“Emma, what are you even talking about?” I giggled, and she poked my side in response. In my shock at the touch, I tripped on my heels, only just managing to catch myself... in my girlfriend’s arms, that is. “Hey! Stop!” I scolded, blushing furiously. “That’s... that’s not allowed.” But to be honest, when I looked up at her cheeky grin, my pout went away pretty fast. 

It always did.

“You two...” Lisa sighed, and I glanced up in the branches of the willow tree above. Upon one branch, there she lay. Our ghost friend was just lazily staring up at the canopy, her short black hair draping down and obscuring her face.

“You always complain about us being too gay,” Emma accused, though I could hear amusement in her tone. “Isn’t your entire grudge about straight people, though?”

Lisa gazed down at us from the branches, chuckling. “You’ve got me there. Anyway, so, what’re you two lovebirds doing out here, instead of, well, in there?” she gestured to the school building — to the open door which was the main source of light tonight, save the spattering of stars and silvery sliver of the moon.

“Emma was getting worn out by the crowd,” I explained, and looked back to my girlfriend — dang she was pretty tonight... all dressed up in that cute, feminine suit of hers... “She asked me if we could come out here for a little break.”

“Bet she just wanted to make out with you,” Lisa laughed again, as Emma’s eyes met mine.

“I can’t say I’d mind that,” I murmured, and then it was Emma’s turn to blush. 

Like all things in our relationship... it was as a flame. A warmth that started deep inside; a warmth which grew stronger and stronger until it reached a point where neither of us could hold back, nor did we want to.

“Oh great, here we go again,” the goth girl said. “Don’t mind this third wheel, I’ll just be up here plugging my ghostly ears and pretending like there’s nothing going on down there.”

This time, I didn’t need to stand on my tip-toes... I was already in heels, after all. Ignoring the lesbian ghost, Emma bent down just a tad... Just the amount that was necessary for our noses to nearly be touching, my heart racing ever faster, and then...

...Our lips met.

Where there was always warmth between us, when our lips met, there was fire. Sensation coursed through my entire body — not just where my skin met hers. Heat... tingling... shivers... maybe even sparks! Who knew.

In the time we spent apart... the time we spent together but not together... there remained little moments of love and affection. A blush here or there, a wink, a glance, fleeting fingers of a loving touch... 

But as we came together? As we kissed? 

That was everything.

It started as that touch, just her lips against mine... then a bit of a nibble on my lower lip as her fingers worked their way into my hair... and then as I melted into her arms, so too did my lips around hers.

This wasn’t the first time I’d made out with Emma. Not by... a long shot. No, this was a practiced kiss, a kiss between a couple more than two years strong. It was a physical connection formed by an emotional connection formed by even more than just those two years of passion... a fire tempered from a friendship, lit ablaze into a bonfire that couldn’t be put out by mortal means.

I was happy. 

So, so happy.

Happier than it was reasonable to even be, and not just because I was currently kissing the most gorgeous girl I knew.

Some days, I still remembered what it was like... you know, back before I’d understood anything. Back when I’d had to struggle to even exist. Like... heh, remember when I’d spent so long planning out every little thing? I’d followed freaking internet guides on how to act, all to forward a goal that wouldn’t have even helped me in the first place.

In all honesty, I’d gotten extremely lucky... luckier than I had any right to be. For things to be resolved so easily in the end... With not one bit of effort on my part towards what would actually have fixed my situation.

As Emma’s fingers explored my hair, and, well... I felt my face heat up even more; our tongues were doing a bit of exploration as well.

It really was crazy how much things had changed.

I was a girl, now, through and through. Granted, I’d long since learned that even if my body hadn’t been magically transformed into my own personal perfection, I still would’ve been a girl. I’d just have had to sit through a multi-year transformation followed by a surgery or two, rather than a ten minute one with no need for surgery. Again, I got extremely lucky... I was so thankful that things had worked out like they did.

That being said, that didn’t mean that everything came easy, not at all...

Convincing my parents of my identity, for example? That had been... a bit tricky, to put it lightly. Changing my government identification? That one had been a whole lot of hoops to jump through. People’s bodies didn’t just magically change like mine did. That wasn’t really a thing. We’d had to dig some connections and game the system a little bit...

It was all a whole lot of fuss, a whole lot of stuff that it really felt like I shouldn’t have needed to do. Why couldn’t I just be myself without everyone in my family being obsessed with my new identity or whatever? Why couldn’t I be myself without all this paperwork? Did that stuff even really matter, in the grand scheme of things?

Well, it did to the government, apparently. And my family.

Of course, dating Emma had made everything easier. Someone to have my back in all the hard times... Well, and the good times, too. Good times that had only grown more common as time wore on.

Good times like this kiss that we were currently sharing. 

It made me sad, thinking about the fact that this kiss would end. It made me even more sad, thinking about... the fact that our time in Osier High would end.

And as we finally pulled apart, my elegant Emma leaving me with one last peck on my forehead, I realised something important.

If this was prom night, and we’d already had our graduation ceremony the other day, classes being let out...

Wasn’t this already the end?

Tears sprung up in my eyes, and I quickly wiped them, along with a bit of saliva leftover from our... little session.

“I love you,” Emma said, pulling me against her. I leaned into the soft place beneath her collar bone, breathing in her wonderful smell and trying to forget the sadder of my thoughts.

“I love you too,” I whispered back, trying not to choke.

She gave me a tight squeeze, then pulled back to look into my eyes, immediately seeing through me. “What’s wrong, my little Willow?”

“This is where everything ends, isn’t it?” I murmured.

“What do you mean?” she asked, furrowing her pretty brows. God, she was way too attractive.

I wiped my eyes. “We’re not students of Osier High anymore,” I mumbled.

Lisa interjected, “Yeah, you’re not; nobody is, or else I’d be able to curse so many of those straight couples dancing in there right now.”

Hey, wasn’t she going to stop listening? Though I couldn’t help but giggle at the goth girl’s remark anyway. “E-even if you could, it wouldn’t last very long.”

“Touché.”

Emma ran her fingers through my hair. Idly, I wondered just how messed up it was by now, after our little make-out session and this. I’d gotten it professionally styled for today — you only have one senior prom, after all. 

Heck, that might not even have been the only thing messed up. I’d probably ruined my makeup with that little burst of tears just then.

“You’re beautiful,” Emma murmured idly, then shook her head. “Sorry, I... I get it. This school has... it’s been our life, hasn’t it? Probably yours even more than mine. I mean, jeez, you named yourself after it.”

I blushed and pouted. “That still wasn’t intentional... But like... what about Lisa?”

“What about me?” the goth girl asked, hanging upside down from the branch and startling both of us.

“Won’t you... be... you know, lonely?” I frowned, eyes getting watery again.

The girl rolled her eyes, but I could tell her eyes were starting to water too. “Your sentimentality is off the charts,” she said. “Sure, things have been a bit more exciting cuz you’re here, and you’re my friends... But, like...” she paused for a while, Emma and I both expecting her to say something profound. “I’ll live,” she winked. 

None of us laughed, though, and Lisa’s façade kinda broke a bit, tears rolling down her cheeks. (Yes, they were rolling against gravity. I don’t know, maybe a ghost thing?) And then she was sobbing, and I was sobbing, and...

“C’mere, you,” Emma said, pulling our goth friend down and between us, and we had a little group hug.

We stayed like that for a while, and by this point I was pretty sure my makeup was totally ruined; streaks of black running down my cheeks. Heck, I might’ve even looked more goth than Lisa... if I hadn’t been wearing a sparkly emerald-green dress that night.

Emma spoke up, voice quiet and calming. “This isn’t a goodbye for any of us,” she said. “You both should know that. Willow, you know I love you way too much to ever leave you, and I know you love me too much to do the reverse. And Lisa... this isn’t goodbye for you, either. Why would it be? Even if we hadn’t spent most of the last few months trying to work out ways to stay in touch with you, we’d still be able to hang out pretty regularly. Especially given Willow’s career choice.”

Always the one to stop us from freaking out, wasn’t she? So put-together and sensible and... Well, that was my girlfriend. I felt another wave of happiness wash over me, and I took a deep, calming breath.

“It’s going to be weird seeing you as a teacher someday,” Lisa gave me a weird look, having already broken out from the hug.

Leaning against Emma, I stuck out my tongue. “I’m perfectly suitable to be a teacher.”

“Yeah, for sure,” she laughed. “Right. Can’t wait to see you try to tame a group of troublemaker boys by sticking your tongue out at them.”

“Rude!” I pouted. “No, they’ll be tamed ‘cause they think I’m cute, obviously. There’s never a shortage of dumb boys crushing on girls way out of their league, after all,” I grinned.

Emma looked back and forth between us, shrugging. “Well, Lisa, she’s got you there.”

“If only I could change the way my grudge works just slightly so that I could curse all of those dumb boys in advance. Let’s see you try to tame a class of troublemaker boys all turned girls,” her eyes glowed.

Emma raised an eyebrow. “So all that self-control you learnt...”

Lisa flushed. “I’m just teasing, just teasing. I’m only going to do it to the really bad ones. Don’t worry. Straight couples can exist.”

“Good ghost girl,” I said, patting her. Lisa rolled her eyes.

Our ghost friend had actually made a ton of progress over the past few years. As much as she would never admit it, Lisa had gotten a lot happier; she’d mellowed out. I guess it had helped that she’d found a purpose in... uhh, death: a purpose in continuing to exist, something besides being pissed off at and cursing straight people all the time, one that even made use of her ability in a positive way, one inspired by yours truly. 

See, there were other trans kids to help. And that being the case, soon after my situation had been dealt with, we’d focused on helping all the other trans kids in our school to transition, and eventually other trans people too. Turns out, there’s a lot more trans folk in the world than it seems like, some of them even more hidden and deeply in-denial than I was! (That’s not to say that assuming someone is trans is a good idea, though. For instance, as much as I for a time believed that Steve might be a trans girl... let’s just say that one didn’t end particularly well. He’s just a nice dude, kay?) 

Looking back on one thing kinda led to another, then, and suddenly I found myself thinking about all the other crazy stuff that’d happened... All the stuff with other ghosts, like the stuff with the old woman of Ash Lake... and those crazy paranormal investigators that had shown up a few months later... 

To put a long story short, our high school years had been... incredible... and fun... and... well... They were over, now, though. Even if we were still able to hang out, things would be different. I supposed that was why I was so attached to these years, this time spent together in these halls. I supposed that was why I was so terrified to let it go.

But Emma was there, and, seeing my distress begin again, she squeezed my hand. “It’ll be okay,” she murmured. Honestly? If there was one thing I was capable of, it was believing in her.

So, now wasn’t the time for tears, or regrets. Now wasn’t the time to look back at the past, now was the time to look forward to the new things in the future. There would be more fun things. There would be more time we spent together.

“Are we going to bother heading back in?” I finally asked Emma as I leant against her.

“Ahh, actually... I had... umm...” Emma started.

That was unusual, she wasn’t usually the one to lose her words. Usually that was me. “What?” I prompted. 

Emma’s face was turning a bit pink, and I shared a look with Lisa, who shrugged. Lisa glanced up at Emma... then she back to me with a wink. “I’m gonna go make sure there’s not somebody I can curse. Later, lovebirds,” she said, before disappearing without a trace.

“O-oh,” I mumbled, feeling even more lost now that Lisa was gone.

“Willow...” Emma said, her eyes meeting mine. 

Her voice froze me, froze my chaotic train of thought, my worries and my fears and left nothing but... us. We stared at each other for a minute, just lost in each others’ eyes... Then, my girlfriend gently pulled my chin up towards her, thumb caressing my cheek. “You’re so, so pretty... even with your makeup all messed up like that.”

“I knew it would be,” I pouted, trying not to turn too red too quick. “My hair’s probably all messed up, too...”

“Shhh,” Emma smiled, her finger over my lips. Welp, there it was. There was the full blush.

“Do you... Do you know why I’m so... sure that things will be okay for us?” Her voice was as gentle and soft as her fingers, her beautiful face only centimetres from my own.

“Wh-why?”

“Because I love you, and you love me, and I have no intention of ever letting that end.”

Transfixed, I stared into her pretty eyes, and she into mine. It was apparent that I was entirely mesmerised by her, just as in love with her as she knew I was.

“I have something for you,” she said, her hand reaching into her purse and pulling something out.

“What is it?” I squeaked. 

And then she was kneeling, and I was nearly hyperventilating. Oh my god. Was this really happening? Oh my god. She was on one knee. 

Half of my brain was squealing unintelligibly and the other half was saying, ‘why didn’t you do this first, you idiot!’ ...But then the latter half shut up because it realised that we were both girls and it doesn’t matter who proposes to who, just that it happens, and honestly that’s probably the same for all couples whether or not they’re straight or gay, and... Well, at that point, my entire brain was squealing unintelligibly.

“Willow,” Emma said, smiling as she held out a box, and opened it. Inside was a ring... and it was beautiful. I didn’t know anything about rings, but it was from Emma, and that was why it was beautiful. “Will you marry me?”

I was crying again. So, so many tears. Whatever was left of my makeup would for sure be gone now. God, I was such a blubbery mess.

“Of course I will. Of course. I... I would... I would never... I would never say no to that,” I sobbed, jumping into her arms and falling into the grass with her.

“Well now we’re going to be all dirty, you doofus,” she giggled, wiping my tears. 

“I love you,” I wailed.

“I love you too, Willow.”

~

In the halls of Osier High, there were many rules. For example, no running, no yelling... no pushing, no swearing. You weren’t allowed to bully others, though that one was rather hard to enforce because it was vague. Besides that, there was also... No indecency... No crude behaviour... No drugs.

 One rule was crossed out, in all the rulebooks. It had been rather infamous; it was the rule that had put Osier High on the map.

Once upon a time, at Osier High, you were not allowed to have a relationship with a member of the opposite sex. Or at the very least, if you did, you weren’t allowed to let anyone know.

But that rule was gone now. These relationships were allowed. Students weren’t afraid to get into them inside or outside of school. Students weren’t afraid of getting punished for love, no matter the gender of that love.

There was a rumour, though... A rumour that said that the people who were a bit too... ‘over the top’ about their relationships... a rumour that said that the ones a bit too annoying and incessant about getting into one... that those students would be cursed.

Osier High was no longer a land without love. No — nowadays, Osier High was a land of love. A land of flirting, of horny teenage rumours of nights spent together. No one was too scared for that, not anymore.

And as I stared out my classroom window, a ghostly figure at my side, watching today’s confession under the school’s tree and my namesake...

I smiled, playing with the ring on my finger as I thought of my own flame.