Free Fall

Chapter 1

Kelsey's P.O.V. 

My phone chimed loudly, waking me up. I rubbed my eyes and reached for my phone, checking the notification. It was Instagram. I ignored it, rolling out of bed. 

Thirty minutes later, I was dressed and had eaten breakfast. I grabbed my backpack and swung it over my shoulder, yelling goodbye to my parents. I ran to the bus stop as soon as the bus was pulling up. The doors opened and I boarded the bus. 

"Hello, Miss Kelsey," the bus driver said. 

"Hi, Mr. Bus Driver," I said jokingly. He knew that I knew his name (it was Kurt), but he asked me to call him Mr. Bus Driver. It was our inside joke. 

When I arrived at school, my phone chimed again. I ignored it. As I walked to my first period, I saw people looking at their phones and laughing. I looked over one girl's shoulder at her phone. It displayed an Instagram picture of two lesbian girls kissing. 

"Lesbians are so weird," the girl scoffed. "I mean, how could a girl love a girl? It's unnatural." I looked down and quickly walked away, ignoring everyone's laughter. I held in my tears. I'm straight, I told myself. Their jokes don't bother me. 

I entered my history class and noticed an unfamiliar face sitting in the back row. I went over and sat next to her. I studied her for a moment. She had shoulder length brunette hair and green eyes, and wore a grey jacket and white t-shirt paired with purple jeans and black tennis shoes. "Hey," I said. 

"Hi," she said back. 

"Are you new?" I asked. 

"Is it that obvious?" she laughed.

"No," I said. "I've just never seen you around before." 

"That makes sense," she said. "I'm Dani." 

"Is that short for Danielle?" I asked. 

"I wish," Dani laughed. "It's short for Danica. But I hated that name, so I went with Dani instead." 

"Oh," I said. "I'm Kelsey." 

"Hi, Kelsey," Dani said. "Nice to meet you." 

"Nice to meet you too," I said. I pushed a blonde curl out of my face as the bell rang loudly. "Prepare yourself," I groaned. "We have to listen to Mrs. Johnson drone on about the War of 1812 today." Dani laughed. 

"Can't wait," she said sarcastically. 

Dani's P.O.V. 

As I listened to Mrs. Johnson lecture about the War of 1812, I couldn't take my eyes off of Kelsey. She was one of the most beautiful girls I'd ever seen. She had bright, curly blonde hair and ocean eyes. She wore a jean jacket over a white floral blouse and black skirt with black flats. She hardly wore any makeup, but she was still practically flawless. 

When the bell rang, I gathered my pens and notebook and put them in my backpack. I grabbed my backpack and was starting to walk out of class when Kelsey stopped me. 

"Hey, Dani," she said, her curls bouncing as she ran to catch up with me. "Why don't we hang out tonight? We go somewhere, get to know each other." 

"That'd be great," I said. "It'd be nice to have a real friend around here. Maybe you could show me around? I'm completely new to the city." 

"Sure," she agreed. "Kansas City has a few interesting places." 

"I bet," I said. 

"So, why'd you move here?" she asked, walking out of class with me. 

"My dad got a job here," I explained. "My mom is a stay-at-home mom with me, Grace, Jess, Isabelle, and Celeste." 

"Are those all your siblings?" she asked. 

"Yeah, my dad does not know how to give a Y chromosome," I joked. 

"Science joke. I like that," Kelsey laughed. "Seriously, though, how do you end up in a family with five girls?"

"I have no idea!" I exclaimed. I looked at the clock. "Oh, crap, we're going to be late." We both raced off to class. 

Kelsey's P.O.V

I finished putting on my mascara while listening an a capella cover CD. I had to impress this girl. I had really grown to like her, and I needed a real friend. Plus, I kind of... no. I'm straight. Stop it, Kelsey.

I pulled on a teal dress and put my black leather jacket over it. I pulled on my short black boots and swiped on some lip gloss. Done. Suddenly, I heard the doorbell ring. I raced down the stairs, grabbing my black purse on the way. I opened the front door to reveal Dani. 

"Hey," Dani said, looking me up and down. "You look... wow." 

"Thanks," I said, eyeing her suspiciously. Is Dani... nevermind. It's none of my business.

"Let's go," Dani said. 

"I'm starving," I said. "We should get something to eat first. Look up some restaurants while I drive downtown. See what looks good."

Dani searched up restaurants on her phone. "What's Q39?" she asked two minutes later. 

"Only the best barbeque restaurant ever!" I exclaimed. "We have to go there." 

"Okay," Dani said. 

"I just hope it's not full," I said. A few minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of Q39. We walked in the front door. Fortunately, there was hardly anyone there, which was extremely rare. We quickly got a table and ordered. When our food arrived, I watched as Dani took a bite. 

"Oh my god," she exclaimed. "This is amazing." 

"I told you," I said. I dug into my food. We hadn't even half finished our plates when we both sat back and said "I'm full" in unison. I laughed. 

"I guess we're in synch or something," I joked. 

"I guess," Dani said. "C'mon. We have sightseeing to do." We left and got in the car. 

"Do you like museums?" I asked. 

"I hate history class, but I oddly love museums," Dani replied. 

"Great," I said. "There are some awesome museums in Kansas City. There's the Negro League Baseball Museum, American Jazz Museum, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the National World War I Museum and Memorial. There's a lot more, but those are my favorites."

"They all sound great," Dani said. "But I'm a sucker for art. One of the art museums is good." 

"How about the Kemper Museum?" I asked. "It's my personal favorite of the two." 

"Sounds great," she said. I started up the car and we drove off.