Not Your Sidekick (27 page)

“Look, the school is funded by tax dollars. I think we can be here. Plus, I have the keys to the gym and if I say you can be here, you can totally be here,” Abby says, grinning.

“I'm not an athletic person,” Jess warns.

“This isn't about that. It's about having fun!” Abby tosses the volleyball in the air, and bounces it on her forearm. Abby's skin turns pink and shiny with the impact. Abby keeps bouncing the ball, keeping it in rhythm. She aims the ball and sends it flying toward Jess in a slow, easy arc.

Jess throws her hands up and shrieks; the ball hits her hands and falls to the ground.

Abby laughs. “That was a good start. Figuring out where the ball is and protecting yourself! It's awesome. Okay, this time, try hitting it back toward me.”

“I'm not good at this, okay,” Jess says. “I'm not sporty like you.”

“This isn't about being sporty or not. That's not… it's not even a thing. It's just about practice and hard work. I think certain people are inclined to like it or start off liking it better than others, but ninety-nine percent of all sports—or anything, really—is a person just working really, really hard at their craft. Like… okay, you know how you are with your writing? I'm not anywhere near as good as you are. Like that time you were talking about imagery and symbolism and like, I don't even know how to do any of that. How did you get good at that?”

“Practice.”

“Right! You weren't born an amazing writer. You worked at it, read a lot, got better at it over time. Same with me and volleyball. We do training and conditioning, and I can say for every kid who's supposedly a natural talent, there's another person who works their ass off and gets better than that person. You can't coast by on talent alone. It's hard work that makes all the difference.”

Jess nods.

Abby tosses the volleyball in the air and gives it a careful spin. “Okay, you ready?”

Jess holds her arms together in the position that Abby taught her and stands with her feet apart.

Abby tosses the ball and then lobs it over, and this time Jess hits it back.

Abby catches it, and then jumps up and down in excitement. “Woo! You did it, you did it!”

Jess blushes. “It wasn't that amazing.”

Abby tosses the ball aside and rushes toward Jess, hugs her and picks her off the floor, spins her in a circle. They tumble, laughing, to the floor. The gym smells of old sweat and the lights are too bright, but they might as well be in the most romantic place in the world. Abby's hair tangles with Jess', and then Jess, emboldened, leans forward for a kiss.

“Okay,
that
was amazing,” Jess admits.

Abby laughs and laughs and laughs.

“What's this?” Abby asks as
she takes the blue journal.

Jess twists her hands. It seemed like a good idea this morning. Abby was sharing something she enjoyed with her, and she wanted to do the same. “It's just some stories and stuff that I've written.”

Abby opens the cover and looks at the handwriting on the first page. “By Jess Tran,” she announces to the room. “Your handwriting is so cute here.”

“Ah, that's from when I was twelve. I've had this journal for a while. I keep filling it with stuff, just random ideas. There's a longer story that I've been working on in the back. It's an adventure story. It starts… right here.” She flips to the most recent section, and Abby's hand curls around hers.

“Thank you for letting me see this,” Abby says softly. “I know it's hard to show someone what you're working on.”

Jess flushes. “Well, you're important to me, and I care what you think, so… yeah. Here it is.”

Abby grins. “Am I gonna see, like, hearts doodled around my name anywhere?”

Jess snorts. “That's a different notebook.”

Abby holds the notebook in one hand and takes Jess' hand in the other, pulling her close for a kiss. “I like your stories,” she whispers. “And I knew that our characters in the one we were writing for Rhinehart—that you imagined them to be us, because I did too. I was hoping you'd pick up on it sooner.”

“You knew?” Jess' eyes widen. She pulls back so abruptly she bumps into Abby's nose. “But—then you knew about my hugely awkward crush on you!”

“Yeah, but you also told M that,” Abby says, raising her eyebrows. “That never occurred to you?”

“Yes, I mean, but like, I did know but I was too caught up in the whole rescue-your-parents thing I just… forgot.”

“You are so cute when you're embarrassed. You're just realizing it now, aren't you?”

“Đụ!”
Jess curses and buries her face in her hands. “I talked about you to your face, oh my God, how did you let me do that?”

Abby laughs. “It was kinda funny. I mean, I didn't know you very well at the time, but it was really interesting, and I did learn some interesting things about what you thought about me.”

“Look, I didn't know you then, I just… I don't know. I had this crush on this idea of you as a person, but then it developed into something real once we started hanging out and then it was worse, oh gosh, the feelings…” Jess shuffles backward, nearly falling, but Abby steadies her with an arm around the waist.

“Hmm, pesky feelings.” Abby kisses her on the nose, making Jess giggle, and then kisses her again on the lips.

On Monday, Ms. Rhinehart passes
back their completed short stories. “Good job, everyone,” she says. “I'm quite pleased with your progress, especially the collaborative effort from everyone. My favorite thing about this assignment was seeing writers with different styles pair up and how everyone learned by doing. And you might not think I'd recognize it, but I did warn you not to let one person do all the work, and I'm quite proud to say that everyone gave their best effort and did collaborate. I'm in touch with a local literary magazine, and I suggest you all submit your pieces to it.”

Everyone looks at their grades, and Abby and Jess hold their folder, looking at each other.

Jess takes the first step, tossing back the protective cover.

“What is it? Don't tell me—okay tell me—okay no, all right, now I'm ready,” Abby says.

“We got an A,” Jess says.

“Oh,” Abby says, eyes widening in awe. “Oh, that's awesome!”

They look through the document together, reading Ms. Rhinehart's comments on the story, laughing at one of the appreciated jokes, and then they get to the end.

Jess reads aloud, her smile broadening as she goes. “This ending is nice, but a bit vague. If you do a bit of polish, this would be an excellent work for publication. What happens after they defeat the evil Schuester? Do Rebecca and Michelle have a happy ending?”

Jess looks at Abby, and she thinks about the future. There's a lot in question, what with figuring out what the government plans for the heroes and the villains, and she has no idea how to make sure that this doesn't happen again, but she has Abby at her side.

“Yeah, I definitely think so,” Abby says. Under the table, she squeezes Jess' hand.

“Most definitely a happy ending.”

It's a Thursday afternoon, and
Jess is at Abby's home again, and this time there's no pretense of studying or working on a writing assignment. The new house is full of light and the reflected red hues of the canyons that surround it.

Jess is sitting on a half-assembled couch in the space that will be the living room, laughing as plates of food float in the air.

“Mom, I said we're fine, we already had a snack—” Abby shakes her head, and the plate of cookies flies back toward Genevieve.

“Yeah, but dessert! Oh, but we're out of milk. I can go down to the store and buy some. Jess, you're staying for dinner? What would you like? Oh, this pantry is so empty, I hate it. Abby, what did you eat while I was gone? Please tell me it wasn't just Jacks' grilled cheese sandwiches.” Genevieve wrings her hands, and a plate of chocolate chip cookies wafts toward Jess. “Is chocolate chip okay? I made peanut butter, too, they should be ready—oh!”

The oven dings and the door opens with a flick of Genevieve's wrist. The cookies fly out of the oven and onto another plate, which then flies toward the living room. Genevieve insisted on making cookies today instead of continuing to unpack boxes.

Abby buries her face in her hands.

Jess takes the plates, laughing. “Thank you, Mrs. Monroe. Er, Mrs. Jones? Your Mischiefness?”

Genevieve chortles, waving her hands at Jess. “Oh dear, Gena is fine.” She leans on the kitchen counter, giving them an indulgent smile.

“We're going to be in my lab. Mom, don't wear yourself out with cookies. I'm serious.” Abby rolls her eyes, but Jess can tell she's pleased to tease her mother like this.

Abby's new lab is already cluttered, boxes open and workstations haphazardly set up, scattered with moving holos that show Abby's older projects. It's fun to see the evolution of her MonRobot designs through the years, and holos that picture Abby and her parents.

Abby lingers at one of her and her dad, grinning at each other over a workstation. She traces the flickering edges with a wistful smile on her face.

“We'll find him. Don't worry,” Jess says.

Abby gives her a grateful smile. “Thanks. C'mon, I have something to show you.”

There's something on the farthest worktable under a canvas drop cloth. A few lights flicker, and it comes to life as Jess gets closer, and a familiar oblong silver case wheels out from under the fabric, meeping at Jess.

“Chả!” Jess shrieks. The robot cheeps at her and wheels about in circles around her feet. Jess gasps. “Already?”

“Yeah, of course. I know you love that thing. I made a few improvements in motor functions, but the A.I. is exactly the same, so it shouldn't—”

Chả starts vacuuming, cheeping rapidly, as if it's excited. It spins back and forth on the tiled floor of the workroom, confused, and then rolls right under one of the worktables and promptly gets stuck.

Jacks and Jills are watching from the corner, and both of them meep and hover forward. Jess is pleased to notice that Abby could have upgraded Chả to the newest design, even given it the ability to fly, but she kept the original shape and functions.

“I, ah, I can fix that,” Abby says, twirling a finger in her hair. “I mean, I'm so used to building things with my powers, I probably messed up when I was—”

Jess curls an arm around her waist and draws her close, kissing her without hesitation.

Abby kisses her right back.

The robots spin about them, making celebratory-sounding noises. Jess opens her eyes and realizes that Chả is chasing Jacks and Jills, like a disobedient puppy. She laughs, picks up the robot, runs a hand along Chả's new silver casing, and laughs. “It's perfect. Thank you.”

Jess' DED lights up with a new notification—a message from Emma.

“Hey, there's a new episode of
The Gentleman Detective
out,” Jess says. “We usually watch it with Bells. Wanna come?”

Abby raises an eyebrow. “Weren't we going to try and figure out what to do about the corrupt League and the NAC cover up? I know that my mom said to wait, but—”

“Hmmm,” Jess says. “That's not going to get done in one night, and you know we've done all we could. Pretty sure the only thing we could do at this point is wait and worry about what they're going to do next.”

“That's true,” Abby admits. “So we might as well have fun and be normal for a night, right?”

Jess laughs. “Well, I hardly think we'll ever be
normal
, but I heard that's overrated.”

Acknowledgments...

Writing this series has been a rollercoaster of emotion. I'm so thankful to my friends and family for the support they've given me.

Thank you to my parents for encouraging me and also especially my mother, who listened to all my questions about my fictional immigrants and also endured strange phone calls about where accent marks go. I forgive you for talking my ear off about how to make the meatloaf, and, as you can see, I did not include the recipe.

I am indebted to the LGBTQIA+ activists who came before me for the rights and freedoms we enjoy today and continue to strive for.

To the amazing team at Duet Books and Interlude Press, thank you for giving my little story a home. Candy, thank you for every little thing you do, behind the scenes and getting all the parts of this beautiful organization together. Annie, endless thanks to your passion and time, and being open when I said, “Um, so I don't think it can be one book? It's... going to be three?”

Thank you to CB, my wonderfully talented name twin and incredible person through and through; your artwork has blown me away every time you reveal a new cover. The first time I saw mine I cried and had to walk around to collect myself; everything about it was incredible and absolutely captured all the elements we talked about. Thank you for making it clear she's Asian on the cover, thank you for drawing Jess with such style and aplomb, thank you for everything, everything, everything.

Kate, your friendship and encouragement were the only things that pulled this story out of my head and into existence. Those first few weeks when I started were so rough; thank you so much for believing in me, for telling me to write, for keeping me level-headed, for laughing with me and being there in all the stages in which this was written.

Darling, darling Jennifer, thank you for the endless amounts of positive messages when I thought I couldn't keep going, for the steadfast encouragement and suggestions. Michelle, at the drop of a hat, you stepped up, and I cannot even begin to talk about how much it meant to me during that busy time. Bells and Emma, thank you for being wonderful friends and allowing me to name my characters after you. Zane, Hunter, and Mel, thank you for all the discussion and encouragement and letting me bombard you with questions. I guarantee you this will continue for books two and three.

Mai, Laura, Cal, Kelly Ann, Stacey, Niamh, your talent and friendship inspire me and I'm always be grateful for your energy and positivity. Freck, Michelle, Sylvia, Em, Maggie, Mel, Tay, Frek, Beth, Rachel—amazing writers, and even more amazing friends— endless thank you's for the infinite moments of laughter and joy, the support and the love.

And definite love to the writers of NaNoWrimo Los Angeles, whose writing sprint sessions made much of this novel possible.

Last, but never least, for everyone who started this journey with me and read my writing from the beginning. Thank you for being my anchor.