As Rick looked at the camera, he accidentally shot himself. Gone was the loving boyfriend, replaced by a just as loving former cheerleader named Erika. At first glance, you would believe her to be the typical bitchy queen-bee head-cheerleader, the kind with an otherworldly beauty only matched by their unbelievably wretched personality. You would only be half right.
Because she had the look, and even the mannerism, but as soon as she open her mouth, it become clear she is nothing like the cliché bitchy head-cheerleader.
Of course, it didn't make her life easier. Her refusal to bully peoples judged ‘unworthy’ by the other cheerleaders, like geeks, goths, gays, … anyone that wasn't either them or a member of the football team, really, put her at odds with the rest of the cheer team. And after her coming-out, she instantly got kicked out of the team, then of her house.
Well, her parents didn't kick her instantly. They had sent her to one of those "pray the gay away" reformation camps, where the mental torture she suffered pushed her to her limit, to the point she tried to end her life. As a result, the pastor who organized the camp simply sent her back home, not caring she had become a suicidal mess as long as she didn't kill herself on camp's ground. No, it's once she had come back as a depressed (and depressing) mess that they kicked her out.
It's in that state that Eliza's mother found her, sleeping on the bench of a bus stop, her wrist open (again). With how often her tomboy daughter had hurt herself being younger, sometime severely, she knew how to stop the bleeding and bandage the wound, which she did, before transporting Erika to the nearest hospital.
Upon learning Erika had been kicked out by her own family, she decided to let her stay at her home. There, with the help of Eliza's family and a good psychologist, the former Cheerleader learned to love life again, slowly recovered from her traumas. Of course, the mother had never expected the poor rejected thing and her daughter would end up falling in love, but she was fine with it. If fact, Erika was pretty sure her new mother-figure had organized that whole week-end away with her husband specifically to give some alone time to the girls, knowing what they would be up to. Why the wink as she was exiting the house, otherwise?
Eliza, might not have noticed, she can be obvious at times. Or she did, but knew the nearby theater organized a Bruce Lee retrospective. Erika wasn't a fan, but she knew how much her girlfriend loved those movies. Eliza knew all of those movies by heart, but was still exited as if she was seeing them for the first time. To Erika, Eli's happy expression was well worth another Bruce Lee marathon.
That didn't mean Erika was left without doubt, be it about herself, or about her relationship with Eli. Her girlfriend was bisexual, after all. What if she met young and sexy martial artist, some sort of teenage Bruce Lee, and decide she's better of with him?
- – — – -
Meanwhile, under the shower, Eliza thought of her plans for the rest of the day. She had claimed it was to see a movie, but it was just to hide her true intentions. She knew it would be the perfect diversion, especially since there was Bruce Lee retrospective. She loved those movies, but knew them by heart and knew Rika probably appreciated as much as she, herself, liked that snooze-fest called Titanic. She'll never understand how it can be Rika's favorite movie.
The tomboy knew how much her girlfriend missed cheerleading, and had found for her a new activity Rika might like. Heck, she was even willing to drop out of the karate club to join this one with her! (She won't also drop of the swimming club, though.)
… Sure, it was also because of her own insecurity. She too, feared her girlfriend might find someone better. Looking herself in the bathroom's mirror as she was drying herself, Eliza couldn't help but wonder if Erika wouldn't love her better if she was more feminine, like said girlfriend. Would she be abandoned for someone that didn't mind the hassle of long hairs? Someone who appreciated chick flicks like Titanic? A girl who wear dresses and skirts outside of special occasions? Someone with at least D-cups rather than her measly C-cups, and wear them in lacy things rather than her usual sport-bras, which make them look even smaller?
Surely, if some people call her a "boy with a vagina", it's not just because she's a short-haired girl in a lesbian relationship, right?