Eva always grew up being told that she needed to give her best in every situation. she did her best all her life, and was pretty much the perfect child, the one all parents wanted to have. she always did what she was told, she always respected everyone around her, she kept things to herself, only talking to adults when she was refered to, and she rarely went to high school parties without a good reason, only on friends' birthdays and other occasions. Even though she didn’t cheer to get a medal, she still did her best at that, because she knew it would give her opportunities to go to better colleges without spending too much money, and she also had her own savings from her job at the pizza place. She was an over achiever in every sense, and being an over achiever was the least her parents expected of her. They wanted her to enroll on all the AP classes and get 100% on all her tests, to focus on her future and become a successful person. So when Giles Corey offered her a cheer scholarship, her parents were thrilled.
But with the scholarship, came meeting the rest of the team; Kate, to be more precise. and the way Kate made Eva feel was something she had never experienced before. She had crushes, but none of them compared to Kate Dalton. When Kate started to flirt, she flirted back, awkwardly in the beginning, and the feeling only grew. Kate could make her happy by simply being there, and her smile, her smile was the best thing she had ever saw. When Kate smiled at her, it was like the whole world faded away. every little joke she told, every sarcastic comment she made and every time her eyes light up Eva got butterflies. and when Kate asked her out, she immediately said yes.
Their first kiss happened on their second date, and Eva felt like she was dreaming the whole time. Kate fucking Dalton was kissing her. She couldn’t stop smiling for three days. they went out for a few weeks before making it official. Eva was the one to ask this time, and she was so happy when Kate said yes. the time they spent together was like a dream that none of them wanted to wake up from.
They had their ups and downs, every couple did, but they always made up. in six months of dating, they knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with each other.
Eva’s parents weren’t as happy as their daughter. They were glad Eva had found someone for her, but they were always talking about how Eva should focus more on her future, and that high school relationships never lasted. not having her parents full support hurtled, but that didn’t mean Eva would keep herself from loving Kate and being loved by her.
She was always told what she had to do with her life: get her high school diploma on top of the honors role, go to a good college, preferably studying something like engineering, enlist on the military, and make a career for herself there as a military engineer; when she resigned from the military she would put her diploma to use in other areas; maybe, along all that, she would find someone to be with, and maybe, if she had time, she would have no more than two kids. but all those plans were suddenly so unimportant. All Eva could see on her future was Kate. she wanted to be with Kate no matter what. She didn’t care about diplomas and grades anymore. sure, she kept them up and was still on the honors role, but if she had to miss an assignment to stay with Kate, shed gladly miss it.
Part of her felt like she could be doing better. The stern looks on her parents faces when they found out she had missed the due date for some homework or she didn’t get at least a 95 on a test made her feel so bad. So she started trying to work harder and still be there for Kate. It worked alright at first, but as chess birthday approached, she found her girlfriend hiding in a bathroom stall and crying more and more times. and more and more times she would spend the night over, the comfort of having each other keeping nightmares mostly away, and the feeling of sufficiency pushing away her intrusive thought.
But when she came back home, the stares and the criticism got to her and she felt like she could do better, she had to do better. She would stay up all night studying, checking her phone every half hour to see if Kate had texted and needed anything, and drowning herself in work. She wrote essays the teachers didn’t ask for and got exercises from college books, trying to be better. She forgot to eat, she lived off coffee and motivation, the only times she would remember to eat was when food was brought to her with a phrase such as "if you eat you will be more productive", usually said by her parents.
You could clearly see how she was changing. It pained Kate to watch it. Her girlfriend was slipping away by the second, and as much as she told her she was enough and that she didn’t have to overwork herself, Eva didn’t believe it. The two had their time together, when they would just stay home watching a movie, or go out to a park, but Eva always seemed on edge.
She could only realize how bad things actually were when she passed out of exhaustion in the middle of cheer practice, having a concussion and a sprained wrist. She spent a couple days in the hospital, and after that, her parents had a talk with her.
She had to chose between being the best at everything she did, or be with Kate. For her, it wasn’t a choice. She knew she would be disappointing her parents, but she chose Kate. She would still work hard, and get good grades, like she always did, she just wouldn’t be on top of everything. she didn’t care though, as much as her parents and the voices in her head said she should. It was hard keeping those thoughts away, but she managed to burry them most of the time. She was happy doing what she was best at: loving Kate.