FULL STORY (final draft) Sorry its so long :S

Her pale blue eyes lined with dark kohl eyeliner narrowed and watched the three boys on the other side of the classroom, knowing they were talking about her. Most probably about her and Emily. Thats all they talk about. That's all ANYBODY ever talks about since Emily decided to come clean in front of everyone about the day they kissed and that it was her who had kissed Naomi and not vice versa as everyone had been brought to believe. Naomi had become accustomed to being called a lesbian, a term so lovingly coined by Emily's twin sister Katie when she caught the wrong end of the 'incident' at a rave six months before. She had taken it in her stride as she was comfortable in her sexuality. She knew she was straight. She knew she liked boys. But knew in the past and knowing in the present are two different things. Now she didn't know what she liked. Or she did know, but didn't want to admit it. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rock being a sweet, innocent red-haired twin, the hard place being a womanising asshole she can't seem to take her eyes off.

***

Emily had the dream again. It's the same dream she's been having for near six months now. Not so much a dream as a memory, played over and over in vivid colour and surround sound. And now, as her headphones are turned up to the max level, stressing because Katie didn't wake her up and she's now late for her first class, she fades away into a daydream. The strobe lights are blinding, the smoke is rising from the crowd, the music is loud and there's enough bass to shake your clothes off your body. Her bright red hair was sticking to her face and neck with sweat, both her own and other people's. She knew she shouldn't have listened to her sister when she said she should leave her hair out. She watches as all her friends buzz on the high of MDMA, high potency Ecstacy that they always take for these things. She had been given a tablet too, but had given it away to a passerby and faked she had taken it. Drugs are more Katie's thing, not Emily's. Anyway, the crowd melts away and all she can see is Naomi, bleached hair swishing around her face, eyes closed, arms swaying in time with the music. Emily doesn't think, she just moves. Walks right up next to Naomi and begins to move as she moves.
"How high are you right now!?" Naomi screams over the 'boom boom boom' of the speakers, her bright blue eyes becoming more and more vivid under the flurorescent lights. Her pupils looked like large black holes, thanks to the MDMA, and Emily felt like she was being pulled into them. She has to resist it so she just smiles and gives a thumbs up. Naomi smiles back and shuts her eyes again. Emily continues to watch her, deciding it's easier to check her out when she doesn't know about it. Then, as if she could read Emily's mind, Naomi abruptly opens her eyes. She stops moving. The extraordinary, intimidating blue eyes meet with her ordinary, non-descript brown eyes. They are standing nearly nose to nose.
"What?" Naomi mouths with a scowling look on her face. Emily leans in and kisses her. And this is the part of the memory that Emily never forgets. Naomi kisses her back.
"SHE KISSED ME BACK!" Emily screams into the empty courtyard, as she slumps against a classroom wall in defeat and sinks to the ground. She rests her head against her knees and as all the other students are in class, gossiping and attempting to learn something important, Emily sits outside in the cold, sobbing silently, wrapping herself in her own arms wishing they were Naomi's.

***

"You know what Naomi is backwards..." J.J randomly pipes up in the middle of the lecture, when he sees her azure eyes staring out from behind a platinum curtain-like fringe, watching them.
"What?" Cook asks, also catching the girl's stare and holding it with his own.
"I moan." He finishes the joke completely deadpan and goes back to reading his chapter about Hamlet's death. Cook bursts out in hysterical laughter, never once letting his eyes leave Naomi's. He wants her to know he's talking about her. Ever since he first met her at orientation, he's only had one thing on his mind. And being Cook, he plans on getting what he wants as soon as he possibly can. If you were to ask anyone who knows Cook, or has even seen him around once or twice, they would tell you he's good-looking. With short, auburn hair and piercing green eyes, he exudes confidence. The only problem is HE knows he's good-looking and it makes him a complete asshole when it comes to the opposite sex, making that confidence turn into cockiness. "Womaniser" is a label he has earned and embraced quite willingly. The reason behind it being the people he considers his closest mates. He has J.J, with his big white boy afro, braces and infinite card tricks, who can pull in the ladies with his magician act. Trouble is, he's not exactly the brightest bulb in the bunch and he tends to become very socially awkward very quickly and makes remarks that drive the girls away from him and into the arms of who else? The old Cookie Monster, that's who. And then there's Freddie. Freddie is much better looking than Cook but he wants love, not just sex. And he wants it with one person. The one person he can't have. So that seems to bring in an abundance of girls for Cook to also take under his wing and into his bed. He's not used to chasing for what he wants, but if it means he gets Naomi, the chase is worth it. He watches as a piece of blonde hair falls down over her already foreshadowing fringe, breaking the staredown between the two. She brushed it away, and looked back down at her textbook. He kept watching, waiting for the "glance up". All the girls did it. He counted to three quietly under his breath and watched as her eyes looked back up and locked once again with his own. She held them for a split second, realised what she was doing and promptly looked away.
"You're mine." He chuckled to himself, grabbed his bag and headed for the door. Cocky with pride, he knew he had to make his move tonight at Bar 101 where one of the twins' footballer boyfriend was having a party for their win against Liverpool in the minor leagues. It was time to get crazy.

***

As she stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom, waiting for inspiration to come, Naomi thought about the look Cook had in his eyes as he watched her in English that morning. She wished she had the power to just shrug him off, scare him away with a stare that frightens her own mother. But he somehow seemed to see beyond the stare, beyond the angst. It wasn't just like he was undressing her with his eyes. It was like he was undressing her soul. He made her feel a million things at once and she wasn't used to emotional range reaching out beyond anger and sarcasm. When he looks at her, she feels a warmth rise from the pit of her stomach and envelop her entire body.
"Maybe its not such a good idea to go to this thing tonight." She whispers to her reflection, imagining the carmage the night would hold. Just then, her cellphone buzzed. A message from Katie flicks onto the screen:

'Hey guys! Jst wantd 2 remnd u all ov my party 2nyt. 8pm, Bar 101. Gud music, gud ppl...oh n did i mention FREE BOOZE al nyt long? C u there! :):):)'

As annoyingly perky as the girl was, with her three smiley faces, and as much as Naomi knew the night would only lead to disaster, no person could pass up free drinks. Naomi sighed as her lust for partying overrode her personal dilemma. She grabbed two sweaters from her dresser and put both on, one over the other. The more layers she has on, the less likely 'Drunken Naomi' is to take the time to remove them. Better to be overheating and safe than very, very sorry.

***

Being the first at a party is a big killbuzz. Emily watches her slaggy sister and her disgusting middle-aged boyfriend disappear through the 'Staff Only' door down to the cellar/basement of the club. It was Emily's job to sit here, amongst the hundreds of balloons they had been inflating all afternoon, letting the ear-smashing volume of the drum and bass music rattle her brain around in her skull, waiting for people to arrive so she could put on a happy face and act as a greeter while her sister, whose should really be acting as hostess, gets to grind away on the dancefloor and get drunk off her boyfriend's generous bar tab.

"Bullshit!" Emily screamed in fury just as Cook, Freddie and J.J walk through the door, past a bouncer who was cautiously eyeing them up, knowing none of them were old enough to be there.

"What's happening, gorgeous? Where's your sister? Bumping uglies with the old soccer guy ALREADY?!" Cook howled with laughter as he made a beeline for the bar, instantly putting the barman to work with different combinations of drinks. Freddie and J.J just dully laughed along, sending her sympathy vibes as they watch Cook order 7 different drinks at once and attempt to carry them all to a booth in the corner. The two other boys follow him over, leaving Emily alone, once again, with the balloons. People begin to pour in and Katie and Danny finally re-emerge from the dirty basement.

"Sorry sis, you know how it is!" Katie says, edging her way towards the bar. Emily rolls her eyes and continues to plaster a fake smile to her face as people hand her their coats and bags. 'My parents may as well have named me Cinderella,' she thinks as more people pile their coats on top of her.

"Fuck this. I'm not anybody's bumboy." Emily growls at the bouncer, who is leaning against the door, inhaling deeply on his cigarette. She drops all the coats into a closet to her left and storms off, eyes to the ground in fury, towards the booth where her friends are sitting. She reaches it and as she looks up, she sees the familiar flash of platinum hair sitting between J.J and Freddie, watching J.J attempt to pick her card from a rapidly dwindling pack. Emily freezes in her seat and wills Naomi to look up by staring at the side of her head with an intensity even she didnt' know she possessed. After what seems like an eternity, those blue eyes Emily knows so well moves from J.J to her drink and then to Emily. Naomi also freezes in mid-sip. There was something between them. Emily could feel it and she knew Naomi could feel it too, judging by the way she reacted. They sit, staring at one another while the party goes on around them. Suddenly, Cook slams a shot of tequila down on the table, pulls J.J out of the way, sending his cards flying all over the club's dirty floor and grabs Naomi's hand, pulling her onto the dancefloor. Numb with confusion over what just happened, Naomi allowed herself to get dragged into the middle of the bumping and grinding orgy of bodies.

***

"What the hell was that!?" Naomi yelled at no one in particular, glad that the music was so deafening no one could hear her anyway. Cook wasn't paying any attention to anything but her chest area. She mentally began to slap herself, repeating the same mantra, 'you are NOT attracted to her, you are NOT attracted to HER!" She let her mind drift to the music, no longing hearing thoughts or other people, just the music. She felt Cook's hand edging down her back towards her ass, but she didn't care. She couldn't care about anything but the music. The beat, the rhythm, the melody, the bass. They were the only thing keeping her sane. She closes her eyes and takes no notice of her surroundings. She wills any feelings she may have to disappear. She doesn't even realise Cook and herself have moved off the dancefloor, through a doorway and into what looked like a large walk-in closet.

"Where the fuck are we!?" Naomi looks around in confusion, watching as Cook locks the door and starts to slowly approach her.

"Looks like a pantry or something to me." Cook says, not letting his eyes leave her face.

"And why exactly are we in a pantry, Cook?" She was starting to get agitated now. When she's not in control, she begins to fall into a tailspin. She picked up a dusty can of god knows what and drops it again.

"I want you, you want me. We should go at it." At any other point in time, these words would have been vomit-inducing to Naomi. But she was drunk, it was dark, she was confused. It seemed like the best way to test her boundaries. To find herself, as cheesy as that may seem. Before she knew it, Cook had removed her singlet and tights and she was standing there in her underwear. 'I KNEW the sweater idea wouldn't work,' she thought to herself as she realises she took her sweaters off nearly the second she'd walked into Bar 10. It had been like a heatwave had hit upstairs. But now, as she stood near naked in front of Cook, she found herself shivering slightly. She didn't know whether it was the situation or the temperature that was causing it. She didn't really want to know. Numb, that's what she wants to be. Cook presses himself against her and begins to kiss her. He continues, moving down and down and down...stop, stop...

"STOP!" Naomi finds herself voicing her thoughts out loud. Cook freezes and brings himself back up to her eye level.

"What's the issue, babes?" His face twists into a expression of confusion and worry.

"I can't do this. It's not right. I have to go." She was already halfway redressed when she looked up and saw the pure hurt in Cook's eyes.

"Are you just looking like that beause I won't fuck you? Because that is sad, man. You should get an Oscar." She sarcastically ranted on, trying to lighten the mood and stop him from looking so depressed.

"No. I like you Naomi. Like, REALLY like you. I like you so much it scares me. But it can't be helped if the kind of feelings I have for you is the kind of feelings you have for someone else. Or should I say the kind of feelings you have for Emily." He stops, watching Naomi's face for a reaction to Emily's name. Nothing happened. Her face remains still. She finished pulling on her tights, leaned forward to kiss Cook on the cheek, and made her way back out into the club. As soon as she re-entered the dancefloor, she bumped into J.J.

"Where's Emily!?" She yelled over the noise of voices and music.

"She left about 20 minutes ago. Just after you and Cook went into that room back there to go at it. She looked pretty upset. Maybe she was tired?" The thing about J.J, he's very unknowingly blunt and unobservant.

***

Naomi took off in a sprint. She barely noticed her body leaving the overpowering warmth of the club and joining the chill of the night. She had left her sweaters behind, but she didn't care. She ran and ran, across the park, jumping over fences, any shortcut she knew of, she took it. Breathless and nearly ready to keel over, she finally reached her destination. No lights were on but she tried the front door anyway. Surprisingly it was unlocked. She let herself in, searching for any signs of life. Nothing. She made her way up the creaking stairs and reached the pink door on the right of the hallway. She saw light streaming out from under the door so she knocked twice and stood back to lean against the adjacent wall, still attempting to get her breath back. The door opened. Emily was staring out at her from the doorframe, puffy-eyed, mascara running all down her face with tears still coming. Naomi knew there were no words she could say, so she walked past Emily into the room and sat herself down on the end of the bed. Emily stood frozen, staring out into the hallway for a few seconds longer, took a deep breath, shut the door and sat down next to Naomi on the foot of her small bed. It seemed like hours had gone by before finally Emily decided to speak.

"You have to understand Naomi, I can't fix this. I like girls. No, I like A girl. No, I love her, okay? I love you."

Naomi stared at her hands, taking all the information in. She never knew what to say in situations like this. So she said the first thing that came to her mind, if only to stop the echo of Emily's declaration from ringing in her ears.

"Some party." Idiot.

Emily just stared at her in disbelief and sighed in defeat.

"Yeah."

"Eventful..." IDIOT IDIOT IDIOT! Just SAY it.

"...I love you, too." Naomi couldn't believe that had just come out of her mouth. The words didn't seem to faze Emily as Naomi had expected.

"I know."