The clouds hung low, heavy and dark with chilly October rain.

Like many high schools, lazy days were common but this day felt especially lazy. Many of the teachers cut their lessons short about a half an hour, assigned homework for the class, and then retreated to their desks to sit and attempt to look busy when they really were trying to rest. The students dozed in class and watched the hazy horizons from outside their windows, placing their chins in their hands and following the drops of water as they pattered and slid down the window panes. A combination of the sound of gentle droning from the rainfall outside and the occasional student shifting in their seats or the sudden clearing of a throat lulled a few unfortunate students to sleep, in which the teacher would snap themselves out of their own daze to shout at them to wake up, startling the whole class. A few moments later, everything would be as it was before, and the dozing student would be back asleep.

At lunch, the usual loud voices that came from every corner of the room were oddly hushed. There was something about the greyness and the patter of rain outside that reminded one's self of their own exhaustion.

The gymnasium before study hall was full of nothing but an occasional shout of the gym teacher and a cacophony of squeaks of sneakers and panting from sleepy students as they did their laps. Study hall consisted of students with their heads hidden behind crossed arms set on the table. By the time the final bell rang, the students dragged themselves from their seats and moved out into the hallways to grab their things and head for home. Naps were simply waiting to be had by all.

Angela Zeigler was much more tired than she usually was. Despite this, she went out of her way to walk down the hall in the opposite direction of the front door. She nodded to a few acquaintances and waved at others, smiling all the while. When she reached her destination: the nurses office, she looked over her shoulder to see if anyone in particular had followed her…but no one paid her mind. She ducked into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Angel? Is that you?" came a tired voice from the back of the room.

"Yes, Ana!" Angela replied, immediately perking up at the nickname the old nurse had given her, "I came to say hello and...goodbye!" she giggled.

The nurse stood from her seat at the back of the room and walked around the curtain separating her from the view of the door. As she came into sight, Angela helped her with putting her bag securely over her shoulder and the retired nurse smiled happily.

"Thank you for coming to see me, Angel." Ana said, patting her shoulder, "I really do appreciate your company, you know. The cold season's coming so I might need your help in the office more! Keeping sickness quarantined is harder than you think."

Angela nodded and said, "I know what you mean. Are you doing okay? Do you need me to carry anything for you?"

"No no," Ana chuckled warmly, "Look at you, doting over me. I'M the nurse here! I should be doting over YOU!"

Angela held out her arm for Ana to take and said, "You're only allowed to dote over me if I'm sick or if I broke something!"

Both women laughed lightly and Ana brought Angela into a short hug, patting her cheek when she backed away.

"You're a good girl, Angel. Now go ahead and hurry home!"

"Will do! Have a good day, Mrs. Amari!"

Angela rushed out of the room to catch up with the crowds. Many had already gathered in the front near the school doors, ready to board the busses. Since she lived only a couple blocks away from the high school, she didn't need to take the public bus. They usually were too overcrowded for her. As she reached the front doors, she reached into the pocket on her bag and got her umbrella ready. As she moved through the throng of students and out into the dismal rain, she opened the umbrella and began her walk down the sidewalk, avoiding puddles here and there by gracefully sidestepping left and right.

Angela preferred the sun over the rain, but she could appreciate a good rainy day. It soothed her in a way that many things could not. Walking down the sidewalk, she watched the busses full of her peers driving past her and onwards down the road. She smiled and waved at a few that looked at her from the windows. One of them consisted of her best friend Lena who perked up, only a little, and gave her one of her dashing smiles, pushing some of her short, spikey hair out of her eyes.

Angela would have to call her later. The two didn't really have a lot of time to talk that day since they were too busy with fitting in with the laziness around them. As the busses dispersed and Angela found herself alone on the street, she absentmindedly began to hum and spin her umbrella. Singing in the Rain was definitely an appropriate song for the moment.

Only when she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her did she stop. Angela looked over her shoulder and came face to face with someone's letterman jacket near the chest. When she tilted her head back a bit more, she stared up into two dark brown eyes. She pressed her lips together and her pace slowed down a great deal.

It was Fareeha.

She managed a strangled smile and found herself without anything to say. Angela had heard about Fareeha a lot, but had never really taken the time to look at her all that close. She was the school's football star, the only girl on the team. Angela figured that she was too busy being one of the guys to notice her at all. She was tall, and toned with dark hair and beautifully dark skin. Her face was strangely stern but she looked relaxed and sweet in an attractive balance. All that she had heard of her were good things. Strong, quiet, and noble, Fareeha was a heartthrob throughout every group in the school. Angela fought for something to say while trying to tuck some hair behind her ear without looking nervous.

Fareeha, on the other hand, hadn't been expecting someone like Angela to be the girl she had heard so much about through the strange gossip tunnel systems that went through the school. Smart, pretty, quick to assist anyone with anything; she sounded like your average every day goody-goody. The only thing that made her different was that she looked way above your average high school girl. Her blonde hair was in a messy ponytail high on her head. Her skin was unusually clear and her eyes were such an interesting shade of blue that Fareeha had to hold her gaze a beat longer before letting her eyes fall. She could tell simply by looking at Angela that she was honest and kind. Lena, Fareeha's fiend at their track meets, had talked a lot about Angela and how wonderful she was. She seemed to live up to expectations.

"Hello," the football player said, quietly "I'm Fareeha."

"Oh! I know who you are." Angela replied, "Everyone does! I'm…Angela Zeigler. Junior class. How are you?" it was then that she noticed that Fareeha didn't have an umbrella and her hair was getting damp. Angela took it upon herself to frantically move close to the girl she had just met, taking her hand and handing her the umbrella to hold.

As the shorter girl pressed close to her, Fareeha immediately noticed that she smelled wonderful…

"We can share!" Angela said smiling nervously up at Fareeha, "Don't want you getting wet. We can't have our star of the football team getting sick, can we?"

Fareeha chuckled quietly, "Yeah…Yeah no. I like your voice by the way. Do you sing often?"

Strange line of questioning, Angela thought, but she responded anyway, "Not often around other people, no. I do sing a lot in the shower! I mean, who doesn't!" She mentally kicked herself immediately in embarrassment for bringing up such a subject.

"I sing in the shower all the time! Mom has to calm the dogs down because they think it's a cat screaming outside." Fareeha said so matter-of-factly it was almost like she knew in advance that there would be a reaction from the girl.

Angela then burst into unexpectedly loud laugher and Fareeha smiled down at her. The blonde had a wonderful laugh.

"May I walk you home, Angela?" Fareeha asked politely, holding out her arm for Angela to take.

"Of course." Angela answered, shyly linking her arm with the taller girl's. And with that, the two chatted and introduced each other. Angela knew why Fareeha was so admired and liked only minutes into their first conversation. She listened when Angela talked and didn't rush with her own personal opinion or reply. Angela was so engrossed in their conversation that she didn't notice that they had passed her house a few paces. She turned and halted for a moment, then giggled in telling Fareeha that they had reached their destination. Fareeha began to close the umbrella to give it back to Angela, and the shorter the girl jumped to attention, putting her hands over Fareeha's. She smiled up at her and said, "Please hold onto it until you get home! You can give it back to me tomorrow."

Fareeha smiled and bowed her head respectfully, winking at her. Angela lifted a hand to cover her mouth as she giggled yet again at the strangely noble gesture.

"Thanks a lot, Angela!" Fareeha said, "Hurry inside. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that, the small girl rushed out from under the umbrella and ran up the porch stairs to her front door where she stopped, waved back at Fareeha who waved in return. She hurried herself inside, closing the door behind her and shivering as the cool air in the house brushed against her wet skin.

"You…" came a familiar voice, "YOU!"

Angela looked around the little house, peering into the kitchen by the door to see her friend Lena sitting at the kitchen table, snacking on Angela's favorite cookies. The blonde tilted her head in confusion, then rubbed her face tiredly, slightly jittery from the conversation before.

"YOU!" Lena jumped from the table, cookie crumbs around her mouth, "You were just walked home by Fareeha Amari! What the hell is up with that!"

"Calm DOWN!" Angela giggled, rushing across the room to grab her hands, "It's not that big of a deal…Amari?" She didn't ask for her last name…So Fareeha must have been the old nurses daughter!

"What are you TALKING about?!" Lena shouted, letting go of her hands and squeezing her arms in excitement, "What did you do to get her to walk with you? Did you ask her before? Did you offer her something? Did you BEG?!"

"No, Lena!" Mercy laughed, shoving her away playfully, "Nothing like that!"

"Then what did you DO!"

"You have to calm down first!" Angela scoffed, sitting down at the table and taking a cookie from the box, "And how did you get here?"

"I saw Fareeha leaving the school and coming up behind you right before I turned the corner down the street and I decided to slip out the emergency exit at the back of the bus." Lena explained, sitting beside her and reaching for another cookie.

"Lena!" Angela shouted, slapping her hand away.

"What?" Lena protested, "Those cookies are good!"

"NO!" Angela laughed, "I mean the BUS! Those things are called emergency exits for a reason!"

"This was an emergency!" Lena insisted, as Angela took a few bites of her cookie, "Tell me EVERYTHING."

"Well since you jumped out the back of a moving bus to get here I might as well tell you." Angela said rolling her eyes while Lena wiggled in her chair excitedly.

Lena was always unpredictable. Angela liked her for that. The two had met when Angela was trying out track and field the year before her sophomore year. Lena had tripped and sprained her ankle during one of the first mock races and Angela had taken charge, immediately propping up her ankle, taking off her shoe, and ordering the girls around her to get a cold compress. She was a bit bossy when she was taking care of someone, but Lena needed to be put in line some times. Her erratic behavior proved a nice balance for Angela's subdued personality. They became quick friends and had been close ever since.

"All we really did was talk about ourselves." Angela said quietly, "She asked me a lot about myself and I asked her lots of questions but she didn't seem to want to talk about herself very much. She was only interested in what I had to say. "

That statement alone was enough to stun Lena to silence for a rare few seconds.

"I thought she was just one of the egocentric jocks!"

"Me too!" Angela said excitedly, "It turns out she's very nice and sweet!"

Lena observed Angela's face as she always did when she talked about the new people she met. She began to grin as she noticed a light blush on Angela's ears. Lena always had a theory about Angela that she kept to herself. She had seen her talk about both boys and girls but when she was talking about someone in particular that she liked very much, a red blush would appear on her ears. Lena had never seen Angela fully blush in their three years as friends, but that day Lena saw the redness on her ears and assumed what she had assumed for a while: Angela liked girls.

She wasn't sure if Angela was Bisexual, nor could she gauge it by how red her ears got when talking about either boy or girl. All Lena knew was that Angela had a crush on the football player.

"So are you two going to talk again soon?" Lena asked.

"Oh! No. I figured it was going to be just a one day only thing. I guess I could try getting her attention at lunch tomorrow if I wanted to, but I assume she'd be busy hanging out with her other friends."

"They're not your kind of crowd, I'll tell you that much." Lena said, rolling her eyes, "Promise you won't be best friends with her instead of me in the future?"

Angela laughed, "As if anyone could ever come before you." She leaned forward and placed a sweet kiss on Lena's cheek before standing up and asking her if she wanted some milk with her cookies.

Lena smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

As Angela poured her and Lena a glass of milk, she thought about the one question Fareeha had asked her that stuck out in their conversation.

"So, uh." Fareeha had said, "Do you have a…somebody you're into?"

"Not right now!" Angela had replied, several questions coming to mind but only one leaving her lips, "Do you have a somebody you're into?"

Fareeha had chuckled at Angela's joke and shook her head, "No!"

What had she meant by that? It was a strange question to ask someone you barely know. Angela felt her ears growing hot again as she thought about it and Lena, at the table, watched as Angela blushed again over her ears. Lena grinned even wider. She must really be over the moon this time. As Angela finished pouring the drinks and putting the milk back in the fridge she sat back down next to Lena and bit her lip.

Angela knew she could confide in Lena, no matter what the situation. She knew how she felt about Fareeha but she couldn't seem to spit it out. She felt like there needed to be some sort of intervention first, and only after that could she explain to Lena her feelings.

"I…have something to ask you." Angela said quietly, surprising herself. She knew at the back of her mind it had to come out some time. Why not now?

Lena became very still and quiet in the next few moments and she began to wonder…was Angela going to come out?

"Yes?"

"I uh…" Angela balked in her sentence for a solid 10 seconds, "…What was our homework for history?" she asked, her ears redder than Lena had ever seen.

"We have to write a 300k paper on the Alamo…are you sure that's all you wanted to ask?"

Angela nodded her head up and down nervously and hid her mouth behind her drink of milk. Lena smiled and decided that it was better to change the subject. Angela wasn't the type to blurt out sudden news about herself. It had to be given on her own terms. And when she did, Lena would do her very best to show her that she was extremely happy for her.