhm..." Sour stammered. "Really?"

"Why not? It's that or the floor with the rest of the CHS girls that showed up here and aren't leaving. You choose. I don't care." Moondancer leaned back and crossed her arms.

"The usual it is." Sour laughed. "Jeez, can you believe that I'm gonna sleep in your bed tonight?"

Moondancer furrowed her brow and shook her head. "I didn't expect you to show up at all."

"And then hug you?" Sour snickered uncontrollably. "And..."

Moondancer grinned. "Yeah, right. How much have you had?"

"How much?" Sour thought for a moment. "Not much. I just really find this funny for some reason."

"Yeah, that's the reason," Moondancer said, pointing at the empty red cup. "And we're not out of the woods yet, by the way. We still have a lot to talk about. You're lucky I'm feeling kindhearted enough to let you sleep in a bed instead of the floor."

Sour rolled her eyes with a deviant smirk. "Right, so kindhearted of you. And believe me, I'm well aware of the fact that we have a lot to discuss."

"It's gonna be a long road ahead if we really want to try and make this work." Moondancer crossed her legs and sipped from her own cup.

"At least we're on the right path, finally." Sour softly smiled and looked towards the lawn, where she saw Lemon and Vinyl vigorously making out on top of her DJ booth. "And we owe it all to them, don't we?"

"Wow, they're truly shameless." Moondancer covered her eyes and blushed.

"Don't be such a prude." Sour laughed. "Imagine how those poor girls trying to sleep on the floor with them are gonna feel."

Moondancer chuckled. "Luckily for them I already offered Vinyl and Lemon my mom's bedroom for the night."

"Oh that's hot." Sour blushed. "Your mom would be so pissed."

"I know, and I don't care." Moondancer spat. "So, can I ask you something that I know I definitely should not be asking you right now?"

Sour raised an eyebrow. "Uh, sure?"

"What was Lemon talking about when she mentioned a list of things you weren't telling Sugarcoat?" Moondancer asked.

Sour blushed and shook her head. "Don't worry about it."

Moondancer smiled, then looked down at Lemon. "Gotcha..."

Meanwhile, little did Sour Sweet realize, her phone sat on the passenger seat in Lemon Zest's car, vibrating away.

★★★

Sugarcoat paced back and forth in her bedroom, staring at her phone as yet another call went to voicemail. She winced and redialed, then tossed her phone onto the bed as it once again went to voicemail.

"What are you doing?" she thought aloud.

Sugarcoat removed her glasses and rubbed her tired eyes, then noted the time. "Midnight," she muttered.

She hugged her pillow and laid down, staring at her phone. "Sour..."

Ch. 3 - Scalene Love

Lemon Zest rolled onto her back and opened her eyes as a sound roused her from her sleep. She stared towards the ceiling through the darkness of her dorm room as she listened, but the room was silent aside from an oscillating fan. She glanced at a dimly glowing digital clock on the dresser next to her, which indicated that it was just past three in the morning. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, then the sound caught her attention again. It was a brief sniffle coming from across the room.

"Sour?" she whispered. "Are you awake?"

Silence answered her. She wiped her eyes and rolled onto her side, then heard the sound yet again. It was increasingly obvious to her that her roommate was sniffling.

"Alright, Sour. What's going on?" Lemon asked as she sat up and switched on a desk lamp next to her bed.

Sour Sweet remained silent.

Lemon stood up and walked across the dorm room, then placed her hand on Sour's shoulder, who faced the wall with her blanket covering her head. She could see her friend slightly trembling as she took in short quick breaths.

"Are you alright?" Lemon asked as she leaned over. "Why are you crying?"

"I'm fine," Sour finally answered, her voice high and cracked.

Lemon tugged at the blanket, but Sour held it tight. "Hey, man. It's cool if you need to talk about something."

"I'm sorry if I woke you up." Sour winced and curled up beneath her blanket. "Please... just leave me alone. I'll be quiet."

"Dude, I'm not gonna leave you alone until you let me know what's up." Lemon yawned and stretched her arms out, then repeatedly poked her back through the blanked. "I'm just gonna stay here and keep bugging you until you decide to chat."  

Sour groaned and pulled the blanket down from her face. "Please , I really don't want to do this right now. I just..."

"You what?" Lemon reached over and brushed the hair from Sour's face. "You can tell me."

Sour sat up and wiped her eyes. "I feel lonely."

Lemon chuckled and shrugged. "That's alright. I'll keep you company for as long as you want. All you gotta do is ask."

Sour cringed and tears welled up in her eyes again. She covered her mouth and choked on the lump in her throat as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Whoa!" Lemon reached forward and pulled her into a hug. "I didn't realize my company was that bad," she teased.

Sour sniffled and tightly wrapped her arms around her roommate. "Thank y-you," she stammered between quick breaths.

"Jeez Sour. Seriously, are you alright? Where is this coming from?" Lemon asked as she held her close, gently stroking the back of her head.

Sour leaned back and nodded, her cheeks red. "I have, uhm... it's nothing. I just get like this sometimes. It hasn't been this bad in a long time though. I'm sorry."

"Don't say sorry. If something's on your mind, just talk it out. Don't bottle crap up because then stuff like this happens." Lemon gave a quick nod, then smiled as she wiped Sour's cheek with her thumb. "I know I'm not really good at, like, saying things the way I mean to, but talking will help. So let's talk."

Sour cracked half a smile and shook her head, then sighed deeply. She looked down and shrugged with a twisted frown. "Do you ever just start thinking about something, and it eats away at you until you lose control of your thoughts?"

Lemon scratched her head with a blank stare. "Uhm... not really. Why don't you be a little more specific?"

"Alright, fine." Sour leaned back, sitting on her knees. "I woke up and I couldn't get back to sleep. I was thinking about how much I wish I was with Sugarcoat, and I..."

Lemon reached down and held Sour's hand as she winced and teared up yet again. "It's okay, just keep talking."

Sour gritted her teeth and sniffled. "I know that she isn't thinking about me. I know that the way I feel about her is mostly one-sided. I mean, I know she likes me enough to call me her girlfriend, but I love her. I'm in love with her."

"Aww, I'm sure she feels the same. You know better than me that Sugarcoat doesn't express herself like most people. She's one tough cookie." Lemon chuckled. "She won't even look at me half the time and according to you she likes me. So..."

Sour shook her head, then squeezed Lemon's hand and slumped backwards against the wall.

Lemon looked her over and gulped, noticing that she was wearing only a pair of panties and a white tank top.

"It's not just that," Sour added. "I regret telling her how I feel. I know deep down inside she regrets this relationship and I don't think things will ever go back to the way they were before. I'm so stupid for thinking she'd fall for me. I should have known better. None of this is worth it."

Lemon lowered her eyebrows and thought, no solutions coming to mind.

"Do you ever wish you would stop breathing in your sleep? Sometimes I lay here and stare at the ceiling, just imagining that I might somehow have the power to make my heart stop beating." Sour winced. "Do you ever do that? Am I crazy?"

Lemon shook her head and looked down.

Sour covered her face and squeezed her eyes shut as her emotions overwhelmed her yet again. "What's wrong with me?"

"I do know what it's like to feel depressed." Lemon pulled Sour's hand down and looked her in the eye. "It hurts and makes you think all kinds of wild things."

"You've been depressed?" Sour asked with glistening eyes.

"Sure." Lemon glanced away with a crooked smile. "It was real crappy when I first transferred to this school. You guys were all so mean. I had no friends and I was sure everyone hated me."

Sour took a deep breath and grabbed Lemon's hand. "I'm sorry."

Lemon grinned and shook her head. "It's all good. I figured you guys out pretty quickly, I think, and honestly you were the only person who was ever nice to me, even if you always followed it up with something incredibly rude. It doesn't matter though. I mean, I got to participate in the Friendship Games and got some really cool new friends by the end of my first year here, so it wasn't all that bad."

"Lucky. I wish Sugarcoat was a little more like Vinyl sometimes." Sour pouted. "You have a perfect life here..."

Lemon laughed. "Dude, my life here is far from perfect, but we're talking about you right now. What do you mean that you wish Sugarcoat was like Vinyl?"

"I feel like you and Vinyl try to spend every possible second together, meanwhile I spend every weekend alone because Sugarcoat insists that she has to go home. She says her parents don't want her dating, but she's almost seventeen! It's not like we're still in middle school," Sour explained, the fire returning to her voice.

"Okay, me and Vinyl go to different schools so we see each other way less than you guys do. Plus, some people like their space. Sugarcoat is totally the type of girl to need space, too." Lemon chuckled under her breath. "You're probably benefiting from that space more than you think."

"I don't want space... I want a physical relationship with her. I want to know what it feels like to have someone hold me tight because they love me and need me." Sour winced and bit down on her thumbnail.

Lemon brushed the bangs from Sour's face and caressed her cheek. "It's okay to want that, but if Sugarcoat isn't the person who's gonna give you it, then maybe you ought to start looking somewhere else."

Sour slowly nodded. "I don't know if I'll find someone."

"Of course you'll find someone! You're freakin' gorgeous and smart. A little mean, but that's okay." Lemon gently nudged Sour back down onto the bed. "And listen, it's totally possible to work things out with Sugarcoat and get you two on the same page, but you need to be honest with her. If she can't compromise with you somehow, then it might be time to move on. You shouldn't be feeling like this."

"Thank you." Sour softly smiled, then grabbed Lemon's arm as she attempted to get off of the bed. "Will you at least stay with me until I fall asleep?"

Lemon widened her eyes and gulped. "You want me to lay with you?"

"You don't have to." Sour let go of her arm. "Sorry I'm being so weird... I feel really bad for waking you up."

Lemon felt her heart skip a beat as her empathy kicked into overdrive. "Dude, don't feel bad. Of course I'll lay with you until you fall asleep."

Sour lifted the blanket and tapped the space next to her, then Lemon climbed beneath it. Sour then promptly wrapped her arms around her roommate and pulled her close.

Lemon blushed and tentatively returned the hug. She felt her hesitation slipping away as Sour nuzzled her neck and her body tingled. She then felt Sour's knee brush over her thigh.

Sour closed her eyes as a trembling breath fell from her lips. She wiggled herself closer to Lemon, so that their bodies were firmly pressed together, then she planted a soft kiss on her neck.

"Sour..." Lemon muttered.

"Hmm?" Sour hummed, then leaned back and stared into Lemon's eyes.

Lemon took a deep breath. "What are you doing?"

Sour coyly smiled and lowered her head, looking up. "Nothing. What are you doing?"

Lemon gulped closed her eyes, then felt Sour's lips press against hers. Her heart sank as she returned the kiss, then she backed away. "Sour, we can't."

Sour lunged forward and reconnected their kiss, parting her lips and grabbing both of Lemon's cheeks.

"Mmm... Sour..." Lemon resisted for several seconds, then gave in, her heart racing. She wrapped her arms around Sour's back as she lifted her leg over her hips.

Sour slid her tongue into Lemon's mouth, then reached down and tugged on the waistband of her shorts.

Lemon opened her eyes and reached down to grab her wrist, then took a deep breath. "Sour, this is not okay. We need to stop."

Sour arched her back and rubbed herself against Lemon's thigh. "I want it so bad right now. I promise no one has to know, and it'll be a one time thing."

"No, Sour. I'm with Vinyl, and you're with Sugarcoat." Lemon lowered her eyes. "We've already gone too far. I get that you're feeling lonely right now, but we really need to stop this."

Sour gazed into Lemon's eyes and bit her lip, then shrugged with one shoulder. "You're right... I'm sorry. I guess I got a little carried away."

"Me too," Lemon whispered. "It's fine, though. Let's get some sleep and figure this out tomorrow."

Sour nodded, then buried her face in Lemon's chest. "Goodnight."

Lemon gulped and tightly squeezed her thighs together. "'Night, Sour."

★★★

Lemon opened her eyes and shot upright, sweat dripping down her head. She looked down and noticed she was topless, then looked around for her shirt. A beam of sunlight shining in between closed curtains blinded her for a moment, and she wiped her eyes. She then glanced over to see Vinyl lying next to her, and she released a deep sigh of relief.

"Hey babe." She nudged her girlfriend's shoulder.

Vinyl rolled onto her back and snored with her mouth wide open.

Lemon giggled and shook her head, then stood up to find her clothing. She slowly walked around the large master bedroom, noticing the many photographs of a very young Moondancer lining the walls and bookshelves. She then spotted an image that included Sour Sweet. Lemon quietly laughed as she looked at the picture of Sour, who was no more than twelve years old with a bandage across her nose and scraped up knees.

"That's my little tomboy." Lemon chuckled.

She then found a pile of clothing on the floor and sorted hers from Vinyl's, then got dressed. Taking a seat at the foot of the bed, she spotted Vinyl's leg sticking out from the blanket, and she rubbed her calf, her mind wandering as she recalled her dream. A familiar pang of guilt crept into her chest as she considered what she had done with Sour nearly a year ago. Though Vinyl claimed to have forgiven her, she knew that all the pieces of her broken trust would never be recovered.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered.

Meanwhile, Sour Sweet and Moondancer shared a bed, facing each other as they talked.

"The main reason I told Sugarcoat how I felt is because I thought you and I were already done. You avoided me and acted like you didn't wanna see me anymore, so I didn't care if I made you mad," Sour explained.

Moondancer softened her eyes and held Sour's hand under the blanked. "I didn't want to see you anymore. I hated being around you."

"Why?" Sour asked.

"It was too painful."

Sour shook her head. "I don't understand. I thought the whole idea of not dating Sugarcoat was so we could stay friends."

Moondancer rolled onto her back and stared upward. "It was."

Sour grumbled and poked her cheek. "Just talk to me. I know you have more to say than that."

Moondancer sat up and put on her glasses. "Fine. You want to put all our cards on the table? Full honesty?"

Sour shrugged and nodded. "Sure. If we're really going to try and make this work, it'd be better if there were no more surprises."

"I agree," Moondancer replied. "Worst case scenario we just go back to the way we were. Not talking."

"We have nothing to lose."

"But we have a lot to gain..." Moondancer added.

"Do you really think so?" Sour asked.

"I do."

"So tell me then: What happened between us? From your perspective." Sour sat up and rested her chin on her knees.

Moondancer frowned and steeled her nerves. "Well, when you first told me that you had a crush on Sugarcoat, I lied. I never had a crush on Sugarcoat. You were the one I liked."

Sour widened her eyes, then blushed. "Oh... I see."

"Right." Moondancer brushed her bangs to the side, then looked for her scrunchy on the nightstand. "So I lost my chance with you because I knew you had feelings for someone else. It really hurt me and I didn't know how to handle it at the time."

"Okay well then why did you single me out?" Sour asked. "It really messed me up when you started treating me like dirt."

"I don't know, Sour. I was a stupid fifteen year old who didn't understand her emotions and I regretted what I did, but I couldn't bring myself to admit it." Moondancer stood up and walked to her bedroom window. "After that, you ended up dating her anyway, and I truly hated you for it."

"Ah jeez. This is so dumb," Sour said. "I intentionally kissed Sugarcoat in front of you all the time just to spite you. I'm such a horrible person..."

"Yeah, which is why I blew up on you that night." Moondancer turned around and glared at Sour. "That's one thing I won't apologize for."

"That's fair. I deserved worse than being called a few bad names," Sour admitted. "For what it's worth, I'm really sorry about everything. Two years of friendship is lost over pretty much nothing. That's time we'll never get back. I feel so stupid."

"At least you've had Sugarcoat this whole time. It's been really rough for me." Moondancer rubbed her forehead and paced to the other end of the room. "Twilight Sparkle was my only other friend, and she left to CHS at the end of that same year."

"Ouch, right." Sour cringed. "That really is rough. If it's any consolation, it hasn't been all rainbows and sunshine between me and Sugarcoat. In a way, I lost both of my best friends, too, and in her place I got a relationship that I barely know how to deal with."

"You two look pretty happy to me," Moondancer said with skepticism in her voice.

Sour nodded. "We are for the most part, but... Okay this isn't part of our full honesty deal, is it?"

"I don't know. Should it be?" Moondancer asked. "How will it affect our friendship?"

Sour closed her eyes and huffed. "Alright, but promise me that this will stay between us. I don't want Sugarcoat to know that I'm talking about our problems to other people."

"Especially not me," Moondancer added, then winked. "Don't worry. We'll chalk this up with the other things we're not going to tell Sugarcoat."

"Damn it, Lemon." Sour scoffed. "So I'll just come right out and say it. I'm miserable with Sugarcoat right now. She has me beyond depressed. I cry myself to sleep at least twice a week and I can't see things ever getting better between us."

Moondancer widened her eyes and sat down on the foot of the bed. "I had no idea."

"When we're in school together, everything feels good. But after hours, she never wants to spend time with me. She's always too busy studying or just wants to be alone. It hurts that the way I feel is so one sided," Sour explained. "I don't feel like it's too much to ask for my girlfriend to spend some intimate time with me. You know?"

"Yeah? I guess." Moondancer shrugged. "I really don't know. If you're so unhappy with her then why don't you just break up?"

Sour shook her head. "I can't. I don't want to lose her."

"Why don't you tell her how you feel?" Moondancer asked. "She deserves to know the truth if you're unhappy with her."

"I've tried to, but she doesn't understand and she just gets mad at me." Sour stood up and straightened her shirt. "I see other couples like Lemon and Vinyl spending all their free time together... I know that would be impossible for Sugarcoat, and it really hurts to think about."

"Sugarcoat isn't like other girls!" Moondancer shouted. "You should be happy that she cares about you at all. Did you ever think about how she must feel? I can't help but think you're being pretty selfish."

"You think I don't know that?" Sour asked, wincing. "Well now you know everything. My life is a shit show and everything is on the brink of falling apart. If not for Lemon Zest, I'd lose my fucking mind."

Moondancer lowered her voice and walked up to Sour, taking her hand. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"Don't be."

"I'm unaware of all the circumstances leading up to your situation, so I don't have the right to judge you." Moondancer hugged Sour and tapped her back. "Sugarcoat has always been this way ever since we were kids. You know how she is with people, so just give her the space she needs and appreciate it when she's feeling affectionate."

Sour returned her hug and closed her eyes. "You sound just like Lemon..."

"Lemon's a sharp girl even though she hides it pretty well sometimes," Moondancer added, then blushed as her stomach rumbled. "Let's go get some breakfast."

"Sounds good," Sour said as she followed her friend into the hallway.

Moondancer stepped over the garbage strewn throughout her home and groaned. She then spotted Lemon Zest and Vinyl Scratch sitting at her kitchen table eating bowls of cereal. "Oh, that's fine. Just help yourselves to whatever."

The two gave a simultaneous thumbs-up.

Sour sat at the table and rubbed her temples, her long messy hair falling over her shoulders.

"Good morning sunshine," Lemon greeted her, punching her shoulder.

Sour answered with a halfhearted groan.

Moondancer leaned on Sour's shoulder and rested her chin on top of her head. "Aw, someone's cranky."

Lemon glanced at Vinyl and grinned, then pointed between Sour and Moondancer. "You two didn't... you know."

"No!" they shouted in unison.

Moondancer stepped away and sat next to Sour, placing two empty bowls on the table. "We made up, like you said we would, Lemon."

"And that's all we did." Sour glared at her.

Lemon scratched her head. "But you guys did sleep in the same bed."

"Yeah," Sour muttered. "That fact hadn't escaped me. But it doesn't matter."

Vinyl sank down in her seat and quietly sipped milk from her spoon.

"I figured you'd be happy," Lemon said with a nervous chuckle. "You got your old friend back."

Sour rested her cheek on her hand and stared at her bowl as cereal was poured into it. "Oh, I'm overjoyed. Believe me," she said unconvincingly.

Lemon shrugged and leaned back in her seat. "Alright, guess I'll have to take your word for it. How about you, Moonie?"

"What about me?" Moondancer asked. "Oh, right. Yeah I suppose I feel glad to be working things out with Sour after all this time, but I can't shake the feeling that things aren't going to go so smoothly when Sugarcoat gets involved."

Lemon nodded. "True, but if she cares about Sour then she'll understand that it's better this way."

"Is it?" Sour asked. "Maybe this was all a bad idea."

Moondancer lowered her eyebrows and crossed her arms. "Wow, that didn't take long."

"Really, Sour? Come on." Lemon shook her head. "Let's keep moving forward, not backwards."

Vinyl stood up and tucked her phone into her pocket. "Hey guys, it was fun and all, but I gotta go. Looks like Octavia made some regrettable choices last night and needs me."

Moondancer grinned and shrugged. "It happens. Good luck."

Vinyl squeezed her shoulder as she walked by. "You're awesome Moon. We should hang out again soon, just the two of us next time."

"I'd like that." Moondancer tapped her hand before she walked away.

"Be cool, Sour," Vinyl added before she stepped outside.

Sour rolled her eyes and huffed. "I'm sorry, Moondancer. I'm just..."

"Don't worry about it," Moondancer muttered as she made her way to the pantry and grabbed several large black garbage bags. "Lemon, looks like you're on cleanup duty since your friend bailed on you."

Lemon slumped down in her seat and groaned. "Aw, cleanup duty? Anything but that!"

Sour giggled, a smile returning to her face. "I'll help you."

"Sweet! You rock, Sour. Let's hurry up so we can go surprise Sugarcoat at her parent's house," Lemon said with a naughty grin.

"Yeah right." Sour tapped her pockets and glanced around. "Have you seen my phone? She was going to call me last night but I forgot. She's probably furious."

Moondancer shrugged while holding her trash bag. "Haven't seen it."

Lemon pulled out her phone and dialed Sour's number. "I'm calling you. See if you can hear it?"

Sour wandered around, carefully listening. She opened the sliding glass door to the backyard, then headed back into Moondancer's bedroom, carefully scouring the area.

"Did you leave it back at school?" Lemon asked.

"No way, I had it in your car." Sour perked up. "I probably left it in there."

Lemon watched Sour step outside, then flinched as a rolled up bag landed in her lap.

"Looks like it'll just be the two of us for now." Moondancer didn't blink as she stared into Lemon's eyes with a straight face, dropping a single crumpled plastic cup into her bag. "This mess is your fault, you know. I should make you clean my house on your own."

"How is it my fault?" Lemon asked with a groan, then flared her bag open.

"If not for you, I'd have spent all night peacefully reading by myself. No mess." Moondancer straightened her glasses.

Lemon nodded in agreement. "That's fair. Can't say you didn't have fun, though."

"Yeah, and I think I might have a new awesome friend because of it. So... thanks, I guess." Moondancer offered a subtle smile. "And I think I might have Sour back, too."

"Why do I get the feeling you're leaving me out of the list of friends you made?" Lemon asked with a raised eyebrow.

Moondancer flung her bag over her shoulder and headed into the front room. "I'm not."

"So I'm the new awesome friend? Yes!" she shouted. "But what about Vinyl?"

"Vinyl is not my friend." Moondancer dropped her bag. "Not yet, anyway."

"Why not?" Lemon asked.

"I saw the text you sent her." Moondancer crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

Lemon closed her eyes and nervously scratched the back of her head. "I... wait how?"

"You left your phone open on my kitchen table last night. Hey can you help me make this nerdy girl feel better. She's sad and I feel too guilty to leave her alone. Mission accomplished, huh?" Moondancer placed her hands on her hips.

"Aw man, I'm sorry for calling you nerdy. I didn't mean anything by it." Lemon lowered her head and groaned. "I just said that 'cause that's how we talk."

"Which is why I'm not mad at you. I get it, I'm clearly nerdy. Understood. The problem is that now I don't know if Vinyl is actually interested in being my friend or if she's just doing you a favor," Moondancer explained.

Lemon nodded. "Yeah I get why you'd feel that way. I'm really sorry."

"It's alright. You were just trying to do what you thought was right." Moondancer calmly exhaled. "I haven't had someone treat me this way in a pretty long time."

"Look, if it helps, I know Vinyl doesn't go out of her way to spend time with a lot of people outside of her parties, so the fact that she wants to spend time with just you means she actually thinks you're interesting," Lemon said as she patted her shoulder, then she laughed. "Just don't try and steal her from me."

"I doubt I could even if I wanted to." Moondancer placed her hand over Lemon's and smiled. "You seem like the perfect girlfriend. I'm sure she feels lucky to have you."

Lemon blinked several times, her smile dropping. "Yeah..."

Moondancer frowned. "Is something wrong?"

Lemon smiled and shook her head. "Nah, you're right. Let's get this place cleaned up."

Sour paced back and forth with her phone to her ear. "Yeah, my phone's about to die now, too. I need to find a charger pretty soon."

"That's fine. My mother will be calling me down for lunch in a moment or two anyway. I was just worried about you last night. It's not like you to miss my call."

Sour sighed and covered her face as she spoke. "I know. I was hanging out with Lemon last night and lost my phone. I just now found it in her car after looking everywhere else first."

"These things happen. I... I have something I need to discuss with you later."

Sour stared at the ground and aimlessly wandered across the gravel driveway. "Uhm, what is it about?"

After a short pause, Sugarcoat answered. "I got accepted into Griffin's Cloud University. I'll be traveling overseas a week after graduation next year. We can talk more about this after class on Monday."

Sour covered her mouth and stumbled backwards, speechless.

"Sour? Are you alright?"

"M-hm." She barely managed to muster the sound.

"I'm flying to Queenshire next month with my dad to take a tour of the campus and familiarize myself with the area. I want you to come with me."

Sour's eyes shot open and she recoiled. "Wait, really? You do?"

"Yes. I know this is important to you, so I plan to tell my parents about you and our relationship before we purchase our tickets. We'll buy your ticket and pay for your hotel room."

"I... I don't know what to say. Thank you!" Sour cleared her throat, caught between tears and laughter.

"My mom is calling me. I have to go. I'll call you again tonight."

Sour nodded. "Okay. I miss you, Sugarcoat."

"I miss you t--"

"Ahh!" Sour interrupted as she frantically kicked the air, flinging a small lizard off of her foot. "Stupid lizard!"

"Lizard? Where are you?"

Sour froze and shook her head. "I'm just standing outside. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Of course. Goodbye."

"Bye, love." Sour forcefully exhaled and tucked her phone into her pocket.

She leaned against Lemon's car as she watched the small reptile scurry away. The urge to cry sank deep into her chest, and she sniffled, her thoughts scrambling.

"This is it," she whispered. "We're finally done."

"Did you find your phone?" Lemon called out as she carried a full garbage bag down the front steps, then flung it into the bin sitting by the road.

Sour nodded. "Yup..."

"Something wrong?" Moondancer asked, following Lemon's actions.

Sour shook her head. "Sugarcoat wants me to go with her to Queenshire this summer. She's finally going to tell her parents about us."

"That's awesome!" Lemon shouted with a wide smile.

"She got accepted into Griffin's Cloud University, that's why she's visiting Queenshire. To tour the campus," Sour explained. "I don't see us lasting after she leaves."

Moondancer quietly listened, crossing her arms.

"Why don't you just go that school, too?" Lemon asked.

"I can't. I'm not Sugarcoat, okay?" Sour sneered. "She's been preparing for that entrance exam for years."

"Bummer, dude. I don't know what to tell you." Lemon frowned. "Are you gonna go with her to visit?"

"I guess. Why not?" Sour halfheartedly shrugged. "I should be happier about that."

Lemon walked up to Sour and lifted her arms, then tightly hugged her. "It's alright."

Sour closed her eyes and squeezed Lemon's back.

Moondancer fixed her glasses and cleared her throat. "Do you mind if I say something about this?"

"Hmm?" Sour opened her eyes.

"I believe that long distance relationships can work," Moondancer stated. "As long as both parties remain faithful, distance can be beneficial, I think."

"What would you know?" Sour asked. "Have you ever even been in a relationship?"

Moondancer lowered her eyebrows and nodded. "Yes, actually. I have."

Lemon let go of Sour and stood in between the two girls. "Don't get fired up, okay? Sour, you need to relax and stop lashing out at people when something's on your mind. Moonie, let's give Sour some time to work this out on her own."

Sour crossed her arms and turned her back.

Moondancer leered at her. "How am I supposed to be her friend if this is how she treats me?"

Lemon deflated and stumbled backwards, then took a seat on the porch. "Man, I dunno. This is started to be a bit too much for me to deal with. You guys are pretty much adults, so you figure it out. I did my best."

"I told you this was a bad idea," Sour spat. "She's too difficult to get along with."

"I was just trying to be positive!" Moondancer shouted. "If you want your relationship with her to be done, then end it!"

Lemon sprawled out on the steps with her earbuds in, taking a deep sigh of relief as the shouting girls were drowned out be the sweet sound of heavy metal.

Sour winced and turned around. "That's not what I want!"

"What do you want then?" Moondancer asked, her voice sharp. "Don't string her along and make her confess to her parents if you're just going to end it anyway."

Sour stomped her foot. "I don't want to end it!"

"Then you better start thinking positively because you can't stop her from going to GCU," Moondancer said.

"I don't know what to do," Sour admitted. "I'm so confused."

"Which college to you plan to attend?" Moondancer asked.

"I don't know..." Sour lowered her head. "I haven't even applied to any universities. I'll probably just go to Canterlot Community College."

"Seriously?" Moondancer slapped her forehead. "Tri-C is a waste of time. What have you been doing all year? Don't you realize that your parents are paying a lot of money for you to attend CPA? That's your ticket into whichever university you want."

"So what are you planning to do?" Sour asked.

Moondancer smiled and touched her chest. "Oh me? Maybe you didn't notice, but I finished all of the credits I need to graduate last year. This year and next year I'll be doing nothing but Art History and Gym class. The rest of my day is filled by Study Hall, which I spend working on my internship assignments for the Physics and Astronomy team at the Everton Observatory."

"Wow, okay then. What about you, Lemon?" Sour asked loudly enough to catch her attention.

"What?" Lemon asked, removing an earbud.

"Where do you plan to go to college after we graduate next year?" Sour reiterated the topic.

Lemon beamed and pointed towards the city skyline in the distance. "Jubilee School of Arts, duh. I told you I got accepted already, didn't I?"

"Oh yeah, you did." Sour smiled while she watched her friend playing air-guitar. "Maybe I need to start planning, too. I should have studied with Sugarcoat for GCU..."

"Definitely." Moondancer walked up to Sour and leaned on the car next to her. "I can help you get into Griffin's Cloud if you want."

Sour shook her head. "I don't think so. You can only take the test once, and the deadline for me would be the end of this school year."

"It can't be that hard." Moondancer leaned over in front of her and looked into her eyes. "I always hated how closely you climbed to the top of the class even though it appears that you're hardly even trying. If you apply yourself, I'm certain you'll achieve your goal."

Lemon held up her thumb. "Listen to her, dude! She's an awesome tutor!"

Moondancer smirked. "That I am, but I don't tutor just anyone. You have to earn it from me, first."

Sour crossed her arms. "What if I don't get accepted?"

"Then you'll be able to say you tried. I'm sure you'll regret it later if you don't even try." Moondancer walked back towards her house. "If I remember correctly, you're taking classes right now that you don't need to graduate. Why not drop a couple of them and meet me for Study Hall in the library. We'll go over the basics and see where you're at."

"Really?" Sour asked, her voice low and her eyes wide. "Why would you take time out of your day to help me like this?"

Moondancer shrugged, facing away. "Isn't that what friends are for?"

Sour smiled. "So what do I have to do to earn it from you?"

Moondancer quickly turned around and pointed at Sour. "Tell Sugarcoat you made up with me and we're friends again, and if she's okay with it and trusts your judgement, then you'll know that she's worth the effort."

Sour winced. "Wait, what?"

"That's my condition." Moondancer grinned. "Tell her on Monday, then we'll start studying."

Lemon stood up and walked over to Sour, then leaned in her ear. "Wait. Dude, don't," she whispered.

Sour lowered her eyes. "I think I should."

Lemon rubbed her forehead and sighed. "Okay fine, I think you should, too. It's just that I was hoping we could ease her into it with some trickery, but I guess not. Are you gonna be okay?"

Sour laughed. "It'll be alright."

Moondancer closely watched the two with narrowed eyes, unable to hear their conversation. "Wanna fill me in?" she asked.

Lemon nonchalantly waved her hands and shook her head. "Nah, just trying to prepare for the living hell Sour's going to go through next week."

Moondancer slowly nodded. "She can handle it; she's a big girl."

"I'm aware!" Sour shouted. "You better make this as easy as possible for me. I don't need you making her even more mad when you guys decide to chat."

"Sure." Moondancer leaned against the front door. "I'm going to go take a shower. You guys are welcome to stick around for as long as you want. I don't care."

Sour looked at Lemon. "What do you want to do? You're my ride."

Lemon looked at her phone and shrugged. "I have band practice later tonight, so I'll need to load my equipment up in a few hours. I also kinda wanna go pop in on Vinyl and see what's going on with Octy. I can leave you here and pick you up after practice if you want."

"You know, I think I'll stay. If you feel like swinging by to pick me up later, text me." Sour checked the time on her phone, noting it was just past noon. "Thanks, by the way."

Lemon tilted her head. "For what?"

"Are you kidding me?" Sour rolled her eyes and giggled. "For bringing me and Moondancer back together. I never would have given her a chance if you didn't push me into it."

"Ah, yeah no problem, even though it seems like you two are still pretty hostile towards each other. That's girl stuff I guess. Holding grudges and all that." Lemon flicked her wrist. "Not into it. I think everyone should just get along."

"You're a girl, too, Lemon." Sour winked. "You were right, though. About everything. Deep down I did want to make up with Moondancer this whole time. I just didn't want to accept it."

"Hey, man. I'm more surprised than you that this all ended up working out so well. I'm really happy for you too." Lemon rubbed Sour's cheek. "Don't dwell on all this stuff with Sugarcoat too much, okay? Just try to enjoy yourself. I'm gonna roll, if you need anything, call me and I'll come get you as quick as I can."

"Thanks, Lemon." Sour stepped back as her friend climbed into her car and turned the engine.

"Have fun. I'll see ya later." Lemon backed out of the driveway and rolled her window down. "Don't have too much fun!" she shouted as she drove away.

Sour stuck her thumbs into her pockets as she watched Lemon drive out of sight.

"I'll try not to..."

Ch. 4 - One-Eighty

Sour Sweet used a towel to dry her wet hair, then hung it on a rack behind her. She wiped off the steamed up mirror with her hand and stared at herself. Her freckles seemed more noticeable than ever as she poked at them.

"Stupid things," she mumbled.

Sour then slid into a pair of gray shorts and pulled a black shirt over her head. She opened the bathroom door and walked down the hallway, dragging her finger along the long wall as many more old memories danced around her mind. Before long, she reached the front room, where she spotted Moondancer sitting on a couch, mindlessly flipping through TV channels and nibbling on chips.

"Oh, hey. My clothes still fit you," Moondancer said as she looked Sour over.

"A little loose but they're fine." Sour stuck her tongue out and joined Moondancer on the couch. "Thanks."

Moondancer narrowed her eyes, then dropped her half eaten chip onto the coffee table in front of her and rolled up the bag. "Sure thing."

Sour Sweet snatched the bag from the table and helped herself to the snack. "So now what? You're stuck with me until Lemon comes back in... who knows how long."

Moondancer shrugged. "I don't know. I'm tried of talking about why we hated each other. Seeing you casually walking around here in my clothes makes me feel like nothing ever went wrong between us."

"I know what you mean. It's weird, right? I didn't think I'd ever be here again, much less in your clothing." Sour lowered her eyes. "I keep thinking that I'm gonna snap back into reality at any moment."

Moondancer curled up onto the couch and shook her head. "What are you going to tell Sugarcoat?"

"About us?" Sour asked.

"Yeah, what else?" Moondancer leaned up.

Sour frowned. "I'm not sure yet. This little piece of information isn't going to sit well with her at all."

Moondancer laughed and nodded. "I don't envy you one bit right now. But you can't keep me a secret for long or it'll end up being ten times worse when you finally do tell her."

Sour scooted back on the couch and hugged her knees. "She's probably going to dump me. Then you can swoop in and have her..."

"No way." Moondancer crossed her arms. "Even if she does dump you, which is highly unlikely, I don't have any feelings for her at all."

Sour pressed her forehead against her knees and remained silent.

Moondancer sighed. "Seriously, Sour, she probably won't dump you. Sugarcoat isn't one to act without thinking. I'm willing to bet that she'll just be snippy with you for a little bit while she contemplates all the information you provide, then she'll forgive you for not consulting her before making this decision."

"Do you really think that?" Sour muttered.

"I guess. I can't really say for sure, but as far as I know, you're the only reason Sugarcoat and I don't get along." Moondancer closed her eyes and shrugged with a half smile.

"That's... true. And it makes me feel even worse." Sour groaned, then gave a quick nod. "You're probably right. As long as I don't keep this a secret, I think she'll be alright with it."

Moondancer returned her nod, then put on a coy smirk. "Speaking of secrets, can I ask again what you and Lemon are keeping secret from her?"

Sour lifted her head and raised an eyebrow. "Are you just trying to be nosy?"

"My curiosity is piqued, I'll give you that." Moondancer laughed under her breath. "I'm guessing that you and Lemon had an affair, but I'd be happy to be wrong."

Sour's cheeks turned red. "How did you know?"

Moondancer placed her hand on her chin. "I didn't know for sure, but I do now. It makes sense, honestly--Roommates, close friends, you're struggling with intimacy issues--Pretty obvious if you ask me, and I wouldn't be surprised if Sugarcoat already knows."

Sour's thoughts ran a mile a minute as her heart raced. "Is it really that obvious? You think Sugarcoat knows?"

"I can't really say for sure, Sour. I'm pretty far outside of your relationship with her. Maybe you've forgotten." Moondancer teasingly rolled her eyes. "But look how easily I managed to figure it out regardless.

Sour quivered as the she considered her girlfriend's potential reactions. "Yeah, right. That's not something I'm ready to confess, but I guess it'll have come out eventually."

"Guess so." Moondancer cleared her throat, then pushed up her glasses. "So... what happened between you and Lemon?"

Sour narrowed her eyes. "Nothing. I just was feeling down and she comforted me. I stopped thinking clearly and messed up."

Moondancer closed her eyes and nodded. "Okay, I can see that happening. That seems pretty understandable, especially considering how emotional you can be."

Sour narrowed her eyes and frowned. "Uhm, okay."

"Since you're being so honest with me, I suppose I'll share something somewhat relevant with you," Moondancer said, taking a deep breath. "You can say that the same thing happened to me. I was devastated when Twilight left, then Minuette started to comfort me. I didn't really know her all that well, but she was so caring and warm. I lost my virginity to her that night, so I can see how you might have ended up having sex with Lemon."

Sour rapidly shook her head and held up her hands. "Wait a minute. I didn't have sex with Lemon. We just made out for a little bit."

Moondancer scratched her head and grinned, her cheeks turning read. "Oh... well that isn't so bad. It's not great, obviously, but it'll be a much easier pill to swallow when she finds out."

Sour huffed and sank into the couch cushions. "I hope so."

"Well this is a little embarrassing." Moondancer blushed and looked away.

"So you really did have a relationship with someone, huh?" Sour leaned forward and grinned, happy to change the subject.

Moondancer nodded. "Yes. It only lasted a few months, though. Turns out I'm too clingy."

"You and me both, sister." Sour laughed. "I wish more girls were so clingy."

"I don't know how I feel about it. I can see what it's like from both sides, and it's really hard to say for sure what should or shouldn't be okay." Moondancer chuckled. "I apologize. I realize that's a little vague."

"No it's fine. I understand," Sour said with a sigh. "I suppose I should feel lucky that Sugarcoat tolerates me as well as she does."

"You said you're miserable and depressed with her?" Moondancer asked. "Somehow I still don't believe that. It seems obvious now that you really care about her."

"Of course I care about her!" Sour shouted. "I love her."

Moondancer looked away and squeezed the bottom of her shirt. "I see that."

"I know what I said earlier, and maybe that isn't exactly right." Sour covered her face to hide her shame. "Some days I feel miserable and other days I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. It all depends on how Sugarcoat feels like treating me that day."

Moondancer tilted her head and crossed her arms over her knee. "What do you mean?"

Sour looked up as she thought. "Well, if Sugarcoat wants me to spend the evening in her room, then I'm in heaven. If she wants to study or just be alone, then I'm crushed. I end up getting shut out more often than not lately, so I'm feeling particularly depressed these days. I wish I could be there with her every single night, but I haven't spent the night with her in months."

"You know you're not allowed to be in her room after hours, right?" Moondancer asked. "You're lucky she lets you in at all, especially considering how closely she follows the school rules."

"I'm aware," Sour grumbled. "I don't care, though. I need to be with her and I'm willing to risk anything."

"Have you actually told her how you feel?" she asked.

Sour nodded. "Yeah, many times in many different ways. Like I said, she doesn't respond well."

Moondancer frowned. "Can you be a little more specific?"

"She tells me I'm being silly, and that relatively speaking we spend a lot of time together," Sour explained. "It hurts knowing that my feelings are so one sided, you know what I mean?"

Moondancer nodded. "Yes, I do. It's clear that your feelings aren't one sided, though. Despite what you feel, Sugarcoat feels like she's giving you enough attention. Though I'm not sure how you can further express your needs to her."

"I don't know. It feels impossible to reach her on a deeper level. Our relationship has plateaued." Sour gritted her teeth and looked down. "And if she moves overseas without me... I just..."

Moondancer leaned over and placed her hand on Sour's shoulder. "Don't think that far ahead. We'll take this all one step at a time."

Sour looked up into Moondancer's eyes and nodded. "Right. You're being really nice right now. What gives?"

Moondancer leaned back and shook her head. "Not sure, really. I swear it has to be those freckles."

Sour covered her face and blushed. "Seriously?"

Moondancer laughed. "Maybe."

"Why?"

"You just look like the Sour I used to know," Moondancer explained. "This whole experience with you is bringing back those old feelings. Wasn't I always really nice to you before?"

Sour nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Seeing those bangs in your face reminds me of the old you, too. But what do you mean by old feelings?"

Moondancer quickly shook her head. "Not like that. I just mean that I'm reliving the summer days when you practically lived here. You were always here much more often than Sugarcoat."

"You were my twin sister, remember?" Sour asked, giggling. "My mom was happy to have me out of the house. Sugarcoat always wanted to be here with us but her parents weren't so lenient."

"Right, Sugarcoat always left before dinner." Moondancer adjusted her glasses and smiled. "And you always stayed the night."

"That first summer after we stopped talking was so hard. I never would have admitted it, but I thought about you every night and missed you so much." Sour reached down and grabbed her friend's hands. "This is really starting to hit me hard."

"I know what you mean. I was so close to calling you so many times that summer." Moondancer shook her head with a mirthful smirk. "Why did we have to mess up our friendship like that?"

"It's just another regret I have to live with." Sour squeezed her hands and looked up. "I'm really sorry."

"Me too." Moondancer smiled. "All we have to regret now is not making up sooner."

"I'm definitely ready to tell Sugarcoat about you tomorrow night when she gets back," Sour Declared with a stern nod.

Moondancer raised her eyebrows. "Sounds good. Should I be there with you?"

"Maybe," Sour said. "I bet Sugarcoat feels exactly the same way we did. Once she starts talking to you then she'll realize how much she missed you too."

Moondancer nodded. "Hopefully."

Sour's eyes remained fixed on her knees as she considered the days to follow. "Why did you agree to have a party?"

"Huh?" Moondancer brushed the still damp bangs from her face. "Grandpa is away, so why not?"

"It just seems so unlike you," Sour said. "You're not exactly the most extroverted person I've met."

"Neither are you, and you still came." Moondancer smirked.

Sour resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Okay, but the only reason I came is because Lemon talked me into it."

"Look, I just wanted to see Vinyl's DJ car. I didn't know she was going to invite a bunch of people over from CHS," Moondancer explained. "What was I supposed to do? Turn them all away and be a total loser about it?"

Sour laughed and nodded. "Well, yeah."

Moondancer sighed, her eyes lowered. "No. It was nice to..." she trailed off, groaning. "It was nice to not be alone for once."

Sour slumped back in her seat, suddenly feeling guilty. "Right, sorry."

"It's quite alright." Moondancer stood up and brushed herself off. "I'm a little worried about grandpa's stash of booze disappearing though."

Sour giggled. "Oops."

"Yes, oops is right." Moondancer shrugged. "But what can I do now? Worrying about it is pointless."

"Where is he anyway?" Sour asked as she stood up and followed her friend into the kitchen.

Moondancer pointed at a calendar behind her. "He's trucking a batch of wheat to a granary somewhere. He'll be back in a few days."

"I should have guessed." Sour stepped up to the sliding glass door leading to the backyard.

"Mhmm." Moondancer joined her after stacking some dishes into the sink. "Wanna see something cool?"

Sour tilted her head.

"Come on." Moondancer pulled the door open and stepped outside onto the patio.

Sour shut the door behind herself and watched her friend roll a large tarp-covered object from between the house and shed. "No way! You still have the trampoline?"

"Not quite." Moondancer pulled the tarp off and revealed the large black surface.

"Wow it's a new one. It's even bigger!" Sour beamed and ran down the steps to assist her.

Moondancer nodded with a hand on her hip. "Yes it is. We bought a new one about a year after..."

Sour placed her hand on Moondancer shoulder.

"Yeah, grandpa thought we needed a bigger one for when my cousins visit. They don't come around very often these days." Moondancer headed back to the shed and dragged out the remaining pieces. "Wanna help me set it up?"

"You know I do." Sour excitedly balanced the trampoline on its side as Moondancer attached the legs, a bolt clipping them into place.

"That should do it," Moondancer said, stepping aside and helping her friend gently lower it to the ground.

Sour climbed on without hesitation. "I bet I can still do a front-flip!"

Moondancer covered her mouth and giggled. "I can't remember the last time I saw you look so... giddy."

"Shut up and get on!" Sour stuck her tongue out as she bounced, gaining height.

"Stop jumping and I will!" Moondancer sat her glasses on the patio's handrail.

Sour plopped down onto her rear and crossed her legs as she watched her friend climb on.

Moondancer wobbled to her feet, then stumbled forward. Sour grabbed her hands, helping her find her balance. The two then started jumping together.

"Ready for my awesome flips?" Sour asked as she gained more height.

Moondancer backed away towards the edge of trampoline and nodded. "Just don't hurt yourself."

Sour scoffed and touched her chest. "Do you realize who you're talking to? Just watch and take notes."

Moondancer rolled her eyes with a soft smile.

Sour jumped higher and higher, her long ponytail flying behind her. She held her arms out in front of herself and dove forward, tucking her legs in as she flipped around. She then landed flat on her back, seamlessly bouncing right back onto her feet with a cocky smirk.

"You didn't exactly stick the landing." Moondancer laughed. "Good first try, though."

"Oh come on. Let's see you do better." Sour stuck her tongue out as she bounced.

"No thank you. I'm not in the mood to break my neck tonight." Moondancer reached back out to take Sour's hand.

Sour took her hand and smiled as they jumped in unison. "It's really nice out today."

Moondancer looked past her, over the old wooden fence and rolling hills. The sun headed towards the horizon as distant clouds threatened to overtake it. She took in a deep breath, savoring the cool late-afternoon air. "It really is."

As Sour held Moondancer's hands and bounced, the familiar sights overwhelmed her. She watched her friend jumping, her long bangs bouncing in her face. "This feels just like when we were kids."

Moondancer stopped jumping and tilted her head. "You're right. This is almost like déjà vu or something."

Sour sat down and pulled her friend next to her, then fell onto her back and stared at the sky, Moondancer at her side. "Isn't it sad how something so special and important to you can just disappear from your memories?"

Moondancer glanced over to Sour, who's eyes glistened as she gazed upwards. "It's sad until you consider the fact that in an instant it can all come rushing back."

"We were laying right here, just like this, when I saw my first shooting star." Sour pointed up towards the blue sky. "I made a wish. So did you."

"It was a bright one..." Moondancer placed her hand on her forehead. "We were so convinced that our wish would come true if we kept it secret... That was one of last times you ever stayed the night with me."

Sour nodded. "That's right."

"So what did you wish for?" Moondancer asked.

Sour swallowed a lump in her throat. "It's stupid."

"Tell me."

Sour closed her eyes and sighed. "I wished that Sugarcoat was with us."

"That's not stupid." Moondancer reached over and squeezed Sour's hand. "It seems you cared about her much more than I realized, even then."

"So what did you wish for?" Sour asked.

Moondancer shook her head. "I can't tell you. There's still a chance my wish might come true."

"What?!" Sour sat upright. "Come on, you can't ask me to tell you, then not tell me."

"Yes I can. I just did." Moondancer stuck her tongue out, then quickly rolled off of the trampoline.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Sour shouted as she chased after her.

"I'll never tell!" Moondancer ran indoors and disappeared around the corner, Sour hot on her trail.

★★★

Sugarcoat paced back and forth in her bedroom, biting her lip with her arms tightly crossed. The sheer white curtains allowed the gentle orange glow of the afternoon sun to flood her room. She grimaced, then whipped out her cellphone.

After scrolling through her list of contacts, she placed a call. She waited for an answer with her fingers on her forehead.

"Hello?" a voice finally answered.

"Sunny Flare. Hello." Sugarcoat steeled herself and plopped down on her bed. "I wanted to ask you something."

"You wanted to ask me something? Okay."

"I feel that I can trust you to offer honest advice, even if you realize that it might not be what I'm hoping to hear," Sugarcoat explained.

"..."

"Are you okay with this?" Sugarcoat asked.

"Well, yeah. I'm just a little surprised."

"Good. You're willing to help then." Sugarcoat loosed a sigh of relief.

"Of course. You're my friend, after all. I'd be glad to help if I can."

"Then I'll explain the situation as thoroughly as I can with brevity in mind," Sugarcoat said, then took a deep breath. "As you know, I've been dating Sour Sweet for several years, and that fact has been kept secret from my parents, who forbid me from dating and wish for me only to focus on my studies. I've decided that I want to tell them about Sour, but... I can't."

"..."

"I believe there's a change that they'll behave drastically, such as removing me from the dormitory, or worse," Sugarcoat said, her voice unusually soft. "That thought leaves me terribly conflicted. What do you suggest I do?"

"Oh my. Such a dramatically romantic quandary! Two star-crossed lovers battling against the resistance of parents who cannon grasp the depth and sincerity of their love~"

Sugarcoat smacked her forehead and grumbled. "This isn't one of your screenplays. I'm being serious."

"Tell them."

Sugarcoat widened her eyes. "Are you certain that would be the best course of action? Perhaps it'd be best to wait."

"I mean, what's the worst that could happen? You're graduating next year anyway, and knowing Sour there's no way to keep you two apart against her will."

Sugarcoat broke a smile. "I suppose that's true."

"Sounds like you and Sour are taking things to the next level then, huh?"

"I think I'd like to." Sugarcoat nodded. "She's been wonderful to me. As well as very patient and understanding with me. I've been rather invested in my studies of late, and I know it's been hard on her."

"Aw, jealous! I wish I could find someone like that. Well, if you're sure you wanna take your relationship with her further, then you need to tell your parents eventually. Better sooner than later, I'd say."

A sense of pride bubbled up in Sugarcoat's chest. "Thank you, Sunny. That will be all."

"Uhm, okay. See ya around then. Oh, and Sugarcoat..."

"Yes?"

"Feel free to call me anytime you'd you like. I don't mind."

"I will. Goodbye." Sugarcoat ended the call and dropped her phone onto the bed. She squeezed the end of her skirt and nodded. "They'll understand. If not, I'll make them."

★★★

Sour and Moondancer found themselves sharing a patio swing on the front porch.

"You're going to tell me that wish of yours now," Sour stated as she kicked her feet to and fro.

"Alright fine." Moondancer laughed. "I was just messing with you, you know."

Sour tilted her head and stopped kicking. "Do you want to make me mad at you or something?"

Moondancer poked her chest. "You're too easy, Sour. I just wished that you would never leave."

Sour flinched and lowered her eyes. "Oh..."

"Dumb, I know. Talk about a wish completely failing to come true, right?" Moondancer huffed. "Doesn't matter anymore."

Sour nodded with a twisted frown. "Your wish should have come true."

Moondancer stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Want to go do something? I'm getting tired of all these damn memories bringing mood down."

Sour widened her eyes. "Yeah me too. What do you wanna do?"

"We can nerd out together in the planetarium." Moondancer grinned.

Sour shook her head. "I think it's closed on the weekends."

Moondancer pulled a key ring from her pocket, then held up a shiny blue key. "Which is perfect. We'll have the whole place to ourselves."

"Let's do it." Sour stood up and followed Moondancer inside, where she slipped her shoes on and grabbed her phone off of the charger.

The two then headed back outside and Moondancer locked up the house. "Have you been there before?"

Sour shook her head as she climbed into the passenger side of a beat up old pickup truck. "Not yet. My family was going to go when it first opened, but the planetarium wasn't showing anything yet. Guess we just forgot about it."

"Right, they had some technical issues that took a couple weeks to sort out." Moondancer started the tuck and pulled out of the driveway. "You're going to love it."

"You think so?" Sour asked, her arm hanging out of the window. "I'm surprised this old thing still runs."

"Me too." Moondancer chuckled. "Remember when my grandpa would let us ride in the back and--"

"Yes, Moondancer, I remember... Let's try to stop reminiscing before we both turn into sobbing wrecks. This is why we left the house in the first place," Sour said as she grabbed her friend's hand.

Moondancer blushed and nervously laughed. "Right. Agreed."

"Okay, okay. Just this one! I remember Sugarcoat trying to read and she got motion sickness, and then she totally barfed over the edge!" Sour broke into a fit of laughed.

"It was so gross! It was all over the side, and her glasses fell off." Moondancer wiped a tear as she laughed. "It took us like an hour to find her glasses after that."

"I don't understand how your grandpa was always so calm with us. We were terrible," Sour said, still giggling.

"He loves having the kids around. I can't stand my annoying little cousins, but he's thrilled anytime they stop by," Moondancer replied. "But we were especially adorable so he let us get away more mischief than most."

Sour chuckled under her breath as she stared out through the open window. The farmland was suddenly replaced by coniferous hills.

A short time later, Sour noticed they were headed up a particularly steep, winding road. "Wow, you don't live far from the observatory."

"Not really. I also don't mind the drive." Moondancer pulled up to a small parking lot located behind the large building.

"I guess I just thought it'd take us longer to get here." Sour stepped out of the truck and looked down the hill, admiring the city's skyline in the distance.

"You thought wrong. Now follow me." Moondancer nodded towards the back door, then unlocked it.

Sour followed her inside. It was dark and quiet, their footsteps loudly echoing through the long, empty halls. "This is kinda scary."

"Don't be silly." Moondancer grabbed Sour's hand and led her down the hall, then pushed open another door.

Sour squinted as she attempted to make sense of the shapes in the big dark room, then shielded her eyes as a row of lights along the floor blinded her. As her eyes adjusted, she spotted Moondancer standing by a switch.

"Take a seat," Moondancer said, gesturing towards the front row. "I'm going to give you a sneak peek at the newest show, not yet available to the public."

"Ooh, aren't I special?" Sour winked as she reclined in the comfortable chair, staring at the massive dome-shaped ceiling.

Moondancer took a seat next to her and watched the projector in the middle of the room light up. The lights on the floor dimmed and the ceiling came to life as millions of stars lit the room.

"Wow, pretty," Sour whispered.

"Isn't it though?" Moondancer squeezed the armrest on her chair as she watched the magnificent display take them on a trip through the stars. "Hey look, it's my favorite star!"

Sour raised an eyebrow. "Which one?"

"That one!" Moondancer pointed. "It's Intercrus, the best star in the Ursa Major constellation."

"Why do you say that?" Sour asked, touching her lip.

"Intercrus means between the legs," Moondancer said, then giggled uncontrollably.

Sour narrowed her eyes, then huffed. "Okay, that's hilarious. I'll give you that. But do you know what's even better about that name?"

"What?" Moondancer asked.

"It sounds like intercourse," Sour said between her snickering.

Moondancer rapidly nodded as she laughed. "It does! What a perfect star..."

"So is this why you're interning here?" Sour asked. "So you can giggle at star names?"

Moondancer shook her head. "No, that's just a bonus. My mentor, Sunburst, is a reputable astrophysicist. I wish to follow in his footsteps and learn everything I can from him."

"Interesting." Sour turned back towards the projection. "How's that going?"

"As well as it can, I suppose. He's a bit of a recluse and all of his peers were very shocked when they found out he accepted an apprentice," Moondancer explained. "Unfortunately, as the youngest intern at the observatory, I'm tasked with the menial work no one else wants to do, and I can't say much about it."

"Menial work like what?" Sour asked.

"I'm in charge of getting here at five in the morning everyday to start brewing coffee, for starters. Just a bunch of things like that. I can't really complain too much." Moondancer sighed. "I'm exceptionally lucky to have this opportunity."

Sour nodded. "Sounds fun. At least you get to mix it up and have something other than just school stuff to worry about."

"I agree. Sometimes I wish I could just live here. I don't mind helping everyone out with the things they need, but most of all, I'm excited to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to learning about the universe." Moondancer sighed. "I love it here."

Sour rested her head on Moondancer's shoulder. "I'm glad you're happy. I know you're going to do great things."

"I certainly hope so. Maybe someday my research will make it into one of these educational videos and you'll see my name on the credits." Moondancer chuckled as she watched the list of credited names float across the dome.

"Oh, definitely. They'll rename this whole place after you for sure!" Sour stood up and pulled her friend to her feet. "What else is there to see around here?"

Moondancer fixed her glasses and shrugged. "Let's see... there are more planetarium videos to watch, there's also the Astronomy Museum, where we can see cool things like pieces of failed satellites, space shuttles, and meteorites. Unfortunately I'm not able to get into the observatory."

"Let's go check out those space parts." Sour winked took Moondancer's hand, who cheerfully led her down the hall.

"Guess which orbiting satellite is my favorite," Moondancer said with a devious grin.

"Which one?" Sour asked.

"DP-69."

"Come on!" Sour covered her mouth as she laughed. "Is that really its name?"

"Yup!" Moondancer leaned against the large window overlooking the distant city, the orange sky silhouetting her. "I refuse the believe the person naming it didn't realize what they were doing."

"Yeah, no way." Sour caught her breath. "I didn't realize you had such a dirty sense of humor."

Moondancer closed her eyes and shrugged. "What can I say?"

"It's great. I haven't been able to just unwind and laugh with someone like this in a long time," Sour said, taking a step closer to her friend.

"Same here. It's nice." Moondancer bit her thumb as she stared into the beautiful sky. "My peers here would never laugh at that. I'd be lucky if they'd acknowledge the funny name at all."

"Good thing you have me for that." Sour took her hand and joined her by the window. "You'll always have me from now on."

Moondancer stared at her feet, then her eyes slowly ran up the length of Sour's body. "Promise?"

Sour nodded.

Moondancer placed a hand on Sour's cheek and looked into shimmering purple eyes. Her thumb brushed over the many dark freckles, and she tilted her head.

Sour's heart raced and she clenched her fist, her emotions swelling up in her chest. She closed her eyes and leaned her cheek into Moondancer's soft hand.

★★★

Two young girls were closely laying together on a trampoline as the stared into the night sky.

"There's Ursa Major, I'm serious!" Moondancer called out as she pointed into the sky.

"No way. I don't see it at all." Sour squinted and tilted her head, struggling to make sense of the many stars overhead.

"See?" Moondancer traced the constellation with her finger. "There's the head, and those stars are the tummy, and the three bright ones are the tail. See it now?"

Sour shook her head. "Just looks like a bunch of dots."

"Come on, Sour. Use your imagination." Moondancer looked over at her friend and smiled. "You'll see it if you try."

As Sour focused on the stars, a bright streak of light stole her attention. Each girl stared in awe as a shooting star lit up the sky, then vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

"Did you make a wish?!" Sour asked, squeezing her friend's hand.

Moondancer rapidly nodded, her thoughts racing.

Sour shut her eyes and focused on the shooting star. I wish Sugarcoat was here with us right now.

Moondancer did the same, peeking at Sour with one partially open eye. She took a deep breath, then made her wish. I wish... I wish that Sour Sweet would kiss me.

"What did you wish for?" Sour asked, grinning.

"I can't tell you or it won't come true!" Moondancer blushed and crossed her arms.

"Hah!" Sour shouted. "That was a test. You passed, which means you deserve to have your wish come true."

Moondancer gulped and sat on her knees. "Do you really mean it?"

"Mhmm," Sour hummed with a quick nod. "Let's go back inside now and get away from these mosquitoes. Maybe Sugarcoat talked her mom into letting her stay the night tonight!"

Moondancer nodded. "Maybe..."

★★★

Sour Sweet and Moondancer stood in front of the deep orange sky, their lips locked.

Ch. 5 - Three Sided Story

Lemon Zest banged her head as she shredded on her guitar. Her long bright green hair swung in circles while muscle memory controlled her fingers, which expertly walked up the fret-board during her solo. She held her guitar out in front of herself while bending the final note, her wide smile sparkling. She then stomped on a foot switch, slightly changing the sound of her instrument as she slammed on deep power-chords and another girl sang. Moments later the song came to an end, and Lemon held her fist in the air.

"This is sounding pretty sweet! I think we're ready to record," Lemon declared. "What do you guys think?"

A guy with a black jacket and long dark blue hair sitting behind the drums gave a thumbs up, while the lead singer standing at the microphone shrugged.

"Not sure," the singer said, her long messy white bangs falling over one eye. "I think we might need to change up the bass line a little. Maybe tighten up that solo a bit, too."

"Are you kidding me, Cloudchaser?" Lemon swung her guitar onto her back and walked up to the girl. "What do you mean tighten it up?"

"I mean, tighten it up!" she shouted.

"Take it easy you two." The drummer stood up and pointed at Lemon, shaking his head.

Lemon deflated. "But... Alright, fine. Let's take a break."

She then stepped outside and crossed her arms, slouching against the side of the building.

"Don't look so down, kiddo." A girl with bright blue and white hair punched Lemon's shoulder. "Ignore Cloudchaser; I think your solo was on point. Let's just keep practicing the way we have been and she'll come around."

"Thanks, Flitter. I think your bass line was pretty tight, too. I don't get what her problem is." Lemon huffed and kicked at the dirt.

"My sister is... Well I think she's got the best interest of the band at heart. Something else is stressing her out, I think." Flitter squeezed Lemon's shoulder and smiled. "I'll talk to her later."

"A'ight." Lemon shook her head. "I wouldn't be so cool with her attitude if she wasn't your sister, you know."

"I know," Flitter said with a chuckle.

Lemon pulled her phone from her pocket and scrolled through her messages. "Oh shit. I gotta roll."

"Everything alright?" Flitter asked.

"Yeah, my friend is..." Lemon sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Look, I'm sorry. Tell Cloudchaser I went to tighten up that solo."

"Can do." Flitter giggled. "I hope everything's alright."

Lemon flashed a smile and gave a thumbs up after tucking her guitar into the backseat of her car. "It's all good, girl. See ya!"

Flitter waved while Lemon quickly backed away from the warehouse.

Meanwhile, Sour sat outside of the planetarium with her face pressed against her knees. She tightly clutched her phone and squeezed her eyes shut.

Moondancer stood inside the building, leaning against the window. She watched the faint orange glow of the sun slowly fade into darkness as the many city lights took its place. She glanced down at Sour.

"I'm sorry..." Moondancer whispered, then closed her eyes.

Sour glanced up as headlights caught her attention. She watched the car climb the winding road up the hill, then stood up and brushed herself off. She then glanced over her shoulder in time to see Moondancer walking away. The car pulled up to the parking lot and turned around, then Sour ran up to the passenger side door.

"Yo, what's up?" Lemon asked.

Sour made herself comfortable, kicking her shoes off and slouching back in the seat. "I messed up, Lemon."

Lemon smacked her forehead against the steering wheel, the car still idling in the parking lot. "Damn it, Sour. What happened?"

Sour shook her head and wiped a stray tear from her cheek. "I'm just the worst girlfriend ever. I..."

"Let's get you home." Lemon reached over and grabbed Sour's hand, then headed back down the road.

Moondancer walked endlessly in circles through the long circular hallway surrounding the planetarium and museum. She watched the floor beneath her feet as she went, her mind running a mile a minute.

"Why did I do that?" she asked herself. "What went wrong?"

She continued walking, the moment replaying itself in her mind. Sour touched her cheek. She closed her eyes. They kissed. Sour pushed her away and ran.

Moondancer rubbed her temples. "What if she was the one?"

She stumbled against the wall, then slid down to her knees. "Why did I have to lie to her? Why couldn't I just be brave?"

★★★

"Can you believe we're officially high-schoolers now?" Sour asked, then sipped on her milkshake.

Moondancer pressed up on the tape between her glasses, then picked at the cherry on top of her treat. "I can. I'm just surprised that Sugarcoat gets to be my roommate."

"I'm so jealous..." Sour pouted.

Moondancer looked up and tilted her head. "I wish all three of us could be roommates somehow. Or even just you and me."

Sour nodded. "I just hope my roommate isn't super annoying and loud."

"I bet you'll get an awesome roommate." Moondancer winked and swirled her straw around in the frozen drink. "Hey, can I tell you something?"

Sour tilted her head. "What is it?"

Moondancer shuddered, then took a deep breath. "Well, what if I told you I had a crush on someone?"

Sour raised her eyebrows and grinned. "Who?"

"I'd tell you, but I've been afraid that it might mess with our friendship." Moondancer huffed. "But now that we're going to high school, I think we can handle like mature ladies."

Sour bit her lip and glanced down, then looked into Moondancer eyes. "Honestly, I was wanting to tell you the same thing."

"Wait, really?" Moondancer smiled. "You... you have a crush on someone too?"

Sour nodded. "Yeah, but I didn't want to mess things up between the three of us."

Moondancer furrowed her thick eyebrows and slowly nodded. "Who do yo have a crush on? I promise you can tell me anything, and it'll be okay."

Sour twirled her hair around in her finger and her cheeks turned red. "Sugarcoat. How about you?"

Moondancer flinched, an ache in her chest growing as she tightly clenched her fist between the table. "Oh... Well, I, uhm... Wait, really? Sugarcoat?"

"Yeah, is something wrong?" Sour asked, her smile slipping into a crooked frown.

Moondancer shook her head. "No, I suppose not. It feels wrong to say it now, but the person I have a crush on is..."

Sour lowered her head. "Oh jeez, you have a crush on her too, don't you?"

Moondancer shook her head. "Actually..."

Sour smiled and waved her down. "It's fine. We can both have a crush on her. It doesn't matter."

Moondancer cringed and did her best to force the words from her mouth. "Y-yeah... I have a crush on Sugarcoat, too," she lied.

"So now what do we do?" Sour asked.

"Let's just agree not to act on it. We'll all stay friends and keep this our little secret. Crushes come and go, right? We'll have plenty of crushes in the future." Moondancer forced a smile. "Sound good?"

"Eh, sure." Sour shrugged. "I think it would better if one of us acted on it. I'll let you if you want."

"Nah, I don't think it'd be right." Moondancer sternly nodded. "Let's just forget about crushes for now. I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"No biggie." Sour winked as she sucked on her straw.

Moondancer rested her cheek on her hand and stared out of the cafe window. I can't tell her... Not now.

★★★

Moondancer opened her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks as she sat alone in the dark. "I'm such an idiot."

"I'm such an idiot," Sour said, her face buried in her hands. "I just got her back, then I let something like this happen? How can I face her or Sugarcoat ever again now?"

Lemon sat at the foot of Sour's bed, her hand on her shoulder. "Come on, these things happen... I guess."

"I know you're probably sick of my drama by now. I'm sorry for dragging you into it all of the time." Sour sobbed, falling over on her bed and squeezing her pillow.

Lemon scratched the back of her head. "Dude, it's fine. You guys warned me that I shouldn't mess with whatever you had going on, so I asked for this."

"That's right... I did warn you to stay out of it." Sour cringed and glared over her shoulder. "This is your fault!"

"I wouldn't go that far." Lemon sighed. "I promise you, this isn't the end of the world. This isn't the end of your friendship with Moondancer, and it isn't the end of your relationship with Sugarcoat either."

"How can you be sure? Would you still want to date Vinyl if she kissed another girl? Twice?!" Sour shouted. "I wouldn't!"

"Be honest, Sour. And hope for the best." Lemon rubbed her calf. "That's what I did and it worked for me. I don't know what else to tell you."

Sour gritted her teeth as the tears continued to pour. "I wish I had a perfect life like you..."

Lemon groaned, her patience wearing thin and her voice turning sharp. "Sour, stop saying that. I don't have a perfect life."

Sour flinched and leaned up. "Did something happen to you, too?"

Lemon covered her face with her hands. "This, for starters. Do you think I wanted to leave band practice early to come deal with this?"

Sour felt her heart shatter, then curled up beneath her blanket, hugging her knees. "...I'm really sorry. I don't have anyone else to rely on."

"It's fine, dude. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel worse. I just have a lot on my mind right now." Lemon fell onto her back and spread her arms across the bed.

Sour sniffled and wiped her cheeks. "Do you wanna talk it out?"

Lemon glanced over to her friend and cracked a smile. "Do you wanna listen?"

Sour nodded.

"For starters, the lead singer of my band is really starting to tick me off with her negativity," Lemon explained. "She always has something to complain about, but she thinks she's just perfect! Tonight, for the first time, I really considered quitting. I just wish I could be in a band like Rainbow Dash, you know? They always have so much fun playing together and they're still really good. I feel great when I'm playing, but afterwards... it just feels like business."

"You wanna quit?" Sour asked.

"Not at all, but I don't want to feel like I'm unappreciated either." Lemon closed her eyes. "On top of that, Vinyl is freaking out because Octy lost a really nice necklace she got her for her birthday a few years ago. Vinyl is normally really chill all the time, so it sucks to see her so upset. I kept trying to calm her down while we looked for it and she snapped at me. Seems like there's a good chance it was stolen by the person she went home with. I dunno."

Sour lowered her eyes, suddenly feeling a little guilty. "Are you sure it isn't back at Moondancer's house?"

"Nope." Lemon shook her head. "She definitely had it when she went back home. She didn't stay the night there, and she took some... pictures of herself in her bedroom that night while wearing it."

Sour blushed and grinned. "You wouldn't happen to have those pictures, would you? You know, to examine the evidence."

Lemon stood up and laughed as she playfully shoved Sour over. "Shut it, you."

Sour giggled and shielded herself with the blanket. She closely watched as Lemon's playful smile slipped into a half smirk. "I'm sorry for being selfish. I had no idea you were dealing with so much."

"It's all good, dude." Lemon sat down on her own bed. "We'll straighten this crap out in the morning. You've got a lot to talk about with Sugarcoat, and I bet Vinyl will be more relaxed by then."

Sour nodded, then fell onto her back. "Alright. I'm ready for today to be over and done with, anyway."

"Same. At least we had a good Friday, huh?" Lemon chuckled. "Well, I did anyway."

Sour softly smiled and closed her eyes. "I did, too."

"Good." Lemon switched off her lamp. "'Night."

"Goodnight."

Knock knock knock!!!

Sour opened her eyes, squinting at the brilliant sunlight creeping through her curtains. She grabbed her phone to check the time, then noticed several missed calls from Sugarcoat.

Knock knock knock!!!

"What?!" Sour shouted as she threw the blankets off of herself, then stomped up to her dorm room door.

As she opened it, a familiar face calmed her temper. She wiped her groggy eyes and rapidly shook her head, not entirely certain she wasn't dreaming. "Sugarcoat?"

"Good morning, sweet-tart." Sugarcoat grinned with a raised eyebrow. "Get dressed and come see me in my room."

"Uhm, okay." Sour blinked several times, sleepiness still blurring her vision.

Suddenly the reality of the situation hit her and her eyes shot wide open. "Oh, okay! Gimme a sec!"

Sour darted back into her bedroom and stood in front of her sink, splashing water on her face. She quickly brushed her teeth, then eyed the bottle of foundation sitting beneath her mirror. She looked over her dark freckles, then dropped the bottle into the garbage can next to the sink.

After slipping into fresh clothes, she spotted Lemon still fast asleep. "Wake up sleepyhead!" she shouted before exiting the room.

Sour flattened her clothing as she walked through the hallway on her way to her girlfriend's room. She took several deep breaths, her mind racing as she considered everything she had to say. As she reached her door, she grabbed the handle and let herself in.

Sugarcoat stood in front of her window, wearing a white summer dress, her long icy hair loosely falling over her back and shoulders.

"You're beautiful," Sour said, shutting the door behind herself.

Sugarcoat shook her head and pushed up on her glasses. "Thank you."

Sour approached her and tentatively wrapped her arms around her back, resting her chin on her shoulder. "I'm so happy to see you."

Sugarcoat hugged her back, sighing. "I have some interesting news for you. And aside from that, there are a few things I'd like to discuss with you."

Sour stepped back and nodded. "I have some things I need to tell you, too. I'm afraid to, but... I trust you, and I want to do what's right."

Sugarcoat narrowed her eyes. "Very well. Who should begin?"

Sour gestured towards her girlfriend. "Go ahead."

"Understood." Sugarcoat sat down on her bed and crossed her legs. "First and foremost, I told my parents about you last night."

Sour recoiled, crossing her arms. "Oh? What did they say?"

"They weren't happy with me for keeping you a secret for so long, but they accept it," Sugarcoat said, then grinned. "I'll be spending my weekends here with you from now on until the end of the school year."

Sour's eyes watered over and she smiled uncontrollably. "Really?! Oh my god that's amazing!"

Sugarcoat closed her eyes and opened her arms as Sour crashed into her. "I agree. I only regret not telling them sooner."

"I'm so happy! I don't know what to say." Sour tightly hugged onto Sugarcoat, forcing her onto her back.

"Okay, okay." Sugarcoat tapped her back as she ran out of breath, then Sour backed up, blushing. "Beyond that, I've completed all of my entrance exams to the universities I was interested in, so I'll have much more free time to spend with you during the school weeks as well."

Sour shook her head, her eyes glistening. "Are you serious? You have no idea how happy you're making me right now..."

"And to top it off, my parents are willing to buy your ticket to Queenshire with us this summer, provided your mother allows it." Sugarcoat smiled knowingly, then grabbed both of Sour's hands. "I really care about you, Sour. I know you've been having a hard time coping with my distance lately, but now that I'm ahead, things can be better."

Sour nodded with teary eyes and a wobbly smile.

Sugarcoat tilted her head. "Now what was it you wished to tell me? You don't have to be afraid."

Sour stepped backwards and sat down sideways on a chair in front of a writing desk. "You're absolutely right about the... the distance being hard on me."

Sugarcoat gave a quick nod.

"I messed up." Sour covered her face. "I'm more afraid now than ever before, because things seem like they're going to be perfect, and I... I just screw up! I screwed it up..."

Sugarcoat lowered her eyebrows and stood up, gently grabbing Sour's shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"I made up with Moondancer behind your back on Friday night. That's where I was when I missed your call. Lemon orchestrated some dumb party because she wanted us to be friends again, and I fell for it," Sour explained. "I don't hate her, Sugarcoat. I actually really, really missed her. I don't know how I let things get so bad between us. I'm really sorry for lying to you."  

Sugarcoat crossed her arms and shook her head. "Really now. Maybe you've forgotten about they way she treated you, but I haven't."

"That's not all..." Sour looked up into Sugarcoat's prying eyes and cringed. "I kissed her last night."

Sugarcoat turned away, her arms stiff.

Sour stared at her, her lip quivering. She carefully examined the side of her girlfriend's face, desperately searching for a trace of what she was feeling, but she hid her emotions well.

Sugarcoat closed her eyes and removed her glasses. "Tell me why."

"I just got carried away when we were laughing and remembering all the good times we had. I was lonely and stopped thinking clearly." Sour bit her lip and covered her face again. "I pushed her away right after and ran. I called Lemon to take me back here."

Sugarcoat pressed her hand against her forehead and stared at the ceiling, her voice finally cracking. "I'm very upset about this."

Sour swallowed her tears. "I know, but I didn't want to keep it a secret."

"Thank you for your honesty." Sugarcoat sat back down and took a deep breath. "And I understand that you were feeling vulnerable; I saw it on your face every weekend before I would leave. I might not agree with your feelings, but I've realized that I need to see things from your perspective. That said, your actions last night are inexcusable!"

Sour covered her mouth and nodded. "I know."

"...but not unforgivable." Sugarcoat put her glasses back on and fiercely gazed at her partner. "I'll need time."

"I promise I'll do anything I can to make it up to you." Sour leaned forward and placed her hand on her girlfriend's knee. "I can't say it enough, but I'm so sorry."

"As you should be." Sugarcoat crossed her arms and jerked her knee away, then looked into Sour's eyes once again. The pain she felt was incredibly obvious, and Sugarcoat winced as her sense of empathy kicked in.

"Would you be interested in hearing about my thought process leading up to my recent decisions?" Sugarcoat asked.

Sour stared at her girlfriend and blinked several times. "I would."

"As I understand it, ninety-eight percent of high school relationships are doomed to fail a short time after graduation. And ninety-eight percent of those that last more than one year after graduation end in fewer than four years." Sugarcoat stared directly into Sour's eyes as she spoke, no emotion slipping into her words. "Statistically speaking, preserving our relationship is futile, but I decided that I wouldn't reduce my feelings for you to simple numbers. Whether or not our relationship will last depends on the people we become once we've fully matured."

Sour sat speechless, nervously squeezing the bottom of her shirt.

"If our relationship stands any chance, then I must do all I can to preserve it. This is why I told my parents about you, and why I want you to come with me to Queenshire this summer," Sugarcoat explained. "Do you understand?"

Sour wiped her tears and shook her head. "I'm not sure."

Sugarcoat stood up and smiled, then walked up to her girlfriend, placing both hands on her shoulders. "You can come with me to GCU, Sour. We can live there together. I know you have the ability to pass the entrance exam, and I'll be happy to help you study for it."

Sour's eyes lit up and she fidgeted in her seat. "So... you're not mad at me?"

"I'm furious." Sugarcoat narrowed her eyes. "But I quickly decided that yelling at you and insisting you leave was not the best course of action to take, though it was my initial reaction. It would help me if I had more information. Please describe what happened between you and Moondancer this weekend."

Sour winced and nodded. "I can do that... So like I said, Lemon and her girlfriend ended up having a party at Moondancer's house. She talked me into going even though I didn't want to, and, well, long story short, Moondancer and I made up after talking about some of the things that happened when we were kids. Like this scar on my elbow."

"That's all it took after two years of being at each other's throats?" Sugarcoat asked.

"I honestly did not believe that I'd ever be able to be her friend again. I'm just as surprised as you are. If you talk to her, I bet you'll feel the same way I did." Sour offered a soft smile. "She told me she misses you, too. I know she doesn't want to get in the way of our relationship either. When I told her about you going to GCU, she offered to help my study for the entrance exam too so I could go with you."

"I suppose you expect me to kiss and make up the same way you did, then?" Sugarcoat glared.

Sour squeezed her elbow and glanced away.

Sugarcoat dropped her head sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm still angry with you, alright? Please go on."

"There's really not much more to it," Sour said. "We just got to talking and agreed that we should have made up a long time ago. I was actually kind of excited to tell you about it and I hoped all three of us could be friends again, like before. Then we kissed and ruined everything."

Sugarcoat's eye twitched. "Fine. Get Moondancer here and the three of us will figure this out right now."

"Wait, are you sure?" Sour asked, not hiding the worry in her voice. "I haven't even talked to her since... last night."

"That's fine." Sugarcoat tapped her wrist. "Get her over here now."

Sour looked through her phone, then found Moondancer's newly added number. She quickly typed out a text message and sent it without hesitation. How soon can you get here? Sugarcoat wants to talk to us and work things out.

Sour crossed her legs and awkwardly tapped on her knee in the silent room while Sugarcoat's piercing eyes remained locked on her. She flinched when her phone vibrated, then she read the message aloud. "I'm in the library right now. Give me a few minutes."

"Perfect," Sugarcoat said as she cracked her knuckles.

Sour shuddered. "Are you sure this is alright? I feel like... I don't know. This seems wrong to me."

"I'm certain that this is the best course of action based on the information you've given me. The sooner we eliminate these uncertainties, the sooner we can move past them." Sugarcoat gave a quick nod before adjusting her glasses. "Don't you agree?"

Sour chewed on her tongue and shrugged with one shoulder. "I guess so."

A tap at the door caught their attention. "That was quick. Come in," Sugarcoat called out.

Moondancer pushed the door open and quietly walked in, her arms behind her back. "Hello, Sour. Hi... Sugarcoat."

Sugarcoat stood up and held out her hand. "I've been told that you and Sour Sweet worked out your problems."

Moondancer stepped forward and stood behind Sour. "That's true."

"And you wanted to do the same with me?" Sugarcoat asked, her voice suddenly softer.

Moondancer nodded. "Also true."

"Kissing my girlfriend isn't a good way to do that." Sugarcoat leered across the room. "What were you thinking?"

Moondancer recoiled. "I don't know what happened, alright? I'm sorry..."

Sour hid her face behind her hands and looked down. "Please don't start fighting."

Sugarcoat flicked her wrist and turned her head. "It's alright. I'm allowed to be a little angry, aren't I?"

"You are," Moondancer leaned her elbows against the dresser behind her and crossed her legs. "Where do we go from here?"

"Do you have feelings for Sour?" Sugarcoat asked, her eyes shifting to Moondancer's.

Moondancer remained quiet. She glanced to Sour, then back to Sugarcoat. Finally, she shook her head and lifted her hands. "No. I used to, but after that kiss, I realized that those feelings are dead. I just want to be her friend. Nothing more."

Sugarcoat carefully watched Moondancer's entire body as she spoke, and she paid special attention to her eyes. "Are you sure about that?"

Moondancer looked the girl in the eye and nodded. "Absolutely."

Sour glanced up with hopeful eyes, then smiled as she watched Sugarcoat soften her gaze.

"Fine," Sugarcoat muttered. "Never let this happen again. Now please leave Sour and me alone for the time being. You and I can talk more later. I won't hold any grudges against you."

"That's fair. I'll see you around, Sour." Moondancer turned around and headed back into the hallway, glancing back over her shoulder before shutting the door. "You're a lucky girl, Sugarcoat."

Sugarcoat huffed and fell down onto her bed. "This is not the pleasant Sunday I had hoped for."

"I'm sorry. It's my fault." Sour joined her on the bed and cuddled up next to her. "This should be the happiest day ever. I'm such an idiot."

Sugarcoat sighed and wrapped her arm around Sour's back. "You're not mistaken."

"I don't know know why I do the things I do or feel the way I feel sometimes, but when I'm with you..." Sour kissed her girlfriend's cheek, then nuzzled her neck. "Everything feels right. You make me so happy, Sugarcoat."

Sugarcoat stared at the ceiling as she stroked Sour's hair. "You're making it difficult to stay angry with you."

Sour smiled, her finger tracing Sugarcoat's collar bone, then gently tugging at the top of her dress. "I love you," she chirped.

Sugarcoat removed her glasses and placed them on the nightstand. "Go ahead and prove it."

Moondancer reclaimed her seat at the library desk. She flipped open her notebook and scribbled out Sour Sweet's name drawn inside of a heart. "Stupid..."

She slammed the book shut and tucked it into her bag.