You rested you cheek in your hand as you stared blankly at the teacher who was writing on the whiteboard at the front of the class. You struggled to keep your eyes open as the teacher droned on and on about the different themes in the novel your class was studying.

You jerked into a sitting when you felt a jab at your side.

You turned your head and sent a glare at a smirking Kris who was sitting next to you.

He slid his notebook closer to you as he continued to pay attention.

‘Don’t fall asleep now, you don’t want to get in trouble again, right?’

You rolled your eyes as you recalled falling asleep in this same exact class a few days ago and almost getting detention from your teacher. Luckily you were one of the better students so she let it slide.

You grabbed a pen out of you pencil case and wrote under his messy handwriting.

‘Well, I wouldn’t have gotten in trouble if you just woke me up. Some friend you are >:(’

Kris rolled his eyes and shook his head.

‘I was teaching you a lesson.’

‘Well I’m sorry, daddy.’

You stuck you tongue out at Kris as he sent you an irritated glare. Ever since the two of you were little, Kris would always scold you or lecture you about the littlest things. After calling him ‘Dad’ once and seeing how much it bugged him, you called him that ever since.

‘Don’t call me that.’

‘Why? You don’t like it?’

Kris could almost hear your teasing voice when he read the words on the sheet of line paper. He let out a huff and gripped his pen in his hand, reaching over for the paper.

“Why don’t we ask Kris?”

Kris sat up in his seat and looked at the woman standing in front of the class, a little startled.

“Well?” she asked.

“Um, I’m sorry, what was the question again?” he stuttered.

You snickered a little next to him but pouted when he kicked you under the table.

Your teacher let out a sigh but repeated herself anyways, “In the novel, the two main characters grew up together, as if they were siblings. Do you think that it’s possible for the two of them to fall in love even with their sibling like relationship?”

You pursed your lips as you pondered the question yourself. There’s a fine line between loving someone romantically and loving someone platonically, especially if they grew up together. Your mind automatically thought of your relationship with Kris and your mind flashed back to earlier that week.

“Would you be my girlfriend?” he asked, quietly.

You looked up from your lunch in shock, “What?”

“Would you be my girlfriend?” he asked again, his voice even softer than the first time.

“Kris, I don’t know about that,” you bit you lip.

“Oh,” he looked down at his plate, “Okay.”

You started to panic when you saw his crestfallen expression, “Kris, it’s not that –“

“No, I understand,” he looked up and gave you a small smile, “But if you ever change your mind, just let me know.”

And just like that, he started talking about a basketball game that he was watching on TV, as if nothing happened. 

You looked up at him and could tell that he was in deep in thought as well. Most people wouldn’t know how hard he was thinking about this question, but you knew.

You always thought that Kris looked his best this way. Your heart would always quicken when you saw how he looked when he was concentrating, his eyebrows slightly furrowed and biting on the inside of his cheek. In your opinion, he looked much more attractive this way than when he had that stupid playful smirk on his face when he would wordlessly flirt with random girls in the halls.

You could feel a sense of anger and … possessiveness bubble within you, but pushed away your thoughts when Kris finally spoke up.

“I think it’s possible,” he said, “Two people can have feelings for each other romantically, even if they were together since birth. I think that it all depends on if they’re willing to take the risk of being together.”

You grimaced when you head all the girls in your class let out dreamy sighs as the fawned over Kris’s answer. It angered you when it seemed that they only realized now that he was more than just a pretty face. But you knew he was smart, you knew everything about him.

“Very interesting,” your teacher nodded, “Does anyone have any comments against Kris’s reasoning?”

You shot your hand up in the hair, shocking Kris.

You teacher gave you a shocked look, “Oh, yes ______?”

“But what if it doesn’t work out? Like in the novel? The girl realized that she didn’t feel that way about the boy after years of being together,” you pointed.

“Well if he really loved her, no matter what kind of love, then he would understand and everything would be okay,” he argued back.

You turned in your seat to fully face Kris, “But she didn’t want to hurt him by breaking up with him but she also didn’t want to lie to him and herself. She was so conflicted that she ended up killing herself.”

Kris set his jaw, knowing that the two of you were no longer talking about the novel, “Well, not everyone is like that. Some people actually talk it out with others before going and doing something so dangerous.”

Your classmates and teacher silently watch the two of you, totally engrossed in your argument.

“But would you be willing to take that risk?” you shot at him.

“Of course!” he exclaimed.

“Really?” you narrowed your eyes, “You would? Why?”

“Because I love her,” he looked straight into your eyes, “And I know she loves me too.”

You were stunned into silence, only to be brought out of your trance when the bell rang, signaling school was done. You awkwardly dropped your eyes to your desk.

“Wow, now that was a discussion!” your teacher smiled, “Good job today everyone, be sure to write your reflections tonight.”

You quickly collected your things and flew out of the door. You could hear your heart pounding in your ears as you walked down the hall towards the exit of the school.

“______!” you heard Kris shout from behind you.

You tried to speed up your pace, but your short legs were no match to Kris’s abnormally long ones.

He caught your arm and silently dragged you down another hall. And you let him.

He released his grip when the two of you stepped out of the building and into the school’s courtyard. The two of you didn’t say anything for a few minutes and only stared down at the ground a few feet away from each other.

“Are you really that scared?” Kris asked suddenly, looking up at you.

You nodded your head slowly.

“Why?” he asked, slowing walking towards you.

You shrugged your shoulder, not saying anything.

“Come on, ______-ah, you know you can tell me anything,” he stopped when he was less than a foot in front of you.

“What if you end up realizing that you don’t love me that way and I lose you?” you mumbled as you focused on a tree to your side, “I just can’t let that happen.”

Kris tilted your head up to look at him, “You’ll never lose me, I love you too much.”

“Really?” you asked like a scared child.

He sighed engulfed you in his arms, pressing you flush against his body, “Yes, I do.”

You relaxed when you heard the sincerity in his voice, but honestly, Kris could never lie to you. You didn’t know why, but he just couldn’t. You wrapped your arms around his waist and laid your head against his chest.

“Can I still change my mind?” you asked softly, “About being your girlfriend?”

You looked up at Kris to see him looking back down at you lovingly. He gave you a smile and nodded his head.

“Of course you can.”