Chapter Text
Aubrey was used to being alone. She had been an outsider since she was a little kid. No one wanted to play with her, talk to her or even get close to her. By that time she didn't understand why, she was too young, how could a child undestand that because of the terrible reputation of her parents she would be outcasted for the rest of her life?
But there is a wonderful unamed force in the world Aubrey believes in, that always gets the outcasts together so they will feel less alone. That's why Aubrey found Sunny, Kel, Hero and Mary while crying on the street because she lost her shoe. Sunny was very introverted and akward, but Kel was extroverted and outgoing. They were polar opposites, but in a good way, like the sun and the moon, platonic soulmates that were meant to balance eachother, that's the best way Aubrey would describe them.
They soon accepted Aubrey and they became really close. Kel would always annoy Aubrey on purpose and that would get on Aubrey's nerves, but Sunny was calm and always seemed to get flustered everytime she got too close to him.
Aubrey soon started to get along well with Mary, they were the only girls in the group so it was normal. Aubrey was an only child, and on top of that she had a terrible homelife. Her parents were on the verge of divorce, always arguing and screaming at eachother, always neglecting their kid because of their own selfishness. She always wished she had an older sibling that would take care of her, protect her, make her feel safe and at home in a place that was far from feeling like one. A home doesn't feel so cold and empty even where there's people inside, a home is not always dirty and always smelling like alcohol. She didn't have a sibling, but she had Mary. And Mary became the sister figure that she needed. They did everything together, went shopping, played dress-up, had only-girls nights... It was all perfect.
Then, the law of atraction acted up again. A blonde shy kid was eating alone at recess, he seemed a bit anxious, Aubrey noticed that.
'Hi, I'm Aubrey, what's your name?'
The kid looked at Aubrey, he seemed a little surprised someone was even talking to him, but then he replied:
'Basil.'
'What are you doing here, eating alone?'
Basil looked akwardly at his own feet to avoid Aubrey's eye contact.
'Well, I'm a little bit scared of talking to anyone here... So, I just rather eat alone.'
Aubrey understood that fear very well, more than any kid in the town. In that moment she understood it was probably that force's doing, so she had an idea. She grabbed Basil's hand and dragged him out of the playground, into the school, with her.
'W-wait! Where are we going?!'
'Trust me, ok?'
'H-how?! I just met you.'
Sunny, Kel, Mary and Hero were all talking in the corridor that connects where the classes for highschool students were with the classes for middle and elementary school.
'HEY GUYS!!'
Greeted Aubrey enthusiastically. They soon became interested in the blue-eyed kid wearing green overalls that she was holding hands with.
'I just met someone I want you all to meet!'
Basil was a calm, creative kid with a huge passion for photography. He always carried his camera with him, and took pictures of everything he liked. He also loved gardering, and had lots of plants, it was kinda ironic since he was also named after a plant. His personality was somehow alike to Sunny's, they soon started to get along well, and later became really close. Aubrey was happy to see this, it made her feel like she was starting some sort of healing circle where everyone stopped feeling so lonely.
It was definitively one of the best periods in her life.
But then it happened.
The end of all that happiness.
She had returned from school like any other day, she was just a little weirded out about the fact that neither Sunny, Basil or Mari had gone to school that morning.
She was getting ready for the recital of violin and piano Sunny and Mari were going to give that evening. Then, news arrived:
Mari was dead.
No, even worse. Mari had commited suicide.
In life, there is always an explanation for everything. Why do you eat? Because you are hungy. Why are you hungry? Because you skipped lunch.
There are many reasons for someone to take the desicion of doing it. But why did SHE( out of all people) have to?
That question persisted in her mind, why, why, why, why, Why, WHY?
That afternoon escalated from getting ready for a recital to getting ready for a funeral. At first it didn't even feel real. All her memories of the funeral are kinda blurry, but, she does remember Hero's cliff faced expression, that was just a mask to try to hide as much pain as possible; Kel's tears, as she left a rose next to Mary's coffin; Basil having a panik attack and leaving too early; Sunny's dead expression while everyone gave him condolences, Aubrey was sure it didn't feel real for him either.
That day was if not the most, the closest to being the worst day of her short but intense life.
She didn't sleep at all, she just stayed up all night, silently crying at the loss of the person that had made her feel so safe and conforted. Her friend. The friend everyone loved.
After some weeks of school, Sunny just stopped attending classes. It made sense. The whispers of the students about Mari's cause of death were unbearable even for her, she couldn't even imagine what Sunny could be feeling.
But then something she wasn't expecting happened. Basil started to avoid the group as much as he could, wich was extremely weird. Weren't they all supposed to support eachother during times like this? Isn't that what friends do? Why was Basil doing that? Did he not care about them anymore? Why was he being so... selfish?
Oh, but little did poor Aubrey knew that Basil leaving was the beggining of the end.
Because, a little after, Hero started to focus more on his studies, Aubrey understood that. He was probably looking for some sort of distraction.
And then, Aubery doesn't remember exactly when, but there was this period of time where Kel and Aubrey stopped hanging out, and a little after she saw how Kel had made new friends in the basketball team. That was great, truly, but that also made Aubrey realise something:
She had been left alone.
She had no one now.
She was just were she had been two years ago: without friends, sitting alone under a tree, trying not to get percieved by anyone.
And it was sad. It was sad that all her friends had left when she most needed them. They had all moved on so easily... They had forgotten Mari so easily.
She was sad, but she was so angry too.
But she had no one to be angry at now. They all had left. Why? It wasn't fair. She nedeed them, why did they left? Aren't friends supposed to be there for eachother at rough times? Did she do something wro-
'Hey, are you ok?..' -A short-haired girl with a pair of red glasses asked, sounding really concerned. Aubrey had been so deep into her own thoughts she hadn't realiced she was crying. - 'I have been looking at you for a while, and now you are crying... do you need me to call someone?, did someone hurt you?'
'No, don't worry, I'm fine.'
That's all she could get out. It was a very obvious lie, but it was all she got.
'Then why were you crying?'
'I don't know...'
Why was this girl insisting so much? Why not just leave her alone? No one had seemed to notice her in a while, how had she noticed her?
'You seem kinda lonely. Do you perhaps... wanna come hang with me?'
'But, I barely know you...'
'Yeah, isn't that the way you are supposed to make friends? By talking to new people you don't know?'
The girl with red glasses offered her a hand so she would get up, Aubrey hesitated, but then something came into her mind: “Could this be...” She had a hunch that told her she could trust that orange-eyed girl, so she accepted her hand. She got up, then said:
'I don't know your name.'
'Oh, I'm Kimberly, but please, just call me Kim, I hate my full name.'
Kim. It somehow suited her.
'My name is Aubrey.'
'Nice to meet you, Aubrey.'
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Kim's friends were a self-proclaimed gang called 'The Hooligans', wich sounded kinda childish to Aubrey at first. There were four members:
-Vance, Kim's older brother, who acted gruff and blant around Aubrey, she didn't understand why, but Kim told her he's always like that around new people.
-Charlene, a really tall girl who is also really quiet. Aubrey didn't talk to her much.
-Mikhael, a blonde... was he really blonde? Because Aubrey would have sworn it looked like he was wearing a wig. Anyways, he was really dramatic, Aubrey wasn't sure if she liked him or not.
-And finally, Kim. Aubrey felt like she would get along with her really well.
Overall, they were all ... peculiar in their own ways.
'Hey, Aubrey! So... do you perhaps wanna come hang out with us tomorrow? We think you are really nice, and I'm sure we'll get alone, what do ya' say?'
That was what Kim had offered her after meeting her friends.
Aubrey wasn't sure of what she was getting into, I mean, they were all weird, let's face it. But what was wrong with that anyways? She was also that weird kid that no one wanted to get close to once, what if she just gave them a chance? Maybe they'll surprise her.
'Sure, why not?'
They had agreed to meet again at faraway park the next day, a saturday. Aubrey knew her mother wouldn't let her hang out with anyone that day, she always forced her to stay home with her and her father for 'family bonding', wich she hated. She didn't hate her family, 'you can't hate your parents, they are your parents!', Aubrey thought, but it was also really hard to love that unstable marriage that had been falling apart for years. All that 'family bonding' shit was her mom's last attempt to keeping the family together, but at this point it was far beyond repair. Having to accept your parents don't love eachother anymore is hard, and having to mourn your best friend at the same time was even harder. Aubrey was going through a lot, and her parents were too busy yelling at eachother to realise that her daughter needed confort from them to get past all this. But no. Here they were. Aubrey was so tired. She really wanted to go hang out with Kim and the rest, but how could she do that in these conditions? They would never let her go out now, they would yell at her, and take out all their anger on her.
Wait.
What if she snuck out?
No. NO. It was a terrible idea, if her parents caught her, she was doomed.
But was staying there the best option? No. She was debating herself whether to do it or not, and in the end, she decided she deserved something better than this, someone to actually care, and this was the closest she had been in having a friend group again in so long, she wasn't going to miss the opportunity. Screw her parents, she was opening the window.
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'Hey guys!- I'm sorry I'm late!'
Greeted Aubrey, out of breath. She had ran all her way here, she was scared of her parents finding out she was gone and going after her, so she left her neighbourhood as fast as she could.
They were all there: Charlene, quiet, as always; Vance, looking pretty intimidating (or maybe it was just that she was a bit scared of him); Mikhael, looking at himself in his pocket mirror (God, he was such a narcissist); and Kim, with her hands on her pockets, leaning on a tree next to her.
'Oh, don't worry, you are not late. -Said Kim, getting up- Well, now that you're here, we can go get some candy together.'
Candy? They were going to the OtherMart? Shit. She checked her pockets. She forgot to bring her purse.
'I'm sorry, I didn't bring any money.'
'Don't worry Aubrey, none of us did either.'
Said Kim, getting her hands out of her sweatshirt's pockets to show she had nothing inside.
'Then how are you going to pay for the candy?'
The four kids looked at her, then Vance and Mikhael started laughing, wich confused Aubrey a lot. What was going on?
'You don't have to worry abot that. Come on guys, let's go!'
They arrived at the OtherMarket, Aubrey was still confused as hell, and no one gave her answers. She was really starting to reconsider if scaping her parents to come with them was a good idea. Seriously, what was she getting herself into?
They were now in the candy and other sweets section, there was no one around, and the cashier was all by himself. Vance and Kim were checking out the jelly-beans, Mikhael was still looking at himself in the mirror (seriously, what's the deal with this guy?!), and Charlene was checking out some bags of Haribo gummy bears. Aubrey was just in the middle of the corridor, not sure of what she would pick considering she had no money on her and neither did any of them.
Then, Vance looked at both sides of the corridor, making sure there was no one around.
'Now.'
And with that word that dropped from Vance's mouth, they all took whatever they had closer and got in into their pockets.
Now it all made sense, but... Where they insane?!
She hadn't even considered stealing an option because it's so easy for anyone to catch you in that market, its almost impossible. The cashier may be by himself and there may be no one around, but he has like some sixth sense that can detect whenever someone is stealing.
This wasn't going to end well.
'What are you doing? You're going to get caught.'
Whispered Aubrey into Kim's ear.
'No, don't worry, we've done this a lot of times before. Trust us, pick something.'
Kim whispered back.
Now Aubrey was debating herself between her two options, do it or not. There were this two little voices inside her head, one said: “Don't do it, it's not right and you know it! What if they caught you? What would mom and dad say, huh? They will get so mad at you! There is no way this is gonna end well!” But then, the other voice was like “So what if they get mad? Isn't that exactly what I want?, why I scaped through the window in the first place? And what if this doesn't end well?”
And she decided she was listening to the second one. Because, who cares if this doesn't end well?! She had all the right to feel like doing things wrong after all this time acting right, staying quiet and doing whatever she was told to do. She had decided this is what she wanted, she wanted to steal that candy, she wanted to have them as friends, and no one will stop her.
She took some chocolate bars and shoved them into the pockets of her purple jacket. They all walked towards the exit when the cashier was distracted, hoping he wouldn't notice them. And they thought they were about to make it when they heard a voice call the out:
'Hey, kids! What do you have inside your pockets? Aren't you going to buy anything?'
Shit.
'RUN!'
And with Kim's order, everyone rushed out the market as fast as they could, the problem was that the cashier was chasing them too.
'COME BACK YOU LITTLE BRATS!!'
They didn't know where to go, it would be to obvious to go to the park, and it would be a suicide to go to any of their houses. And then, Aubrey had an idea:
'GUYS, FOLLOW ME, I KNOW WHERE WE CAN GO!'
None of them thought it twice and followed Aubrey to wherever she was taking them. And where was she taking them? To her old friend group's hangout spot. Hopefully, no one would find them there.
They arrived to the spot comletely tired, trying to catch their breaths.
'Is he still following us?'
Asked Vance, laying on the grass because of exhaustion. It was normal, they had ran from almost one point of the town to the other in a really short time.
'I think not.'
Answered Mikhael.
Aubrey was also laying down on the grass, quick breaths to bring oxyigen into her blood. There was this feeling inside her that was kinda new, amd it felt so right considering how wrong what she just did was:
'That...was...'
'You liked the adrenaline, didn't you?'
Kim asked her, as she lay down next to Aubrey.
'I did...I really did. I hand't had this much fun in ages, I mean, I never thought I would have fun doing something like that.'
'Would you want to do this again?'
'Of course!'
'Good. That means you are one of us now.'
One of them. She was one of them. It felt so good, that feeling of belonging, of having someone to trust. Oh, she had missed that feeling. She was happy. Really happy. Like she hadn't been in a long while. She was again in the old hangout spot, with new people now, it was giving her a little deja-vu.
From now on, things were going to get better, she could feel it.
She couldn't be more thankful to that weird law of attraction for giving her a new beginning.