“Tina,” Chris called out as he knocked on the door. “I brought apple juice.”

Tina smiled at his father’s bribe and opened the door. She wasn’t really that close to her father but whenever they had moments to really talk, she tried her best to be a part of it. He set the glass full of apple goodness on her dresser and sat on her desk chair.

“So how’s school?” he asked, scratching the back of his ear.

“Dad, get to the point,” Tina said, lifting an eyebrow and reaching around to take her drink.

“Listen,” his father said in a shaky voice, “About Bette.”

“Dad, just forget it. She’s just my friend.”

“That’s why you blushed when I said her name,” he joked.

The girl gasped and covered her cheeks with her hands and brought her feet up onto the bed and leaned her face on her bent knees to hide her pink cheeks.

“She’s a good person you know. And I accept it.”

It was silent in the bedroom for a few minutes until Chris got up from the chair and hugged his daughter closer to him. Tina sighed as she leaned her head into her father’s stomach as he stood beside her. If only her other parent was as understanding.

The hallway was empty as Bette sleepily walked to her locker. She was still tired from the tournament but staying up to have another “window” conversation with Tina was the real reason she was experiencing fatigue.

She opened her locker but another hand, a rather large one, slammed it shut.

“Well, well, well, Bette Porter,” Henry sang as he leaned against the lockers and smiled. It was the smile that many girls swooned over and gushed whenever he flashed it.

But Bette knew that this certain smile was not for flirting purposes. She crossed her arms and leaned against her own locker, staring Henry down. There was no way that this boy was going to ruin her day so early. Everything the cocky guy said never made her appreciate him at all throughout their years of school together.

“What do you want from me?” Bette defended.

“Listen, everyone at school already knows you’re a homo but are you trying to start some sort of club here?”