Work Text:
Eight years later. Present Day.
The alarm on Raya’s phone woke her up as her index finger lazily slammed on the stop button on her phone alarm. Raya yawned and stretched as she rubbed her eyes, opening them. When her eyes opened, she turned to the other side of the room where an old white mattress sat on the bed frame. Raya knew it was River’s old bed before he got kicked out. Raya then got out of bed and went out of her room and walked down the long hallway to the one room where the door was wide open and filled with noise. That room was the bathroom and it was always crowded mostly of her thirteen cousins and her twin sister, Rosemary, either chatting with each other or arguing on who was using the sink to spit out their toothpaste. And of course, her youngest cousins, Cora, Iris, Lily, Niah, and Kinley fighting over the toilet, crying and screaming for their parents. Raya went inside despite how crowded it was. “Uh, excuse me, Ronnie, I need to get my toothbrush,” said Raya as the older boy turned around and gave off her a glaring look. “Ugh, whatever.” Ronnie groaned as he grabbed a towel. Raya went up to the sink and grabbed her toothbrush. As she was putting the toothpaste on her toothbrush, she felt something being spat on her. She turned around to see Rosemary, who was giving her an evil toothy grin. “Well, good morning, b*tch, I gave you something from me for your morning,” said Rosemary as she and the cousins laughed. Heck, even the younger ones who were fighting over the toilet started giggling as it was funny to them. “Rosemary, please, we had to get ready and we have one more week left, so we shouldn’t waste it.” said a girl with pale blondie-colored hair with light chocolate brown roots growing from the top, mid-tanned skin and emerald green eyes. “Whatever, Sereia, f*ck you.” hissed Rosemary as she went and grabbed a towel. “Don’t say it in front of the kids,” said Sereia. But Rosemary ignored her as she left along with their other cousins. “Here, Raya, let me clean that up for you,” said Sereia as she wiped the toothpaste spit off of Raya’s arm. Sereia is one of Raya’s thirteen cousins and is the same age as her and Rosemary, but only a month older than them. But unlike her other cousins who treated her like crap, Sereia is the only one who was kind to her and defended her after River got kicked out. "Thanks, Sereia," said Raya as she started brushing her teeth. "Your welcome, Raya," replied Sereia as she walked out of the bathroom. When Raya was done with her bathroom routine, she walked out of the bathroom and walked down the hall to her room. Raya got into her room and walked to the walk-in closet. She brushed out her fluffy hair. Raya put on a white tank top, a dark blue demin vest with multiple patches on it, black demin shorts, and a light mint blue headband. Raya went downstairs to the large dining table that is next to the kitchen and the living room. Raya sat down with Sereia and looked down at her breakfast. "Oatmeal, again?!" thoughted Raya as she picked up her spoon and was about to eat, Rosemary said, "Is it me, or your just getting uglier with every clothes you wear."
"I agree with Rosemary, like why can't be you be normal, why can't you dress normal, why can't you just be like your sister, heck, why can't you just be like the rest of the family, huh?" said Raya and Rosemary's dad, Arlo. Raya signed sadly as she ate her oatmeal. "Ok, Sabrina, you take Ronnie, Sailor, and Sapphire to school by car. Raya, Rosemary, and Sereia, you three walk to school and make sure that Meadow, Shannon, Ella, Cora, Iris, Lily, Niah, and Hailey are with you three at all times, got it?" announced Elijah, the main family leader. "Yes, grandpa." said the girls. After the cousins got their socks and shoes on, the older cousins got into Sabrina's car while the younger cousins started walking, however, there was a rule, they had to walk on the opposite sidewalk because the Belcher kids walked on that sidewalk. The Sharipovas hated the Belchers ever since the family moved to Seymour's Bay. Well with the exception of Raya, who is in love with the Belcher family’s oldest daughter, Tina. The two knew each other since second grade. Two years later in the fourth grade is where Raya’s crush on Tina began. But then, when both girls were in the sixth grade, Tina started to have a crush on Jimmy Jr, which it saddened Raya (dw, Raya doesn't see Jimmy Jr as competition). The only person that knows about her crush for Tina is Zeke, one of her friends. As Raya was walking on the opposite sidewalk with her twin sister and cousins, she turned her head to see the Belcher kids walking on the other side of the sidewalk. Obviously, one Belcher catch Raya's eye: Tina. Tina was walking between Gene and Louise. Raya looked at the oldest Belcher girl with a small smile. "Hey, Raya. Pay attention to the sidewalk!" Rosemary yelled. "Oh, uh, sorry, Rose…" said Raya who turned to look at the younger twin. "Don't Rose me, weirdo, I saw you looking at the Belchers again especially that ugly b*tch, Tina!" hissed Rosemary. "Rosemary, calm down and don't say that in front of the kids," said Sereia. "Whatever, Sereia." growled Rosemary. Raya, Rosemary, Sereia, Meadow, Shannon, Ella, Cora, Iris, Lily, Niah and Hailey arrived at Wagstaff School as the cousins walked to their separate ways. As Raya walked up to her locker and opened it, she saw a neon and pastel bead bracelet with a chain attached to it placed on her locker. Then she remembered on why it was there. A few weeks ago, she overheard a conversation from Rosemary's friend group on how they will confess to their crushes by putting something special on a chain and give it to their crushes and ask them to be their summer boyfriend. Soon in a few weeks, every other girl in the eighth grade (Well with the exception of Sereia) had something special put on a chain to confess to their crush. This inspire Raya to do the same. The bracelet that she put on the chain was a old friendship bracelet that Tina made eight years ago. Raya picked up the chain and look at the bracelet. "Huh, sooner or later, I had to confess to Tina and be her summer girlfriend." Raya thoughted as she put the bracelet chain in her backpack as the bell rang for first period. Recess came and Raya came outside to see Tina going back and forth to where Jimmy Jr and Zeke are doing their pretend wrestling. Raya knew why Tina is doing that. Tina was deciding if she should confess to Jimmy Jr or not. It dampened Raya a little bit knowing that her love for Tina is very one-sided especially since Tina is in love with someone else. "Hey, Raya!"
Raya snapped out of her daze to see Zeke. "Oh, hey, Zeke." said Raya as the two hugged each other before separating themselves from each other. "Btw, are you excited to graduate and be free?" asked Zeke. "Of course, Zeke." replied Raya. "Also, Zeke, I am planning on confessing to Tina to be my summer girlfriend." whispered Raya. "Ooo, when?" asked Zeke. "Hmm, I don't know, Zeke, probably on the last week of school." Raya replied. "Well, if it went well, let me know." said Zeke as he went back to pretend wrestle Jimmy Jr. Raya poked her head up to see Tina walking back to the steps. "Oh, Tina, hi." yelled Raya who was running over to Tina. "Oh, hey, Raya, didn't see you there…" Tina replied, fixing her glasses and looked at Raya. "Nah, it's alright, anyways, um…are you planning on confessing to someone before grad week?" asked Raya, her face blushing and twirling her fluffy hair. "You know who I am going to give my special chain." said Tina. "Let me guess, Jimmy Jr?" asked Raya, who looked a little dampened. "Yes." replied Tina. "You knew me very well, Raya." said Tina, putting her hands on Raya's shoulders, who blushed even more. "Holy f*ck, why am I sweating so much?!?" thoughted Raya before her eyes looked at Tina, who smiled at her. "Haha, yeah, I do, I mean, I am your friend after all, Tina…" said Raya as she went back to not making any eye contact with her crush. "Oh, uh, btw, will you come to my 14th birthday party next week?" asked Raya as she grabbed out an envelope out of her backpack. Raya is still blushing as she held out the envelope to Tina. "Yeah, sure thing, Raya.” replied Tina. Raya, who is still blushing, then give the envelope to Tina. “Anyways, I will see you later.” said Tina, giving out a smile as she went inside the school. “Man, Tina is so pretty.” Raya thoughted, who was squealing on the inside. “Hey, Raya, since you mentioned that your birthday is next week, can me and J-Ju get invitations too?” asked Zeke, which snapped Raya out of her daydreamy state. “Oh, uh, yeah, sure thing, Zeke.” replied Raya as she pulled out two envelopes out of her backpack and gave them to the two boys. “Thanks, Raya!” said Zeke. “Yeah, thanks.” said Jimmy Jr as both boys left. Recess was over and everyone was walking to their next classes. Though the thought of knowing Tina would never love her back had really bothered Raya. A lot. Thinking about it made Raya think of things that she didn’t want to think of such as how the confession will go down. It still bothered Raya even when she was at home. Raya was on her bed, still bothered by the thought. “I really need to stop thinking about it…” Raya said. Then, she heard a ping from a phone, she picked up her phone and saw that it was a text from Zeke. Raya opened the chat.
Zeke: Hey, Raya, I just wanted to say good luck if the confession between you and Tina went well
Raya: Thanks, Zeke, you're the best ^_^
Zeke: You're welcome, sis
Raya put her phone on the nightstand and pulled out the chained bracelet and looked at it. “I am going to confess to Tina Belcher next week even if it kills me.”