Chapter 1
MY PERSONAL CALL GIRL
An LGBTQ+ Fiction
INTRODUCTION
Hi, everyone.
This is Aughnnaugh.
I’ve been writing stories since I was in primary school. I used to spend hours creating characters, imagining their lives, and putting their stories into words. But as life became busier, writing slowly became something I had to set aside.
Now, I’m back.
And this time, I want to tell you a story about two girls who grew up together, shared almost everything, and somehow managed to convince themselves that what they had was nothing more than friendship.
This is a story about friendship.
About first loves.
About heartbreak.
About jealousy.
About the kind of comfort that slowly becomes a little too intimate to be called ordinary friendship.
And most importantly, about two people who spent years looking for love in other people before realizing that perhaps the person they had been looking for had been beside them all along.
This is Callie and Kendra’s story.
A story about two best friends.
Or maybe...
something more.
CHAPTER 1
Since Nursery
If someone asked Callie who her best friend was, she wouldn’t even need to think.
“Kendra.”
If someone asked Kendra the same question, her answer would be exactly the same.
“Callie.”
It had always been that way.
Since nursery.
Since before either of them understood what friendship actually meant.
Their parents had been best friends since middle school, and when they eventually started their own families, it seemed almost inevitable that their children would become close too.
Callie and Kendra were born less than a year apart.
They grew up in the same small town somewhere in the Philippines, lived only a few streets away from each other, and attended the same schools.
Their mothers joked that they had practically raised two children instead of one.
Whenever there was a family gathering, Callie and Kendra were together.
Whenever there was a birthday party, they were together.
Beach outing?
Together.
Christmas?
Together.
School project?
Obviously together.
Even when their parents tried separating them during family trips because they thought the two girls were becoming too dependent on each other, it never worked.
They always found their way back to each other.
“Callie!”
A little girl came running across the school playground, her tiny backpack bouncing against her shoulders.
Kendra immediately turned around.
“Callie, wait!”
Callie stopped.
She looked behind her and saw Kendra running toward her with tears in her eyes.
“What happened?”
“I lost my ribbon.”
Callie looked at her hair.
One pink ribbon was still attached.
“You still have one.”
“I lost the other one.”
Callie stared at her for a moment.
Then she sighed dramatically.
“Come on.”
“Where?”
“We’ll find it.”
“But we’re going to be late.”
“I don’t care.”
Kendra smiled.
And that was how they spent their first day of nursery.
Looking for a pink ribbon.
Years later, neither of them would remember where that ribbon went.
But they would remember the promise Callie made that day.
“If you lose something, I’ll help you find it.”
It sounded like nothing.
Just something a child would say.
But Kendra remembered.
As they grew older, their friendship only became stronger.
By elementary school, teachers already knew that putting Callie and Kendra in separate groups was pointless.
If Callie was assigned to one group and Kendra to another, they would somehow find a reason to exchange places.
“Ma’am, Kendra doesn’t understand the assignment.”
“Ma’am, Callie forgot her pencil.”
“Ma’am, we’re partners.”
Sometimes they weren’t even supposed to be partners.
But they always somehow became partners.
Callie was the stubborn one.
Kendra was the patient one.
Callie acted first and thought later.
Kendra thought first and usually stopped Callie from doing something stupid.
If Callie wanted to climb something she wasn’t supposed to climb, Kendra was there telling her to get down.
If Callie wanted to fight someone because they made fun of her, Kendra was there holding her arm.
“Don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll get in trouble.”
“But she started it.”
“And you’ll finish it.”
Callie would cross her arms.
“You’re so annoying.”
Kendra would smile.
“And yet you keep following me.”
“Because you’re my best friend.”
It was always that simple.
At least, back then.
By the time they reached middle school, everyone knew them.
Callie and Kendra.
The inseparable pair.
They attended Pran International School, the same school their parents had chosen for them.
They were also among the top students in their year.
Callie was competitive.
Kendra was disciplined.
Together, they were almost impossible to beat.
“Second place again?”
Callie stared at the results posted on the classroom wall.
Kendra stood beside her.
“Congratulations.”
“Don’t congratulate me.”
“Why?”
“Because you beat me.”
Kendra laughed.
“You got ninety-eight.”
“And you got ninety-nine.”
“That’s one point.”
“Exactly.”
Kendra shook her head.
“You are unbelievable.”
Callie turned toward her.
“Next exam, I’m beating you.”
“Okay.”
“And don’t study too much.”
“Why?”
“So I can catch up.”
Kendra laughed.
“That’s not how studying works.”
“I’ll figure it out.”
They walked toward their classroom together.
Callie carried both their books.
Kendra carried both their water bottles.
Neither of them thought anything of it.
They had been doing things like that for years.
One afternoon, they were sitting under a large tree near the school garden.
Callie was eating chips.
Kendra was reading.
“Callie.”
“Hmm?”
“You’re eating my chips.”
“You weren’t eating them.”
“I was saving them.”
“For what?”
“Later.”
Callie ate another one.
Kendra reached for the packet.
“Give it back.”
“No.”
“Callie.”
“No.”
“Kendra.”
“That’s my name.”
“Give me the chips.”
“No.”
Kendra reached for the packet.
Callie moved it behind her.
They started laughing.
A few classmates walking past looked at them.
One of the boys stopped.
“You two act like an old married couple.”
Both girls immediately froze.
“What?”
The boy laughed.
“You heard me.”
Callie rolled her eyes.
“Gross.”
Kendra laughed awkwardly.
“She’s my best friend.”
“Sure.”
The boy walked away.
Callie looked at Kendra.
Kendra looked at Callie.
Neither said anything.
Then Callie shrugged.
“People are weird.”
“Very.”
And just like that, they moved on.
Neither of them knew that years later, they would remember that stupid comment.
Their parents were no different.
At dinner one evening, Callie’s mother looked at the two girls sitting beside each other.
“You two are always together.”
Callie continued eating.
“We’re best friends.”
“I know.”
Her mother smiled.
“You’ve been best friends since nursery.”
Kendra nodded.
“We’ll always be best friends.”
Callie looked at her.
“Promise?”
Kendra held out her pinky.
“Promise.”
Callie linked her pinky with hers.
“Forever?”
“Forever.”
Their mothers smiled.
Neither girl knew that promises made when you’re young can become the hardest promises to keep.
Years passed.
High school came.
Then college.
Their lives changed.
Their bodies changed.
Their interests changed.
Their friend groups changed.
But one thing didn’t.
They still had each other.
And somewhere along the way, something else began changing too.
It happened so slowly that neither noticed.
The hugs lasted longer.
The calls lasted later.
The sleepovers became almost routine.
When one of them had a bad day, the other was always the first person called.
When one of them cried, the other was the person who wiped the tears.
When one of them got sick, the other showed up with food.
When one of them got heartbroken...
the other stayed.
Always.
It was still friendship.
At least, that’s what they told themselves.
Until Callie had her first real relationship.
And her first real heartbreak.
It was a rainy Friday night when Callie called Kendra.
Kendra answered immediately.
“Hello?”
Silence.
“Callie?”
A quiet sniffle came through the phone.
Kendra sat up in bed.
“What happened?”
Another silence.
Then Callie whispered,
“She broke up with me.”
Kendra didn’t ask who.
She already knew.
She got out of bed, grabbed her jacket, and walked toward the door.
“Where are you going?” her mother asked.
“To Callie.”
“It’s raining.”
“I know.”
“Now?”
Kendra looked at her mother.
“She needs me.”
And that was all it took.
Twenty minutes later, Kendra was standing outside Callie’s house, soaked from the rain.
Callie opened the door.
Her eyes were red.
The moment she saw Kendra, she broke down.
Kendra didn’t say anything.
She simply opened her arms.
Callie walked into them.
And for the first time, Kendra realized something.
She hated seeing Callie cry.
Not because Callie was her best friend.
That wasn’t the strange part.
The strange part was how much she wanted to be the only person who could make her stop.
Callie buried her face against Kendra’s shoulder.
“Don’t leave.”
Kendra held her tighter.
“I won’t.”
“Promise?”
Kendra closed her eyes.
“Forever.”
Neither of them knew it yet.
But that night would be the beginning of everything.
Because sometimes love doesn’t arrive with butterflies.
Sometimes it arrives quietly.
Sometimes it disguises itself as friendship.
And sometimes...
your best friend has been your person all along.
You just have to lose everyone else first to realize it.
