Written in the Stars

04: Code Breakers

She let her friends talk her into wearing a deep red sweater and her new denim skirt over tights as she strode into school beside her brother that morning. Kendall's attempts to tease her about her outfit and the heart shaped clip which held back her growing-out bangs were met with quips from his twin about the girl he'd been making googly eyes at for weeks. That shut him up pretty quickly.

She bid her brother goodbye and made a beeline for her locker. Kit didn't particularly feel like hearing any of the boys gush about whichever girl had caught their attention that day. It was days like these that she wished she had more girl friends.

Her tongue absently ran along her teeth where her braces had been. Kit had yet to adjust to the strange feeling.

When she opened her locker, something fell from it and landed on her boots. Rolling her eyes, she picked up the note. Kit didn't bother to read what cheesy things the pink paper had in store for her today.

"Hiya, Kit," a familiar voice called out to her.

Closing her locker, the girl turned towards Logan. She smiled softly at him. Her cheeks tinted pink at the sight of him and she pushed past the butterflies in her stomach. As they did every other day, the pair walked together to their homeroom.

"Y-you look really nice today," he added.

Kit's cheeks turned the color of her sweater at this. Stammering, she thanked him.

Logan clutched his math textbook closer to his chest as he watched her. He wondered if she could feel the nerves radiating off of him.

Logan's eyes drifted to the crumpled paper in her fist. He frowned. Cocking an eyebrow, he tipped his head towards her:

"Another love note from James?"

She rolled her eyes. Kit sighed.

"Looks like it. James is sweet and all but," she lifted up the paper. It was the second one that week- and today was only Tuesday. "It's just too much."

Kit got the hint that James liked her as more than a friend fairly quickly. It wasn't long after she first got her braces off that the notes and occasionally chocolates started showing up in her locker. James used to be about as close to Kit as Kendall, but when he started acting off, she knew something was up with him. Only when he signed off one of the notes with his initials did it click in her mind.

The idea of James's crush on her- and of ever being anything more than good friends with him- made her feel awkward.

"Yeah," he said softly. Logan wasn't sure how much more he could take of James gushing about how cute Kit looked during water breaks at hockey practice or of him trying and failing to flirt with her during lunch hour. It was less so that he was jealous and more that he felt bad for Kit. At least, that was what Logan told himself.

"I guess I just feel kinda weird about it, you know? I mean, he is Kendall's best friend," she reasoned.

Logan could only nod at this. A wave of disappointment rippled through him. He couldn't help himself from jumping to the conclusion that he, too, would fall under that category.

"I know what you mean," he said.

Logan took his usual seat beside Kit. He noticed the longing glance she stole towards the Cupid Gram poster on the classroom wall and took a deep breath.

Teasingly, he nudged her thigh with his knee.

"Are you expecting a rose from someone this year?"

She grimaced. Kit thought of James and the notion that he would give her multiple love notes in one day made her shift awkwardly in her seat.