Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

     “Aphmau?” Her teacher asked, making her look up from her school schedule in her notebook. 

     “Yes?” She asked, tapping her pencil on the open book, knowing her teacher was gonna ask her to do something before class ended and the club fair started. 

     They seemed unprepared this year, with the previous club captains manning their own booths and such. But that didn’t do much with the actual setting up of the club fair besides individual booths.

     Teony had asked her if she was supposed to be helping out this morning but when Aphmau said no, they seemed a bit worried.

     Her teacher smiled sweetly, “Can you go help down at the gym before the club fair opens? Teony asked for you.”

     She held back a sigh, looked down at her schedule for when the next period starts, and nodded, “Sure… Is it ok for me to miss the next period?” She asked, standing up from her desk.

     “It’s alright, I’ll let your next teacher know.” The teacher told her, gesturing her off towards the door.

     Aphmau put her notebook in her bag before getting up and walking out of the classroom, towards the gym. 

     The girl looked at her phone and checked through her messages while passing through the hall. 

     On the lock screen she saw messages from Katelyn, Nana, and Teony. All of them asked for her to get out of class and to come help down at the gym. 

     Quickly she messaged back to them, that she was on her way to the gym to help them out with preparations. She knew it was too good to be true when Ms. Layla said they didn’t need her help getting the club fair set up for the new freshman. 

     Once she got close enough, Aphmau saw Nana by the doors of the gym, “Hi Aphmau!” Nana said, waving to her frantically while holding some decorations. 

     “Hi Nana, what are you doing?” Aphmau asked, dropping her bag next to Nana’s right outside the gym doors. 

     “Well, Teony asked me to just make it look friendly, but we need to hang a banner above the door. I can’t though, not tall enough even with the ladder.” She explained. 

     Aphmau looked at the door and sighed, if Nana couldn’t get it up, then Aph couldn’t either. “You try Katelyn?” She asked, stretching upwards and linking her hands for a second. 

     “Yeah, she wasn’t tall enough either. Can you go try to find someone tall enough?” She suggested, holding up two colors of streamers next to the door, trying to pick one. 

     “Sure. Give me a second...” Aphmau said, looking behind her to see a much taller kid looking at his schedule, “Hey!” 

     The guy looked around before looking at Aphmau, watching as she ran over to him, “Mind helping us hang a banner really quick?” 

     He slowly blinked, before nodding, “Great!” Aphmau ran back over to Nana, the taller following shortly. 

     Nana looked at the guy, “Oh, hi!” She said excitedly, “Are you tall enough to put it on?” She asked, getting off the ladder.

     “Umm.” He went to the ladder and got up a few steps, putting the end of the banner into the hook easily. 

     “Darn.” Nana panted, cracking her back after having tried to put the banner up for a few minutes, “How tall are you?” She asked. 

     “6’2.” He simply answered. 

     She fixed her blazer while staring at him, “Are you new?” 

     He nodded and Nana smiled, “Cool! What grade are you?” 

     “Senior.” He answered. 

     “I’m a junior, and Aphmau is a sophomore.” Nana said, holding Aphmau by her shoulders lightly. 

     Sighing, Aphmau looked at the banner, “What’s the sign for? I thought the teachers were just gonna bring them directly to the Gym.” She asked Nana.  

     “Ms. Layla wanted it just so if kids decide to skip they can’t say they got lost since there’s a giant sign.” Nana explained, letting her go to choose between streamers, “Which one should I choose?”

     “…Why don’t you just do both? They’re pretty.” She asked after looking at the colors. 

     Nana shook her head, “They are, but it’s just too colorful, I think I’ll stick with yellow. It’s just for today anyway, hand me the scissors.” 

     Aphmau gave her the scissors and watched as she strung a few below the banner, “There, what do you think?” Nana asked, stepping back to look at her work. 

     “Is that straight?” He asked, leaning as far back on the ladder as he could without falling. 

     “Mostly.” Nana said, before looking into the gym, “Oh Irene- I forgot I have a booth.” She ran into the gym towards the cooking club. 

     The sophomore and senior were left alone with each other, mainly the new boy looking after Nana as she left. 

     “She’s single.” She quietly threw out, looking down at her nails.

     He looked at her, lightly shocked, “I- I’m not-” 

     “Straight?” Aphmau asked, causing him to immediately shake his head, “No no- I am- but I’m not-” He panicked, “Not that I’m against that-” 

     She held up her hands while laughing, “Hey- it’s cool dude. She’s cute and single, that's all I’m saying. Now go to class.” She said, switching up her attitude and motioning for him to leave. 

     “Uhh.” He looked at his schedule and back at her. 

     “Are you lost?” She asked. He nodded, showing her his schedule, “Aaron?” She asked, looking at the name at the top of the schedule, making him nod. 

     “Ok, class down the hall to the right. You’ll see the number.” She said, pointing in the direction he was supposed to be going in.

     He seemed reluctant and Aphmau crossed her arms, “Look, I’ve been lost 100 times in this school. I know my way around by now. Trust me.”

     “Not a good selling point.” He told her quietly.

     Aphmau huffed, pointing at him, “I can write you up, I have that power.” She threatened, knowing she didn’t have her detention pad on her.

     Aaron looked her up and down, realizing he was a lot taller than her and could easily shove her into one of the lockers.

     Her glare got tighter and he glared back at her, “Down the hall, to the right?” He asked again, allowing the threat.

     She nodded firmly, pointing to the hallway he had come from, “Go, before you’re considered late for class. As a new student you have some leniency but that only lasts for today.”

     Holding back a sigh, Aaron started towards the hallway before turning down where she had shown him. 

     “Oh come on, 1 puff.” Aphmau heard someone down the other end of the hall say, causing her to turn around towards it. 

     There were the shadows of 3 students laughing while staggering around, “Ok- ok- ok- once because I think they’re having some event around here.” 

     “Club fair, Gene.” A girl said, finally coming around the corner, to see Aphmau, “Oh shit…” Sasha spoke. 

     Gene looked from play fighting with Zenix, “Oh, if it isn’t the feisty kitty.” Gene mocked, holding a vape in his hands. 

     “Gene.” Aphmau sighed, crossing her arms and staring at the trio, “What are you doing out of class? Or did you not even go?” She asked. 

     Zenix quietly tried to grab the vape from Gene but he kept it away from Zenix, “Trying to find the- the-” Gene nudged Sasha, waiting for her to finish the sentence. 

     “The club fair.” She added, causing the two boys to nod. 

     “That doesn’t start for another…” Aphmau looked at her watch, “8 minutes.”

     “We wanna be star students.” Gene threw out, causing Aphmau to roll her eyes, “Come on, we’ll go in now.” Gene went closer to her. 

     “We’re not ready, it’s not open yet.” She said sternly. 

     He raised an eyebrow, amused, “You’re not ready for the fair that starts in 8 minutes? Sounds like bad planning.”

     “We’re understaffed.” She glared.

     About to speak, Gene clicked his tongue and pointed to her before the gym doors opened, “Aphmau, are you alright?” Teony asked, having seen Gene and his posse out the windows.

     “Oh! Ms. Bitch, nice to see you.” Gene said, faking an enthusiastic tone to its fullest extent, “How are you?” 

     “Mx.” Teony corrected, “And fix your tie.” They pointed out, nodding to the loose badly done uniform tie. 

     The tie remained loose but he had at least looked down at it to humor them, “My bad, no one told me, Mx. Bitch.” 

     They took a deep breath, “What are you doing out right now?” 

     Gene motioned to the sign above the gym doors, “For the- the club crap, I wanna do something with art.” 

     “Graffiti doesn’t count as art when it’s on property you don’t own.” Aphmau pointed out, looking at her nails. 

     Quietly Gene put the vape in his mouth, taking a drag before blowing the smoke in Aphmau’s face, causing her to gag and wipe her eyes.  

     Sasha and Zenix both watched in shock at the action, Zenix smiling after a moment while Sasha was more horrified. She hated when Gene blew smoke in her face and knew how gross Aphmau would feel afterwards. 

     Teony pulled her back from Gene, “Gene! What the hell!” Teony crouched down to her face, “Are you alright Aph?” 

     Aphmau nodded, “Yeah, they’re just watery.” She gasped. 

     “Gene, I'm gonna have you arrested for this!” Teony scolded, trying to wipe the tears that were falling from Aphmau’s face. 

     “Teony I’m alright, just some smoke.” Aphmau tried to dismiss but her eyes kept on watering, causing more to fall

     “Go inside Aphmau,” Teony told her, turning back to Gene, “And I’m gonna write you up.” 

     He sighed, “Ok that may have not been my best move but it’s the first day Mx. Bitch. Let it go.” 

     Teony opened their hand, “Give it before I have you expelled.”  They threatened. 

     Gene scoffed before handing over the vape, “I’ll see you later in the principal's office.” He mocked, “And get a girl to take that stick out of your ass soon too.” Gene said, loud enough that it lightly echoed down the hall. 

     When Teony looked at Sasha and Zenix, they shook their head in disappointment, “Go to class, both of you.”

     At the moment, Teony let them walk but knew to write a very long speech about what they saw to the principal, Ms. Layla. Their first priority was making sure the club fair went well which was conflicting with their duty to protect the other students. 

     After the troublesome trio turned the corner, Teony went back inside the gym, “Aphmau?” They said, looking around for the sophomore. 

     They saw her at the cooking club booth with Nana, carefully holding a cloth to her eyes, “Oh Irene…” They whispered going over to the booth. 

     “Aph? Are you alright?” They asked again, causing Aphmau to take the cloth that looked wet off her eyes. 

     “Yes Teony, I’m alright. It just burns a little, but the cold water is making it better.” She smiled a bit. 

     Teony felt awful that they had let Gene do that to Aphmau, “I know I called for you, but it’s alright, we can do without it. Just keep the towel on your eyes.” 

     “What-? No! Teony I’m alright.” Aphmau stood up, setting down the cloth on the booth. 

     Nana picked up the cloth again and pushed it to Aphmau’s face, “She right, your eyes look irritated. Rest, you can stay here.” 

     “They.” Teony quietly corrected. 

     Immediately Nana softly gasped, covering her mouth with her hand, “Oh my Irene, I’m so sorry.” 

     Teony giggled a bit, “Nana it’s alright.” They said, putting a hand on her shoulder, quietly reassuring her it was ok. 

     Aphmau spoke up after a moment, “I’m fine. I swear, I’ll just go help out real quick.” She told them, holding the wet cloth away from her face. 

     Both Nana and Teony looked at each other, not really wanting to let Aphmau go, “Aph-” Teony started but was cut off.

     “No! Come on, it’s just the first day. Gene is not gonna ruin it for me.” Aphmau whined.

     For a moment Teony thought and carefully nodded, “Alright, but if your eyes feel worse, you come right back here and put the cloth on your face, ok?” 

     Aphmau smiled and nodded, “Yes, of course.” 

     “Alright… I need you to go help with Garroth, he said something about missing papers. The sign up ones.” Teony sighed, pulling out a small notepad from an inside pocket of their school blazer 

     “Got it!” Aphmau ran off towards the booth where the senior seemed to be frantically looking around his booth. 

     “Garroth?” She asked, standing in front of his booth, watching as he scrambled to get everything in place. 

     He stopped and looked at the girl, “Aph! Do you have any sign up sheets? I can’t find any anywhere and everyone says that Teony had given it to them when they came in.” 

     “Are you sure they aren’t here? It’s kinda messy.” She pointed out, looking at how some papers were halfway off the desk. 

     The senior gave her a sharp look, causing her to put her head down so as not to look him in the eye, “Hey…your eye good? Looks red.” He asked, looking worried. 

     Aphmau motioned her hand as if to dismiss it, “It’s fine, just walked into some smoke. What do you need?”

     Garroth sighed but didn’t speak on it, “Just get me more sign up sheets.” 

     “Uhh- right. Give me a second.” Aphmau ran off towards the bleachers were Teony’s bag was set and opening it.

     She rummaged inside of Teony’s bag to find the extra stack of sign up sheets Teony would have gotten from Ms. Layla. 

     “Aph, what are you doing?” Someone said, making her look up to see Laurence staring down, a large mesh bag of soccer balls thrown over his shoulder.

     “Garroth lost his sign up sheets, Teony should have some extra in here.” She explained, going back to pushing around items in the bag. 

     Laurence looked back towards Garroth and scoffed, “Idiot, his booth is a fucking mess. No wonder he can’t find it.” 

     “Yeah,” Aphmau sighed, “So how’s your booth coming along?” She asked, pulling out a large file and peeking inside of it. 

     “It’s going alright. I’m right in front of Garroth, which means we’re gonna be fighting for kids again.” Laurence set the bag on the bleachers. 

     “Well it wasn’t all bad last year, I thought it was funny watching you guys fight.” She added, hoping it would help. 

     He shook his head, “Yeah but I thought we would have learned from last year.” 

     “Don’t you guys get to pick where your booths are? Why didn’t you get a spot away from him?” She asked. 

     “Got here late, then I couldn’t find my assistant. It was a mess, all that was left was in front of Garroth.” He sighed. 

     Aphmau finally found the sign up sheets and gasped in relief, “I gotta go Laurence, but I’ll check out the booth later, alright?” 

     Laurence smiled and nodded, “See ya Aph. Good luck.” He told her, picking up the bag again and walking towards his booth. 

     She ran off the bleachers and towards Garroth who seemed to be yelling at his assistant, “I told you to put the baseballs in a box, not a bag-” 

     “Garroth.” Aphmau said, holding the papers out, “Here, I found some more.” 

     He grabbed the papers and looked them over before smiling, “Thank you Aph, at least someone can do what I ask of them.” He glared at his assistant. 

     “Oh and please don’t fight with Laurence this year. Teony would have my butt if I let that happen.” Aphmau asked him before walking off. 

     “Then tell him not to steal my players.” Garroth called. 

     Laurence heard since he was right across from Garroth, “I didn’t steal anything, your players came to me!” 

     “Rock, paper, scissors.” Garroth then shouted, holding his hand out in front of the booth so that Laurence could see.

     His hand came out, also ready to play rock, paper, scissors but Aphmau got between the two booths, “NO! Last time that happened someone got a ball to the face.” 

     “His eye healed.” Laurence scoffed, putting his hand down along with Garroth’s. 

     …

     “I think all the classes are in now.” Teony told Aphmau, going to her side, “Your eye alright?” They asked, looking closely. 

     “Teony, yes, I’m fine.” She waved them off, looked at the crowd of people, “This all of them?” Aphmau asked.

     They nodded, “Try to lead them into the nice clubs. Ok?” 

     “Got it, don’t lead them to the sports… unless they ask.” Aphmau said, making Teony smile at her. 

     Aphmau went off on her own again, looking around for any lost freshman that may be too scared to go up to the booths. 

     She saw a white haired boy who was looking at the theater booth, while holding an ice pack to his head, “You alright? Need help finding a club?” She asked. 

     The boy got startled and turned to her, “N-no. I’m alright. I-i’m just waiting for my friend to finish signing up for a club.” He stuttered out. 

     One of the first things she noticed besides his white hair was the intense green eyes, she didn’t think eyes got that green naturally.

     “You ok?” She pointed to the ice pack that he was holding on his forehead. 

     He nodded quickly, “O-oh yeah! U-uh one of the volleyball members accidentally spiked a ball at me.” 

     “Oh my Irene, I’m sorry, who was it?” Aphmau asked, looking towards the volleyball booth. 

     When he peeked at the booth he immediately looked back down, “U-umm, the girl with the light blue hair…” He whispered. 

     Aphmau stared at the boy, annoyed, causing him to freak out, “I-it’s alright, it doesn’t even hurt-!” 

     “Oh Irene- I’m not mad at you!” She reassured, “I just know her and she knows better than to do volleyball spikes right now.” 

     He awkwardly chuckled, “Y-yeah…” 

     “So!” Aphmau clapped, startling him, but still smiling, “Any club?” 

     To which he shook his head frantically, “I-i’m just gonna wait for my friend who’s trying to get into one.” 

     “Oh good. What club?” She asked, wanting to know if he was actually scared to talk to a club. 

     “H-he’s looking at the baseball club.” He said, pointing towards Garroth’s booth. 

     There was a blue haired boy who was looking at Garroth in awe and nodding to every word he said. 

     “Oh… what’s his name?” Aphmau asked, looking at the younger kid. 

     “D-dante.” He told her. 

     The name sounded familiar but could’t think of anything, “His hair dyed?” She asked, trying to make conversation with the freshman. 

     “Y-yeah, he did it for his birthday.” The kid said, pulling at a strand of his own hair to look at, “M-made me dye mine too.” 

     “That’s not your hair color?” Aphmau asked, looking at it closely, “I didn’t expect it to be- but like… It looks kinda natural, weirdly.

     The boy leaned away from Aphmau, looking nervous, “N-no, it’s like a blondish brown. H-he wanted to do something crazy for his birthday.” 

     Slowly Aphmau stood back, “Cool! Sooo… are you gonna sign up for a club?” She asked, trying to be more friendly since the kid looked ready to break down into a panic attack. 

     He shook his head quickly, “I-i don’t wanna sign up for anything, it’s already… a lot.” 

     Carefully, she went in front of him, “Do you wanna go outside? I’m allowed to take you outside if you want too.” 

     Again he shook his head, “I-it’s alright, I’m just gonna wait for Dante to finish and maybe we’ll just go sit on the bleachers.” He said, pulling at his tie. 

     Aphmau looked at him with a worried look, “Are you sure? You look like you’re gonna pass out.” 

     “N-no,” He panted, looking around carefully and swallowing, “A-actually yeah, can we go outside?” He asked.

     Quickly she brought him towards the back door of the gym to the soccer field, “There, that better?” She asked, as they sat down on the outside bleachers.

     Slowly he sat down, taking deep breaths, “T-thank you.” He sighed, leaning his head back to lay down while setting the ice pack on top. 

     “Wanna tell me what happened there? Panic attack? Claustrophobia? Something else?” She asked. 

     “D-demiphobia, sorry. H-high school just scares the hell out of me..” He pushed his bangs out of his face. 

     She slowly blinked at him while smiling, “Huh?” 

     “D-demophobia, fear of crowds of people. W-well kinda, it needs to be a big crowd in a somewhat small area.” Travis said, meaning like a group of 100 people together instead of a close party.

     “It’s alright, I get it. Want me to get you some water? Or Dante? I’m sure he’s at least looking for you.” She told him. 

     Slowly he shook his head, “I-i’ll be fine. N-no need to bother him.” He dismissed, tightening his tie from its disheveled form. 

     “Well, I’m Aphmau.” She introduced and the boy looked at her with a smile, holding her hand out.

     “T-travis.” He told her, nervously shaking her hand.

     Her smile didn’t dim even though he seemed to be out of his element, “Nice to meet you Travis… Don’t worry. High school isn’t all bad. At least for me it isn’t.”

     “R-really?” He asked, looking at her with a tired look. 

     “Yeah! Well, it was in freshman year but- it’s not so bad if you have people to hang out with. If you want I can introduce you to my friends,” She offered, “What lunch do you have?” She added. 

     “U-uhh, I think second.” He answered. 

     Aphmau’s smile got bigger, “Great, I’ll come find you during lunch, ok?” 

     Travis anxiously cringed, “A-are you sure?”

     “Totally, they’re gonna love you.” She dismissed, “Trust me, you can’t be any worse of an addition then like-... I don’t know how. I’m sure we have someone who’s a bad addition.”

     He seemed slightly amused, “O-ok.”

     “You’ll be just fine. Trust me.” She smiled…

Chapter Text

     “Irene, where's Aph?I haven’t seen her yet?” Lucinda asked, sliding along in the lunch line. 

     Laurence, who was right beside her, shrugged, holding his tray out for the brown rice, “I saw her with a freshman a few hours ago.”

     “What freshman?” She questioned, grabbing the string beans, knowing she wasn’t gonna eat them. 

     “Like white hair, kinda tall?” Laurence answered, grabbing an apple. 

     “Oh, I think I saw him at the club fair.” She remembered, going to the register to pay for the lunch she wasn’t gonna eat. 

     Katelyn popped up beside them and smiled at Laurence, “Hey dude! I haven’t seen you in a bit, how was your summer?” She asked. 

     “It was alright, Cadenza got a new boyfriend.” He told her, looking uncomfortable from the topic. 

     She leaned in as if she was whispering but talked at a normal level, “Do the screws too much?”

     A shudder went down Laurence’s spine, “I try not to think about it.” He said with strained teeth.

     Lucinda lightly patted Laurence’s back, “It’ll be over soon enough. Either she gets pregnant or they break up.” 

     “Kinda hope it’s the break up.” Laurence sighed, handing over his money for the school lunch. 

     “Sex isn’t bad, you are just a virgin.” Lucinda said, picking up string beans and eating it, showing disgust right after. 

     Right after Lucinda said that, Laurence punched her in the shoulder, “Will you shut up?” He hissed.

     He gave her a light glare, ‘ I’m not a virgin and you know it .’ He thought to himself, not saying anything about his thoughts.

     “It’s not all it’s cut out to be.” Katelyn told them, causing them to look at her with a shocked look, “What?” She asked, confused. 

     “Have you-?” Lucinda asked before choking on her saliva. 

     She rolled her eyes, paying the lunch lady, “I swear I told you guys like right after it happened. Did I not?” She asked. 

     “Apparently not you dick, with who?” Laurence asked, starting to head over to an empty table. 

     Carefully she looked around while sitting down at a lunch table near a window, “Jeffory, at a party a few weeks ago. Don’t tell anyone. Especially you.” She glared at Lucinda.

     Then Lucinda gasped dramatically, “I would never .” 

     Laurence turned to Lucinda, “Yeah… sure.”

     Lucinda gasped, offended, “This is kinda serious, I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

     Both Katelyn and Laurence looked at each other before back at her, “Sasha.” Katelyn threw out, knowing the girls talked crap on everyone in the school.

     Her hand came out to swat at Katelyn’s face, “I won’t tell her about this one, ok? So tell us what happened.

     Whipping his head back around to Katelyn, Laurence leaned closer so that Lucinda didn’t hear, “Don’t tell her, she’ll talk. Tell me though.” 

     Harshly, Lucinda grabbed the back of his uniform and pulled, causing him to choke on air, “I thought you guys broke up?” Lucinda asked as she held Laurence down.

     “We did, but then we also got drunk and… it just happened.” She explained, starting to poke at her fruit. 

     “Did he wear a condom? Or did you take a pill?” Laurence asked after shoving his way out from Lucinda’s hold. 

     Katelyn looked around again, “Neither-” She whispered, causing both of their jaws to drop, “Look we were both drunk and neither of us had money at the time. And, he said he pulled out in time so…” She shrugged.

     Their uneasy expressions didn’t help Katelyn, “Ok, is it really that bad?” Katelyn asked, “I feel fine and again; we didn’t have any money on us.”

     “Then you call one of us!” Laurence hissed at her, starting to freak out, “How are you feeling?” 

     “Fine. I don’t feel sick, or craving anything. I should be on schedule for my period like- next week. Don’t worry, I feel like I would have known by now if something happened.” She tried to shut him up. 

     “Maybe you should at least get a test or something- just to make sure. What if it’s still early?” Lucinda asked. 

     She rolled her eyes, “Alright- I’ll get one after school, but I need cash. I can’t use my card, my dad would know I’ve spent it.” 

     Laurence got out his wallet and slapped down a $10 bill, “Right after school, and- you tell us what happens.” 

     Quickly she grabbed it and slipped it into her back pocket, “I will ok? Now just shut up, I see Nana and Garroth.” 

     They looked around to see the junior and senior talking to each other while going towards their table. 

     “And that’s my cue to leave.” Lucinda said, getting up and grabbing her tray, “If you see Aphmau, tell her I said hi.”

     “Why are you going?” Laurence asked.

     “Because.” She shrugged.

     “Does Aphmau have first lunch?” Katelyn asked, “I thought she said she had second.” She informed.

     Lucinda’s head went back, groaning, “Irene I have no classes with anyone besides P.E.”

     “Damn, sucks to be you.” Laurence pitied, shaking his head in disappointment while chuckling. 

     With a slap to the back of Laurence’s head, Lucinda sighed, “It’s fine, I’ll see her later probably. Anyway, I’ll be at the back of the school.” 

     “Why? What’s there?” Laurence asked, turning around to look at Lucinda. 

     “Nothing and I got a can of beer in my bag sooo. See ya losers.” She said, winking at them before starting to leave. 

     Immediately Katelyn grabbed her school blazer, “Got another?” She asked, making Laurence also lean in. 

     Lucinda scoffed, thinking about it for a second before nodding, “You guys share.” She told them, setting her bag on the seat and throwing the can to Katelyn. 

     “Sweet, thanks Lucinda.” She said, putting it under the table to hide it and slowly started to open it. 

     “Yeah yeah, you never got it from me. Got it?” She said, looking between them and pointing playfully.

     “Sure, now get outta here.” Laurence said, shooing her off and scooting to sit closer to Katelyn. 

     She smiled and walked off with her bag and tray, “Hey Garroth, Nana.” She smiled at the two. 

     “Hi Luci, where are you going?” Nana asked, looking at the girl’s tray.

     “Out back, get a little tipsy.” She giggled. 

     Nana laughed a bit too, “Have fun I guess? Don’t get too tipsy, it’s the first day.” She told the older one. 

     Before they could talk more, they heard a slam and looked towards the main doors to the cafeteria. 

     Gene was walking out the doors, a spilt tray right at the entrance, “Oh my Irene…” Lucinda whispered, annoyed while seeing the mess. 

     “Asshole…” Garroth mumbled, “We’ll see you later Lucinda.” He said, smiling quickly at the girl before lightly pulling Nana away from the spill. 

     “Yeah…” Lucinda said slowly, “I’ll see you later guys.” 

     Garroth and Nana sat down beside the others and Garroth immediately made a comment, “That guy is a dick.”

     “Yup, but we got beer so we can’t complain.” Katelyn said, lifting the can up to show him while covering the logo. 

     “Oh great, now Lucinda is encouraging underaged drinking… Give me a sip.” He said, holding his hand out for the can. 

     “Hey- I was next in line, and you’re older. Get your own can. Us juniors gotta pull our resources.” Laurence said, slapping away his hand. 

     Nana leaned over to see what brand it was before looking slightly disgusted, “Irene, people actually drink that kind? I thought it was just for those cheap parties.” 

     “Don’t spit on a poor man’s drink.” Katelyn said, taking a sip before handing it to Laurence to drink.

     After Laurence took a sip, he passed it to Garroth who hid it under the table, “Is that Kim?” He asked, nodding to the doors of the cafeteria. 

     They all looked to find the light brunette carefully stepping around the pile of food Gene had dumped. 

     “Yeah…” Laurence whispered, raising his hand and waving to the girl to show her where the table was, “Kim!” 

     She looked up, fixing her glasses and smiled, going over to the table before setting down her stuff, “Sorry someone dropped their lunch over there and I just got new school shoes.” 

     “Gene’s fault.” Garroth said, moving his tray over for the girl’s textbooks, “Why so many books?” He asked. 

     “Well my dad decided it was a good idea to sign me up for all AP classes.” She laughed nervously, staring at the books. 

     Garroth lifted the beer can a bit, “Want a sip, you look stressed?” He offered her, making Laurence scoff. 

     Nervously she looked at the drink, not wanting to think about how many calories were in it, “...What kind?” Kim asked, making Laurence hit her leg, “Kim!” 

     “I know I know, but I am stressed. I’m gonna have to talk to the counselor to get me out of a few of these.” She pleaded. 

     “You’re the one who said that juniors have to pull their resources together.” Garroth teased, “Come here Kim.” 

     She looked towards him but shook her head, “N-no nevermind. I didn’t mean it. Where did you guys even get that?” She nervously spoke, stepping away like the drink would make her gain weight just being by it.

     “Lucinda.” Katelyn said, making Kim nod her head in understanding.

     “Isn’t this kinda… extensive? We have the school laptops.” Nana said, going over to the books stacked on the table.

     Kim sighed, trying to reshape a curl in her hair, “Yeah…and I can’t even put them in my locker because it’s the wrong lock! So now I gotta get a new one and they said they couldn’t get anyone until next week.” 

     “I think Aphmau has a crowbar.” Katelyn snapped her fingers, “You should go find her. She’s in that mentor program for new students.”

     “You think I can find her right now?” Kim leaned towards Katelyn, seeming desperate. 

     Katelyn shook her head, “No, I think she’s got second lunch. Maybe between periods though.” 

     Then Kim slouched and groaned while setting her head on the top of all her textbooks, “This is going to be the worst year ever.”

     Slowly Laurence stood up and grabbed the girl's arm gently, “Here- why don’t we go get some lunch?” 

     “Oh- I’m ok-” Kim said, trying to calm down while Laurence still got up and grabbed her arm.

     “Go eat Kim.” Nana ushered her off, seeing how nervous she looked at the idea of lunch and wanting her to eat something.

     “We’re gonna go get her lunch.” Laurence called over his shoulder.

     “She’s only a junior, right?” Garroth asked, looking at one of the books. 

     “Should be.” Nana said, watching as Laurence pulled Kim to the lunch line, “But why does she have a government class?” She asked, flipping through the pages, “It’s that a senior year thing?”

     He nodded, “Yeah it is, she shouldn’t have gotten in it unless there was a gap in her schedule.”

     “Girl’s got enough going on…” Katelyn mumbled, uncomfortable with the amount of textbooks Kim had to lug around the school year, “And her lock is wrong?”

     Nana sighed, “Maybe Aphmau actually has the crowbar on her this year.”

     Katelyn got the beer can from Garroth, looking at the two juniors leaving, “You think they’re ever gonna get together?”

     “What?” Garroth laughed while Nana just smiled at the thought of them being together. 

     “Well, they’re friends but I guess I can see them together.” Katelyn explained, knowing Kim had a small crush on Laurence.

     Nana closed the book and put it back on the stack, “I think it would take them a bit to get to that place, but I think Kim likes him.” 

     “Really?” Garroth asked, tilting his head while watching Laurence get Kim a tray, “I can’t see it.” 

     “I think Laurence would be a good boyfriend.” Nana said, also watching the two, “He’s sweet with her.”

     “Really hope she doesn’t let him get her pregnant.” Katelyn said bluntly.

     Garroth laughed, “Why would you say that?”

     Humming a bit, Nana thought about what Katelyn said, “I don’t think that’s gonna be a problem for a bit…” She mumbled, knowing Kim had a problem with her weight.

     “What?” He looked at Nana.

     “Nothing.” She sat back down next to him, “Just thinking out loud.” She smiled lighty.

     He didn’t seem bothered by it and went back to Katelyn, “Why would Laurence get her pregnant?”

     “Because boys are horny.” Katelyn shrugged at Garroth’s question, taking another sip of the drink, “And you two used to be flirts.”

     He rolled his eyes playfully, “Used to be and- I don’t think Laurence would get anyone pregnant, he doesn’t seem like someone who’d do that.”

     Twirling one of her curls, Nana spoke, “I think I can see it… in some universe. Maybe not this one.”

     “See?” Katelyn gestured to Nana.

     “Maybe it’s me then, I can’t see him being a father or anything like that.” Garroth shrugged. 

     The girls looked at Garroth, “I can’t see you either, pretty boy.” Katelyn laughed, taking a sip of the beer. 

     “What? Really?” Garroth asked, looking hurt by the observation by Katelyn. 

     Lightly Nana patted his arm, “If it makes you feel any better Garroth, I’d have your baby.” She told him jokingly, giggling a bit. 

     Garroth leaned his head on her and smiled, “Aww thanks Nana. I feel like you’d be a good mom.” 

     “I wanna have a baby.” Nana suddenly said, making Katelyn and Garroth’s eyes go wide at the sentence. 

     Slowly Garroth pulled back, “I was kidding about the baby part.” He said quickly, “You’d be a good mom but I don’t know if I’m ready for that.” 

     Nana laughed, “Not now. In the future. I think they’re cute and I wanna have one of my own one day.” 

     “Irene, please not during high school.” Katelyn laughed, lightly rubbing her stomach trying not to think about if there was something there.

     “Yeah I get it. Not during high school.” She whispered, smiling still…

     …

     “Here Aph-” Katelyn said, taking a small last sip of the can of beer, half of it being left, before handing it to Aphmau, “Lucinda was looking for you. Oh and Kim to- Her locker is stuck or something. They want your crowbar if you have it.

     Aphmau was a bit taken back by the information and having a new item in her hand that she stared at Katelyn blankly after, “What?”

     They had ran into each other during lunch change and had a minute to talk before Katelyn’s next class. 

     “Kim needs your crowbar and Lucinda was looking for you.” Katelyn said, shortening it down for her.

     “Why’s Kim’s locker stuck?” She asked, dragging her finger on the rim of the can but not looking at what it was.

     She shrugged, “I think she said the lock was wrong and they can’t get her a new one right now. How was class?” Katleyn asked.

     “It was fine, nothing special, first day and all.” Aphmau told her, “What is this?” She turned the can trying to find an actual title.

     Katelyn smirked, “Beer.”

     A soft gasp from Aphmau and a hit to her arm was what Katelyn got in return, “Katelyn! Where did you get this?” She suspiciously tried to hide the can.

     “Lucinda, she had an extra one in her bag. She said she was in the back of the school, and might still be there. You know how she is.” Katelyn explained simply.

     Aphmau cautiously looked at the can before taking the smallest sip but immediately pulled away, “This is bad, I’ll throw it away.” 

     “Alright, see ya Aph.” Katelyn said, having to walk off to her next class before turning back towards her, “Hey, come see me after school.” 

     “Why?” Aphmau asked, “Don’t we have to go home together anyway?”

     “Yeah but we’re gonna just go to my place. Something came up and I don’t wanna be alone, got it?” Katelyn said, making the sophomore nod in confusion.

     Then Aphmau got a peak of Teony and quickly hid the logo of the drink with her hand, “Hey Teony, do you have second lunch?” 

     Teony sighed and nodded, “I do- but I have to go to like 5 classrooms before I can get lunch. If I get lunch- teachers really forgot everything this year.” 

     They ran off and Aphmau watched in pity, “Poor Teony,” She whispered, “I hope you get lunch soon!” She yelled after them. 

     For a second Teony stopped and turned back to Aphmau before making a heart with their fingers and smiling, “Thanks Aph!” Teony yelled back. 

     When Teony was gone again, Aphmau sighed, swishing around the can of beer before looking to her side. 

     She needed to throw this away but there were no recycling cans near her so she was forced to hold it until she got inside the cafeteria.

     But she couldn’t leave yet since she hadn’t found Travis and was actually worried he had gotten lost in the school. It wouldn’t be the first time kids had done it, she did it her first year. 

     Still Travis was nowhere to be seen yet and she was starting to get hungry, “Come on kid, where are you?” 

     The boy from that morning came up beside her, not saying anything but looking in the direction she was looking in. 

     It took her a moment but when she turned back to where Aaron stood she fell back into the lockers, “Irene!” She panicked. 

     He was slightly startled too, “Sorry…”  

     “It’s fine, what are you doing?” Aphmau asked. 

     “Waiting for lunch.” He said, “What are you doing?” 

     “Waiting for a freshman, I wanted to show him around. He seemed a bit nervous during the club fair.” She told him. 

     He nodded before looking at the can, “That beer?” He asked, pointing to it, giving the girl a skeptical look. 

     “How’d you…?” She whispered before dismissing it and nodding, “Do you want it?” She asked before realizing what she was doing and pulling back, “Wait no-!” 

     Aaron had actually reached out when she offered but also drew back when she panicked, “...Sorry.” He whispered, not knowing what went wrong.

     “No- no- it’s ok, but we’re not supposed to be drinking during school- ever!” She tried to cover up, “We’re underaged and it’s illegal.” 

     Not really agreeing, he nodded slowly to appease her, “So what are you going to do with it?” 

     “Throw it away inside.” Aphmau told him.

     “Then it’s wasting.” He pointed out, just wanting her to give over the beer so he could be slightly buzzed throughout the rest of the day.

     When he said that, it clearly conflicted with her since she nervously looked at the can, “But it’s illegal.” 

     “But it’s slightly less illegal if I drink it.” He tried. 

     She stared at him questionably, “How?” 

     “I’m older.” Aaron supplied. 

     Somehow the answer worked since she held it out for him, “...Katelyn gave it to me before she left for class. It’s not good but you might like it.”

     Aaron had no idea who ‘Katelyn’ was but grabbed the can and took a drink, “The cheap stuff,” He said after a moment, lightly cringing.

     “Where’s Travis? I thought I would have seen him already.” She said, looking around again to see Travis. 

     “Maybe he’s already at the cafeteria?” Aaron suggested. 

     Her eyes widened and started towards the cafeteria, “Oh- maybe. Come on.”

     “What does he look like?” He asked. 

     “White hair. Like white white hair, he dyed it with a kid named Dante.” She told him. 

     “...Who dyes their hair white? Why not like…red?” He spoke. 

     “Like Blaze?” She asked, completely serious.

     He looked at her confused, wondering if there really was a guy named Blaze with red hair at the school since he said that as a joke.

     Aphmau thought before speaking, “He’s a senior and has really bright red hair but- wait ‘til you see Dante’s hair, it’s blue.” 

     “What kind of blue?” Aaron asked.

     “Like a blue blue, stereotypical blue.” She explained, seeing the exact blue hair near the doors of the cafeteria, “ That blue.” She pointed towards the color. 

     Staring at the hair for a few seconds, Aaron almost smiled, “Oh Irene- that’s gonna fade quick.” He bluntly stated at the sight.

     The doors to the cafeteria were closed causing a pile up at the doors, “What happened?” Aaron asked Aphmau, who just lightly shrugged. 

     Laurence came up to her and smiled, “Hey Aphmau.” He greeted, holding a load of books while going to class. He looked at Aaron, who was standing behind Aphmau, “Who’s that?” He asked, being friendly. 

     Aphmau looked to her side, but had to turn all the way around to see Aaron, “What are you doing?” She asked quietly, pulling him so that he stood beside her, “This is Aaron, he’s new.” 

     Kim smiled at him, “Welcome Aaron. I’m Kim and he’s Laurence.” She introduced but Aaron just slightly nodded. 

     “You’re gonna hate it.” Laurence said with a sarcastic smile.

     Lightly Kim hit his shoulder, “Don’t say that.” 

     “It’s true and you know it.” He told her, not looking away from Aaron’s stoic face.

     “Oh! Katelyn said that you were looking for me Kim?” Aphmau turned to Kim, wondering what she had needed, “Something about your locker?”

     Almost immediately Kim slouched, “Oh great job Aph, now she’s sad.” Laurence snapped at Aphmau but she didn’t feel any heat behind it.

     “What did I do?” Aphmau asked, stepping towards Kim, “What happened?” 

     “My locker happened.” Kim pleaded, grabbing Aphmau’s shoulders, “Do you actually have a crowbar on you?”

     She leaned back in surprise, “Uhh… yeah? What’s wrong with your locker? Is it stuck?” 

     “It doesn’t open! So I need to go beat up Ms. Layla.” Kim whined before going into a threat which scared Aphmau.

     Laurence scoffed, “No need for violence yet- well, we’ll see. It will open just- it’s got the wrong lock and now I gotta carry her books around for a bit.” He told Aphmau

     “Oh ok,” Aphmau nodded, “I’ll swing by your locker later, I can get it open.” She told them, which Kim then hugged her, “Irene, bless you Aphmau.”

     “So, you know what happened?” Aphmau asked, nodding to the closed cafeteria doors, lightly patting Kim’s hair.

     He looked back at the doors and blew out a puff of air, “Gene, dropped his tray right in front of the door before leaving.” 

     “Laurence, we gotta go.” Kim whispered, letting go of Aphmau, “We’re almost late.” She added.  

     “Oh you have first lunch?” Aphmau asked. 

     “Yup, so does, Lucinda, Garroth, Nana, and Katelyn …also Gene.” He listed off. 

     Kim lightly nudged him, “Sorry guys, we really have to go. I’ll see you later Aphmau, bye Aaron.” She apologized. 

     “It’s alright Kim, we’ll hang out later.” Aphmau dismissed watching them speedwalk to their next class. 

     Aaron watched too before commenting, “...Are you smuggling a crowbar?” 

     “...No.” She stretched and he could clearly see that she was lying. 

     “Are they dating then?” He gestured to Laurence and Kim walking down the hall together. 

     “Shh, I try not to think about it. Thinking leads to questions and answers we’re not ready for.” Aphmau mysteriously said, before smiling at him. 

     Someone else came into view and she looked at a white haired kid, “A-aphmau? O-oh thank Irene.” He praised her. 

     “Hey, I was waiting for you near the classes, we must have missed each other. How are you feeling?” She asked. 

     “A-anxious, but that’s not out of the ordinary.” He laughed nervously, looking pale while in the crowd of people.

     Dante came up behind him and wrapped an arm around him, “Hey Travis, who is this?” He asked. 

     Travis smiled a bit, “O-oh this is Aphmau. I-I met her during that club fair thing.” He quietly told Dante. 

     The boys looked up at Aaron, “And him?” Dante asked 

     Aphmau looked at Aaron two, who was staring down at them, “Oh this is Aaron.” She introduced, to which Aaron just took another sip of the beer

     “Aphmau!” She heard Lucinda shout and looked around for her before being tackled into a tight hug, “I’ve missed you.” 

     “I texted you a few hours ago.” She laughed, letting Lucinda hug her. 

     “Still babe!” She squished Aphmau’s face in her hands, “Aww, you’re so cute when I pull at your face.” 

     Lucinda turned to Aaron and looked at the can, “Who’d you get that from?” 

     “Aphmau.” Aaron answered simply, nudging the can in Aphmau’s direction.

     “Aph? Babe, you didn’t tell me you liked beer.” Lucinda said, looking down at the girl. 

     She scoffed, “I don’t, I got it from Katelyn. And- told me you were in the back of the school, why’s that?” She crossed her arms like she didn’t know what Lucinda was doing.

     “You were in the back of school?” Dante asked, looking at the senior in awe. 

     Lucinda looked at the blue haired kid, “Oh… Dante.” She spoke slowly, “Who’s this?” She asked, looking at Travis.

     Dante looked at her, “You know who I am?” 

     “Gene’s younger brother, right?” She asked, “He talks about you.”

     “Getting off topic, why were you in the back of the school?” Aphmau cut their conversation short to get an answer. 

     She sighed and pulled away from the hug, “I was just in the back of the school.” She dismissed, trying not to get into it. 

     “Lucinda.” Aphmau warned, crossing her arms. 

     Lucinda looked at the two freshmen, Travis putting his head down while Dante held the stare, “Just drinking.” She said casually.

     “Awesome.” Dante nodded.

     Aphmau hit Lucinda’s arm in disapproval, “On the first day too.” 

     When she looked back at Aaron, who was still drinking the beer, she said, “He is right now!”

     “He’s also like… 20.” She said, causing Aaron to look at her confused, “Sorry you just look so much older. How old are you?” 

     “18.” He answered, making her eyes go wide.

     “You’re 18?” She asked, jaw slightly open at the new information. 

     Aaron nodded slowly before Aphmau went back to Lucinda, “I have to get lunch.” She said, pushing Lucinda out of the way and went into the now open cafeteria. 

     Travis looked at the older kids before following Aphmau quickly, not wanting to be in the situation, leaving Dante with them.

     Lightly Lucinda scoffed, crossing her arms and glancing at Aaron, “Oh she’s good.” 

     He held the beer towards her, quietly offering the alcoholic drink to her, to which she rolled her eyes. “Oh shove it up your ass.” Lucinda threatened. 

     Shrugging at Lucinda, Aaron also went into the cafeteria, leaving Lucinda and Dante standing in the hall.  

     Dante looked at Lucinda, “Hi.” Dante said, trying to sound confident, but it came off as a normal hi. 

     Slowly Lucinda looked him up and down, “I gotta get to class.” She said plainly before walking off…

     …

     “So what am I doing here?” Aphmau asked, biting a small chuck of the popsicle from Katelyn’s freezer. 

     Katelyn was at her dresser and opening something from a box, “Uhh, I just want someone here for something, and you’re like my sister. Kinda, I don’t know.” 

     The older girl looked at the pregnancy test she had bought a little under an hour ago and stopped herself from shaking.

     Aphmau nodded slowly, “Alright…are you alright?” She asked, looking at her friend worriedly. 

     Slowly Katelyn put the test in her pocket before looking at Aphmau, “Yeah, I should be, I think someone just scared me.

     “Oh! With what-” Aphmau asked but Katelyn cut her off, “I need to go to the bathroom, stay here.” She watched her leave and shrugged, thinking she was just paranoid over something. 

     Katelyn went into the bathroom and locked it behind her, taking a deep breath, “Come on, Laurence and Lucinda are just psyching you out.” She whispered to herself, “You would have felt something by now.”

     When she pulled her pants down and sat on the toilet, she just started at the test, “This is stupid. Jeffory couldn’t have.” She told herself, trying to calm down.

     After she peed on the stick and closed it, she set it on the counter. Her hands were shaking and so were her legs. 

     Fixing her pants, she decided to just sit in the bathtub, away from the test, “Oh my Irene.” She panicked. 

     What if he did get her pregnant? Would she keep the baby? What would her dad say? Would Jeffory even want to be in the baby’s life? 

     Aphmau waited inside Katelyn’s room, she didn’t hear anything from the bathroom, but didn’t want to ask in case she embarrassed Katelyn. 

     Then she stopped, mid lick of the popsicle. Katelyn has told her before whenever she has a stomach ache or something doesn’t feel right. 

     Sighing, she got up and went towards the bathroom, “Katelyn? Are you ok?” She asked, knocking on the door. 

     “Ye-yeah…My stomach is just bugging up.” Katelyn covered up, looking at the pregnancy test that was on the counter. 

     Katelyn had been sitting in the bathtub for a bit, unable to look at the test clearly after she took it, “Are you sure?” Aphmau asked.

     “I will be…” Katelyn whispered, standing up from the bathtub to look at the test. 

     She closed her eyes and stepped towards the counter, taking a deep breath before opening her eyes. 

     Her knees almost buckled at the sight of a negative test, “Oh thank Irene.” She murmured. 

     “Katelyn?” Aphmau called worriedly, now trying to open the bathroom door from the outside. 

     “I’m alright,” Katelyn said, grabbing the test and wrapping it with toilet paper before throwing it away. Right after she shoved the other tests in the box and on the top shelf of the bathroom mirror. 

     The door then opened and Aphmau looked at Katelyn, who seemed stressed, “What happened?” She asked. 

     Gently, Katelyn pulled her in for a tight hug, putting her face into Aphmau’s neck, “You would always be there for me, right?”

     Aphmau awkwardly hugged her back, trying not to drip the melting popsicle on her, “Of course, if you tell me what it was.” 

     “Just a scare.” Katelyn told her, making Aphmau confused, “What?” 

     “Nothing, let’s just go eat some hot sauce.” Katelyn lightened up, draping an arm around her sister and pulling her towards the stairs. 

     Noting to text Lucinda and Laurence later on…

Chapter Text

     Sasha pulled up to Gene’s house, since Gene couldn’t drive she often drove them around. His mom was always working so it would just be him and Dante most of the time… If Gene ever wanted to hang out with Dante.

     On occasion Gene did take a dance class with his mom but he didn’t mention that ever if he could help it.

     Only Sasha knows of it though because Gene had once told her when they were drunk and she didn’t know if he was even telling the truth.

     Gene confirmed it as long as she kept revising his essays, which she was gonna do anything for him to pass junior year. He never told Zenix for the sake of not having shit spread around the school.

     Which was really ironic since Zenix didn’t really talk to anyone else, mostly because no one else really liked him besides her and Gene.

     Zenix was in the back seat of her car, splayed out on all the seats without a seatbelt. So to teach him a lesson, Sasha stepped on the breaks as she pulled closer.

     There was a thump and Gene looked back to see Zenix on the floor of the car, “Dumbass…” He whispered, putting the vape to his mouth.

     “Not in my car.” Sasha scolded, rolling down Gene’s window from her side of the car.

     He leaned out the window and blew out the smoke so that none of it got in the car, “So annoying.” He mumbled, halfway leaning out of the door.

     “Get out.” She hit his back and unlocked the doors of the car.

     “My stomach hurts.” Zenix groaned, rolling around a bit on her floor while holding his stomach.

     She turned in her seat and looked into the back seat as Zenix started to curl up on the floor as much as he could, “Zenix, get out.” 

     “You’re so mean when you drive.” He pushed himself up, pouting before sticking his tongue out at her.

     Rolling her eyes, she got out of the car too and walked behind Gene as he went up to his front door. 

     “Why didn’t we take Dante?” She asked as he dug out his house keys from his school pants’s pockets.

     “Cause he’s a little nerd.” He stuck his keys in the door and swung the door open while Zenix stumbled out of the car, “And he can walk with his little friend.”

     “Really?” She asked sarcastically, “Where is he?” She asked, letting worry slip into her words over the freshman.

     Waving her off with his hand, he spoke, “He’s with that Travis kid. Probably gonna be at his house until you guys are gone.” 

     When the car door shut, signaling Zenix had gotten out, Sasha locked her car with her keys and went inside, closing the door.

     It left Zenix outside who immediately started to bang on the door, “Gene! Let me in! Don’t leave me here to die!” He whined.

     “Does he know that I left it unlocked?” Gene asked and Sasha stared at the closed- unlocked- door while it rattled.

     Kicking off his shoes, Gene opened the door again and got hit in the face with Zenix’s hand that was hitting the door.

     “...Crap.” Zenix whispered right after, realizing what he had done.

     “I swear to Irene Zenix, I will kill you one day.” Gene hissed, holding his nose in pain before pointing into the house which Zenix scrambled to go inside.

     “So how was your guy’s first week?” Sasha asked, grabbing a can of soda from the fridge and handing it to Zenix before getting herself one. 

     Zenix rubbed his face before sighing, “Fucking stressful.” He groaned, setting looks from Sasha and Gene. 

     “What do you have going on?” Gene asked, “I saw you standing on the water fountain, how bad could it have been.”

     “I just wanted to see what it was like.” Zenix rolled his eyes, “No one even saw me.” He huffed.

     “So what happened then?” Sasha asked.

     He shrugged, “It’s just boring. No one is fun in school anymore.” 

     Gene looked at Sasha, quietly telling her that Zenix was talking nonsense again and that they should drop him.

     She quietly chuckled, going on with the conversation, “Mine wasn’t that bad, it’s kinda fun watching all the teachers run around because they forgot something.” 

     “Already saw a girl getting her brains fucked out. I say pretty good.” Gene said, getting a chuckle out of them. 

     “Who was it?” Sasha asked.

     “You know? I have no idea.” He shrugged, not seeming to care very much, “I’ve never seen her before and I probably never will.”

     Sasha took a sip of her soda, a bit weirded out, “Weird, but ok.”

     “Can one of you start driving me to school? I don’t wanna keep walking.” Zenix whined. 

     Gene groaned, “Why don’t you just get a car?” 

     “Money, no one wants to hire a 15 year old.” Zenix huffed, “Please? I just need a ride to school.” 

     Sasha raised her hand, “I could.” “No! You’re mean to me when I’m in your car.” He points a finger at her.

     “Don’t got many options.” Gene pointed out, “And as long as you put your seatbelt on and keep your shoes off the cushions, she’s fine.”

     She gestured to Gene, “I literally drove us here, and it was fine.” 

     “You practically brake checked me and I was in the car.” He huffed, crossing his arms like a child.

     “You didn’t have your seatbelt on, what did I say?” Gene scoffed. 

     “Could get Laurence drive you, does he have a car?” Sasha asked, looking at Zenix for confirmation. 

     Gene’s head turned to her and she faltered slightly, “You in contact with Laurnece?” 

     Not meeting his eyes, she answered, “We might follow each other on instagram.” 

     “Traitor!” Zenix pointed at Sasha, accusatory. 

     “We don’t talk, we just like each other’s posts.” She laid out for them, trying to explain her side of the story.

     He scoffed, “You don’t need him anyway. Guy’s got a stick up his ass and it’s not coming out for a while.”

     “You put it there…” She whispered, before looking back at her phone, “How about…” She was about to go on but got distracted by her phone notifications.

     Zenix looked over at her phone, “Who ya texting?” He asked playfully.

     “Swear to Irene if it’s Laurence-” Gene pointed at her as if to start scolding but she waved him off with her hand, “It’s no one.”

     Sasha turned off the phone when getting to some more questionable notification before Zenix could see. 

     Earning a confused look from the junior, she spoke, “No one… just someone I followed posted on instagram.” 

     “A boy?” Zenix teased, leaning on Sasha, causing her to mentally sigh at the accusation of her texting a boy.

     She looked ready to say something but stopped, opting to look away and drink instead. Getting chuckled from her ‘friends’. 

     “Wanna tell us what’s going on?” Gene teased, not expecting an answer.

     The girl didn’t say anything, just avoided both of their eyes. A knock on the door made them break the contact and Gene got off his seat to see who it was. 

     “Gene!” Dante cried, “Let me in! I forgot my keys!” 

     “Shit, go outside.” He hissed, turning back to the two teenagers sitting in his living room drinking soda. 

     Annoyed, Sasha swished around her drink, “Just let him in. It’s sad hearing a 14 year old being locked out.” 

     “Why because you’ve locked yourself out too many times?” Gene asked, mocking how many times she had to pick-lock her own door.

     “Who is it?” Zenix asked, standing up slowly and stretching. 

     “Who do you think it is? It’s Dante and his sidekick.” Gene said, ushering them out to the backyard so his younger brother wouldn’t see them. 

     Sasha laughed, “I thought you said they weren’t gonna be here until we were gone?” She asked. 

     “Yeah- that’s what I thought too. Now outside.” He told them, pointing to the sliding back door to the yard. Sasha was the last one out and slid the backdoor behind them, going to sit on the outside patio. 

     Gene opened the door to see his younger brother standing there, smiling at him, “I thought you said that you were gonna be at your- little friend’s house.” Gene gestured to Travis. 

     Dante nodded, “I was, but then I wanted to hang out with you.” He said, walking inside the house. 

     Travis was right behind him, avoiding Gene’s glare on him, “Well I’m just hanging with myself so.” Gene told him. 

     He didn’t want his brother around him while his friends were talking about whatever they were going too. It wasn’t that he didn’t like his younger brother, but he wanted to keep the parties separate. 

     “I can see Sasha and Zenix outside.” Dante said, dropping his school bag on the floor and going towards the back door. 

     Looking to the door, he saw Sasha and Zenix sitting on a chair together and watching through the glass. 

     “Yeah… and that's an older kid’s talk.” Gene said, going to the door and blocking it off from Dante and his friend. 

     The younger frowned, “Come on, I’m in high school now, I can hear about that stuff you talk about.” 

     “Dante, you're still young, just go to your room.” He told him, crossing his arms. 

     “Come on! We’re in the same school now!” Dante almost was bouncing in his spot in excitement. 

     Gene rolled his eyes, “No Dante. Those are my friends.” He pointed to Travis again, “That one is yours.” 

     Lightly Travis tapped his friend’s arm, “D-dante maybe he’s right. L-let’s just go play some video games.” 

     “Yes, listen to your weird, stuttering… white haired friend.” Gene insulted, looking Travis up and down, hitting a low blow on the freshman’s self esteem. 

     “I’m gonna tell mom.” Dante threatened and Gene scoffed, knowing he was gonna be juvenile. 

     “Tell her, I’ll tell her you borrowed Zenix’s vape pen.” Gene smirked, knowing it was actually his own vape pen but Zenix had it at the time.

     Dante looked shocked that Gene knew about that and backed down, “Fine…” Dante caved, huffing and going towards his room. 

     Travis stayed for an extra second, but crumbled under the glare of the junior on him, following after Dante quickly. He didn’t like Gene, he was always an easy target and Travis allowed it.

     It didn’t help that Dante was his only friend, so he had to put up with it as much as he could. Since Dante saw his brother as some type of awesome sibling, Travis got the worst of it. 

     Gene sighed and opened the door outside, “Give me my drink.” He said, going to sit next to Sasha, who was holding the soda. 

     “What’d you say?” She asked, nodding to the two who were slowly walking towards Dante’s room. 

     “I told him we’re having ‘adult conversations’ and that he wasn’t old enough for them.” Gene admitted, making them laugh.

     “Yeah, like we’re adults.” Zenix said, clinking drinks with Gene. 

     Sasha shook her head, “He’s just a kid who looks up to you.” She told him, knowing how close Dante was trying to be with Gene.

     Mostly one-sided of course since Gene tried to shake him off like a rabid dog to a fresh rabbit bone. Though Dante stayed strong and held on even if he was kicked off. 

     “Please, who would look up to him?” Zenix asked, gesturing to Gene. 

     “A younger brother.” Sasha answered.

     Gene scoffed, “Yeah and my mom is gonna beat mine and his ass when she sees Dante copying me…”

     “You could be a better influence?” Sasha suggested, knowing it wouldn’t go anywhere.

     He turned to her and smirked, “Why would I do that? I got you. You be a good influence to him.” 

     “He’s not my brother.” She whispered, tipping back her soda and taking a large gulp, “You could learn to be a better brother.” 

     Watching him roll his eyes, Gene chuckled, “How am I supposed to get that? Get a nice girlfriend?” 

     “Ew.” Zenix cringed.

     “Zenix.” Sasha scolded, “Gene, I’m not saying to get a girlfriend. I’m saying that you could benefit from… You could probably benefit from a nice girl.” She scraped her idea and went blunt.

     Shaking his head, he sat up straight, “You know what I could benefit from? Making you do my homework.” 

     “I’m not doing your homework.” She said simply.

     “Fine. Then help me when I got an essay coming up.” He held his hand out as if it was a deal. 

     She shook his hand…

     …

     Another notification went off on her phone, causing her to distance herself from the conversation. 

     “Oh my Irene Sasha.” Gene sighed, his head rolled back into the outdoor chair, “What are you looking at? All your friends are right here.” 

     Scoffing, she looked at him, “I’m friends with Lucinda too.” 

     “She barely counts, she’s friends with all of us… well not Zenix.” Gene glanced at Zenix who huffed and crossed his arms.

     “Lucinda is friendly with me… Who are you talking to anyway?” Zenix asked, nodding to her phone. 

     Sasha looked up and bit her lip, arguing with herself to tell them the truth, “Someone.” She vaguely said. 

     “Come on Sasha, who are you sexting?” Gene teased, causing the girl to get embarrassed, putting her head down. 

     There was a notification on her phone that she was avoiding, at least until it was out of the sight of the two boys.

     “...I gotta go.” She said, grabbing her drink and going towards the door to the inside of the house. 

     “Aww, Sasha. We’re only messing with you.” Zenix said, not wanting her to leave the small party they were having. 

     She turned back to them and smiled, “Thanks, but I really have to go. My mom is looking for me, something about cooking.” She lied, just wanting to leave. 

     “Fine, bye Sasha.” Gene waved, Zenix just drinking more of the soda while she left the small gathering. 

     They nodded and waved goodbye to her, “Bye guys.” She said, walking back into the house, closing the door and grabbing her school bag. 

     “A-are you going?” Travis asked, peeking out from the pantry to watch the faded silver haired girl leave.  

     Sasha turned back to him while slipping on her shoes. Over the time of knowing Gene she had seen Travis here and there. 

     The kid was sweet enough even if he didn’t talk much so she had no reason to be hostile like Gene when talking to him. 

     “Yeah, I gotta get home.” She explained, making the kid nod slowly, “Bye Travis.” She waved lightly. 

     He waved back, “B-bye Sasha.” He whispered, watching her leave. 

     “Travis!” Dante yelled, “Come on, they’re talking about what teachers are good!” He continued, poking his head out of his room. 

     They had been listening to the older kid’s conversation through his window, “D-do you know Sasha?” Travis asked, going back to Dante’s room. 

     “Kinda, she comes over every once in a while during the summer. Why?” Dante asked, putting his ear to the window to listen closer. 

     “N-no reason, she just seems nice.” Travis mumbled, pulling a thread on his uniform before going too far and stopping. 

     “She’s hot, but I think you would like Katelyn better.” Dante said, writing something down in a notebook. 

     Personally, Travis had no real scale for if someone was hot or not. He enjoyed people’s presence more than others but that seemed to go as far as it went for him. 

     So when Dante would show him pictures of girls from instagram, Travis would awkwardly nod like he understood. 

     Trying to think of a girl named Katelyn Travis got nothing, “W-who’s that?”

     “Oh- she’s this really hot junior. She’s got blue hair and really like- like…” Dante trailed off, unable to think of anything to say, opting to put his ear to his window to listen to what his older brother was talking about. 

     Now with a vague picture, the only person he could think of was the one girl who skipped him in the face with a ball on the first day of school. Dante had been documenting everything Gene and his friends were talking about just to have notes. 

     “W-what are they talking about?” Travis asked, leaning over to look at his friend’s notes in the notebook. 

     “Now they’re talking about people to trust. Not Teony,” He paused, “...they’re a snitch.” He finished, writing it down quickly. 

     “D-did you really use Zenix’s vape pen?” He asked, remembering the threat Gene had held over his head earlier.

     Dante shifted in his spot, seeming embarrassed, “...Yeah, but it was during school.” 

     Travis gave him a confused look, “Why?” 

     “Because it’s cool?” Dante said as if it was common sense. 

     Usually Travis would go along with his friend, since it was his only one, but this one seemed off the table. He didn’t get it, maybe it was himself not liking the smell…

     …

     Sasha came home to a house with no lights on, but it was alright, someone would probably be in by the end of the night.

     Getting out of her car and to the door, she patted around her uniform for her keys but sighed when she didn’t feel anything besides her car keys.

     “Dammit…” She whispered, digging into her bag and finding a bobby pin and an unused paper clip.

     When getting used to staying home alone, she had forgotten her keys a good handful of times. So she had learned other ways to get inside her house without keys… including a bobby pin.

     It actually was relatively easy to use and she always had some on hand because of it. So she undid the door with the two things and sighed in success when the door made a soft click noise.

     Inside the house, it was dark, so she made her rounds turning on the outdoor lights and kitchen lights.

     Still the house was quiet, just her inside, but she didn’t care as much as she could have, “I’m hungry…” She whispered. 

     Quietly she grabbed a packet of ramen noodles from the cupboard along with a pot, “Lighter.” She murmured. 

     The stove had been broken, unless you lit it first with a lighter, “Crap, where’s the lighter.” She asked. 

     She looked around the whole kitchen before going into her own room, finding the lighter she used for candles. 

     When the stove was set up and the water was starting to heat up, she sat on the counter beside it. 

     Searching through her phone and clicking on Instagram she looked at the photo of who posted earlier. 

     Teony had posted a cute selfie with them and their mentor club, “Hmm…” She hummed, smiling at the photo. 

     Sasha liked the photo from her side account, “They’re so pretty.” She mumbled, zooming in closer on the photo. 

     Her heart lightly raced while staring at the photo, “...Fuck.” 

     The water started boiling faster, making her jump off the counter to put the noodles in, left to her thoughts. 

     As much as she would like to talk to Teony, they always seemed busy and when they did speak to Sasha they were usually scolding her. 

     Gene had come into Sasha’s life when she was in her sophomore year of highschool when she decided to ditch one day. 

     They quickly became friends and Gene introduced her to Zenix after a while, but soon she got bored. She got tired of the boys acting like children, spray painting the school with random doodles. 

     One day Zenix had painted a SK on the school walls, he called it the ‘Shadow Knights’. Gene had called him emo and went to draw something over it but the teachers had found them first. 

     The name had been a light joke between them all, but Zenix took it a little more seriously then Sasha and Gene. 

     Their grades were fine, for the most part, they weren’t below average. In fact Sasha had been doing very well in all her classes except P.E. 

     Gene had liked pissing off teachers while Zenix looked up to him for pissing off the teachers and trying to copy him. 

     Sighing, she waited for her food to be done before grabbing a bowl and going towards her room. Once in the safety of her room, she set the bowl down on her desk and flopped on her bed, exhaling deeply. 

     She grabbed her phone and looked at the photo of Teony again, “Irene…they’re so beautiful.” Sasha repeated. 

     Mentally she pictured a scenario where Sasha and her were together as one and it excited her. 

     The fantasies of her and Teony made her feel fantastic, the thought of them being close made Sasha happy. As much as Teony would scold Sasha on her troublemaking, Sasha cherished the few moments. 

     Even when she was yelling about how she was gonna give them detention it only made Sasha bite her tongue, trying not to smile. A weird feeling resonated in her, she knew what it was and how to get rid of it but it costed her her dignity.

     Reaching under her bed she grabbed a box opening it without looking away from the photo of Teony. 

     Grabbing the item in the box she set it on the bed and started to undo her pants, “Dammit.” She whispered. She looked at the item she had pulled from the box while she took off her pants and underwear.

     After they were off Sasha turned on the item, causing it to vibrate she tried to push back a smile. 

     Laying on her back she grabbed her phone and held it in front of her face while lowering the vibrator making her sigh in relief. 

     “Oh my Irene…” She lightly moaned, scrolling through Teony’s instagram. 

     There were plenty of photos of them and their friends along with solo photos of just them doing random tasks. 

     For a few minutes she was on a photo of Teony’s junior prom photo, they had looked so gorgeous that Sasha wouldn’t look at any other photo. 

     It didn’t take long for Sasha's arm to give out, making her turn on her side to keep looking at more photos. 

     “Fuck…” She groaned, letting go of her phone. 

     She opted to make up scenarios in her head of the two.

     Successfully getting her off…

Chapter Text

     Nana was sitting at her desk at home, trying to figure out what the cooking club was gonna make for tomorrow’s after school meeting. 

     There was no real schedule when it came to what they cooked during the club, anyone was free to make whatever they wanted. She had never made a rule about the members needing to make what she was making.

     But during the club, plenty looked to her for what they were going to make and she enjoyed teaching them her hobbies. 

     She was trying to choose between cannoli or caramel popcorn since she was craving both of them, possibly making them vote beforehand. 

     Deciding to leave it for later, she wrote it down in a small notebook that was dedicated for her cooking club, “Alright, now- math.” 

     Her backpack was on her bed so she had to get up to grab her textbook to start on the math assignments. When she saw her phone face down, she decided to flip it over and stopped when she saw notifications. 

     A certain guy was asking her to come over, “Uhh…” She whispered, seeing the text, deciding to not text him back. 

     Just grabbing her textbook she went back to her desk and forgot about him, not wanting to do anything with him right now.

     He was getting so needy with his demands of her coming over and pretending like they were something. Something was nagging at her, telling her to go to him just to make him happy and not to piss him off.  

     There was nothing directly wrong with him, but she was feeling slightly suffocated by him. Never was she really in the mood for a hookup, but whenever he asked, it felt condescending. 

     It was her fault for falling into the trap, but she had felt so bad for him when they first met that she hoped he would fix himself. Now she was almost at his beck and call because she was slightly scared of him.

     “Irene….” She said, feeling slightly inclined to pick up the phone and not keep him waiting out of fear.

     Picking up her phone, already seeing multiple missed calls for the guy and calling him back quickly. 

     “Hey.” He picked up immediately. 

     “Hi…” She responded, “Come over.” He told her immediately and she fiddled with her shirt a bit, “For what?” She asked, twirling a piece of her hair.

     “Don’t play stupid Nana, it’s not cute on you.” He told her and she felt herself deflate a bit, “I’m also out of condoms.”

     Keeping a sigh down, she asked, “Do you want me to pick some up on the way there?”

     “Yeah, I’ll pay you back if you want.” He offered. 

     “...I can get it.” She told him, looking at her math textbook and knowing she wasn’t going to get anything done.

     “Alright, I’ll see you soon Nana. We can watch one of those Disney movies afterwards.” He told her, seeming uninterested.

     Lightly she frowned, knowing that he hated a lot of the movies she liked and was doing it to appease her. 

     But watching movies with him felt like a guilt trip since he was constantly sighing during it, “Sure, we can do that… Ok I gotta go, I’ll be there soon, ok?” She said, grabbing her shoes. 

     The boy on the other line chuckled, “Alright, I’ll see you soon Nana.” 

     She hung up the phone, getting a shiver down her spine and letting out a shaky breath, “He’s not that bad…” She lied to herself.

     Quickly she picked up a small bag that she threw some clothes for afterwards. It wasn’t for overnight but she didn’t want to keep wearing the same things after they… did things. 

     Getting out of her room, she snuck around all the objects around the house. There were 10 other of her siblings in the house so stuff was always around.

     After getting out of the house, she quickly made her way to her car and slid in but stopped once the door closed.

     What was she doing? She didn’t enjoy having sex with him but he always seemed to be planning to do something to her if she said no.

     There was no real proof, she didn’t have any, it was just a gut feeling. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t get along with people, he was just… different. 

     Don’t ask her if their personalities matched, because they didn’t; but that’s what threw some people together. So who was she to question if they were right for each other? 

     Putting in her keys, she started the car and backed out of her driveway towards the gas station down the road. 

     His house wasn’t far, but she did need gas for her car and condoms, which meant a trip to the gas station…

     …

     Nana got out of her car and sighed, picking the type of gas her car needed. She knew she had to go inside to buy condoms but didn’t want to leave the gas running for too long. 

     After a few seconds, she gave in, “I’ll be back.” She told the pump as if it was sentient before running into the store. 

     Not making eye contact with the cashier, she shamefully made her way to the very back, where the condoms were on the side of the aisle as if to hide itself. 

     She quickly scanned over all the brands of condoms before sighing as she made it to the last row. From plain sight, she couldn’t find the one she needed. 

     It wasn’t that he was particular in the type he wanted but she trusted the brand and only bought from it. So not seeing it on the shelf was making her nervous. 

     “Travis! Come on, just get a flavor.” She heard someone say, but she dismissed it trying to find a similar size. 

     “Move freshies.” Someone else said and Nana’s head shot up to see who it was, recognizing that specific voice. 

     Over the short aisles of the gas station she saw dyed orange hair along with parts of white from another person, “Oh shoot, Lucinda.” She whispered. 

     Her stature was taller than the others than the others she was talking to, that along with her voice made it easy to pick her out. So Nana stooped down, trying to still find the right size condom so she could leave as soon as possible. 

     Lucinda knowing that she was there and looking for condoms would only bring up questions that she didn’t want to answer. As much as she loved Lucinda, it was hard to share everything with her since she tended to talk.

     She trusted her with her life, they had been friends for years and had even accidentally guided her through her first period since it happened during a dance.

     But this was different, she felt embarrassed for having a relationship with the guy she was meeting up with.

     “Come on, we were here first- We’re in high school too, you know.” Dante tried to argue with the older as she kept filling up her slushie cup. 

     “Exactly, that’s why I called you guys freshies.” Lucinda chuckled, the sound of the slushie machine going whirling. 

     Travis sighed, hugging himself, “I-i’m gonna find some chips…” He whispered, watching Dante fight with who he assumed was a senior. 

     “No!” Dante grabbed Travis’s shirt, who made a soft strangled noise right after, “We were here first.” He tried again, the senior only smirking at them. 

     She stood there while filling up her cup, “You’re Gene’s brother, right?” She asked, staring at Dante. 

     Dante nodded, “We talked a week ago.” He said, letting go of Travis’s shirt. 

     “I don’t remember that.” She told him, stopping the machine and pulling something out of her bra. 

     It was a small bottle of alcohol that she poured into the slushie while looking at Travis, “You’re Trevor? Or something like that?” She asked. 

     Travis had seen the senior around school but didn’t want to directly speak to her since she was still new to him. 

     “C-chips.” He mumbled, getting away from the two as fast as he could. 

     “Is he ok?” Lucinda asked, watching how quickly the freshman walked away to hide in the aisles. 

     Dante sighed, sounding annoyed, “It’s just his anxiety, it’s normal- How do you know Gene?” He asked. 

     Travis had gone to the furthest aisle away from them and chose to hide near the gum, at the other end was Nana who was also still hiding. 

     When he looked to the side he immediately saw her and felt even more embarrassed to be hiding just because he started to feel anxious. 

     Nana watched as he tried to calm himself down, mostly just freezing and watching as he inhaled as much as he could and holding it.

     He didn’t let it go even when he turned even more pale than he was.

     Slowly she went towards him, listening to how Lucinda was insulting Dante on how he was trying to act tough. 

     “Are you alright?” Nana whispered, reaching a hand out to him but not touching him.

     The breath he was holding was let go and he curled in on himself, holding his neck while breathing deeply.

     Gently she patted his back, trying to get his breathing back to normal. Once it did, she smiled at him, “You ok now?” She asked gently.

     “Y-yeah… sorry it’s just my anxiety. I-it’ll go away after a moment.” Travis said slowly, seeming slightly less tense but still shaking.

     It didn’t seem like anxiety to her, it seemed like full on fear . The way he didn’t let himself breath even when he looked ready to pass out wasn’t natural or healthy in Nana’s opinion.

     She shook her head quickly, “Hey, it’s fine. Was it Lucinda? She can kinda be intimidating.” Nana asked. 

     “Y-you know her?” He asked, making her nod. 

     “She means well, but a little blunt sometimes. Gene talks about Dante in our class and sometimes brings you up.” Nana explained, “I’m Nana.” 

     He was about to say his name but a light wheeze came out, “It’s ok, just breath, I know you’re Travis.” 

     Travis didn’t want to know what the junior said about him, knowing it wouldn’t help his ego or the situation. 

     Gene was already a frightening part of his days with Dante. So Gene at school, with no filter, could only be worse than Travis thinks. 

     Honestly the thought made him sick, hearing all the awful things Gene may have said about him without him knowing.

     “Need any help?” Someone asked, sounding amused. 

     Nana looked to the side quickly, Lucinda seeing them both on the floor, “Hey.” Nana smiled like she hadn’t been caught.

     Lucinda stood there with a slushie, watching Nana carefully, “Whatcha doing back here Nana?” She asked, looking at the shelf Nana was previously looking at, the condoms.

     There was a smirk that came on her face, clearly knowing that Nana was trying to hide. Along with the condom shelf she was sneaking around at, it didn’t help the situation. 

     “Nothing, what are you doing here?” She asked back, there was a sweet smile on her face to keep up the act.

     The senior giggled darkly, “Getting my daily dose of alcohol.” She said, lifting the slushie to signify it was spiked. 

     “That’s cool… Did you drive here yourself?” She asked, trying to change the conversation from herself.

     “Hmm… not entirely for me.” Lucinda shrugged, “But I did drive here myself, so I can’t have too much.” 

     Nana laughed back awkwardly, “I wouldn’t want to have to call your mom.” She said, pointing at Lucinda.

     “So what are you doing?” Lucinda asked again, picking up one of the condom packs, looking at the back. 

     “Nothing, got sidetracked.” Nana tried to cover up, “At the condom aisle?” Lucinda asked, looking at her. 

     She nodded, laughing again, “Curiosity killed the cat.” The phrase physically pained her to say sometimes since she hated to think about a cat dying.

     “I-i’m gonna throw up.” Travis whispered, closing his eyes and visibly shaking. 

     “Go back to Dante.” She hissed at him, pushing him off the floor and watching him scramble away from the girls. 

     When Nana looked back at Lucinda, she was still looking through the different condoms, “They never have the ones I want.” Lucinda whispered, seeming slightly annoyed.

     “Which ones do you want?” Nana tried to talk with her friend as if she wasn’t gonna interrogate her. 

     It didn’t work, “Hmm, don’t try to dodge the topic.” Lucinda chuckled, putting back the condoms, “Wanna tell me who it’s for?” She asked, looking down at the junior. 

     Nana was put on the spot, in a conversation that made her skin crawl, “I should get back to my car before it spends too much.” 

     Lucinda watched her leave before grabbing the exact pack Nana needed, looking over it for a second. 

     The girls were close enough for that type of information to be shared between the two, but clearly not enough that Nana wanted to ask for it. 

     Quietly she shrugged, going up to the front before paying for the slushie and pack of condoms, getting a side glance from the cashier. 

     “That’ll be $8.45.” The older lady said, looking at the senior, who put down a $10 bill, “Keep the change you judgemental hag.”

     “Kids…” The cashier sighed, watching Lucinda leave.

     Dante and Travis had been quietly watching the girls talk and watched Lucinda pay for the condoms. 

     “We should buy some.” Dante said enthusiastically, going over to the condom shelf but Travis only felt uncomfortable from watching Lucinda do that. 

     Having seen the whole thing, he questioned how people could be so casual about buying something like that. 

     Travis felt like he was intruding on something he shouldn’t have seen, “I-i don’t know Dante, what if your mom finds it?” 

     “Then you’ll keep it.” Dante said, going over to the condoms, making Travis let out an exhausted sigh before following him.

     “Y-you know I can’t keep it with me.” Travis told him, hoping his friend would listen to him for once . 

     “Nonsense, we can keep it under your mattress.” Dante dismissed, looking at the selection of condoms as if he knew anything about the brand.

     Travis had told Dante about his home life and he knew Travis couldn’t have something like that in the house.

     It wasn’t that his home life was bad… just strict or- used to be. Now that his dad had gotten a new job, it took up more of his time and Travis got a little loose with things.

     Even then, it still gave him anxiety, everything gave him anxiety and Dante knew it.

     “D-dante, you can’t be serious.” Travis said, feeling uneasy around so many condoms in front of him, “M-my dad would kill me.” He said seriously.

     The blue haired kid looked at him, the smile slowly slipping away after seeing how tense Travis was, “Yeah… I know. I’m kidding.” He said slowly. 

     Carefully Travis nodded, hands fidgeting with themself, “O-ok, sorry. I-i just-” 

     Dante wrapped an arm around Travis, “I know- I know. Your dad, come on. We’ll buy some chips, finally get you a slushie, and a pack of condoms because it’ll be funny.” 

     Travis stared at Dante, knowing he was trying to ease the tension, “Y-yeah…ok.” He nodded, not really seeing how it was funny…

     …

     Lucinda went towards Nana who was paying for the 9 gallons of gas, “Here.” She held out the condoms shamelessly.

     Nana looked at the condom pack, embarrassment going over her face, “...You didn’t need to do that.” She whispered.

     As she grabbed the packet in shame, the older one leaned down to meet the girl’s eyes, “I’d rather you tell me what you needed instead of not getting it at all.” 

     The guilt made Nana’s head go down, “Especially with that.” Lucinda told her, picking at the packet. 

     “I’m sorry.” Nana mumbled, picking at the box’s edges with her nails, not wanting to be in this position. 

     Seeing how sad she looked, Lucinda grabbed her shoulders and made Nana look at her, “It’s ok , just be honest with me next time. Please.” 

     “I will…” She nodded.

     “If you don’t have the money, come to me too, get it?” Lucinda added, squishing Nana’s face slightly, “I’ll cover you, for anything. You know that.”

     Her lips pouted at the motion and Lucinda smiled, “Yes mom.” Nana huffed.

     A horn went off and they both looked towards the car who did it, “Lucinda?” Nana said as Lucinda’s hands fell from her face.

     Squinting her eyes and Nana tried to see the car better, “Isn’t that your car?” She questioned.

     The other girl sighed, “Yeah…”

     There was a guy in the front seat, shoes on the dashboard and leaning over to honk the horn, “Who’s that?” 

     She moved in the way of Nana’s view, trying to cover up the view, “It’s no one.” She dismissed, shaking her head. 

     Forcing a smile, Lucinda pointed to the condoms, “Tell me who you’re gonna use those for later ok? I gotta go. Bye babe.” She waved, walking away towards her own car. 

     Nana stared after her, glancing at the car with the other passenger inside. From the distance she couldn’t exactly tell who it was.

     Then she looked down and was fidgeting with the packet of condoms, “What the heck…” She sighed, ashamed all over again. 

     Even if Lucinda was normal about it, Nana wasn’t as open about that stuff as she was and felt like that stuff should be kept private.

     Or at least under some level of privacy. Getting into the car, Nana started it back up again and drove off.

     Lucinda still stood at her car door, watching her friend drive off, “Be careful babe.” She whispered, getting into her own car. 

     She turned towards her boyfriend, “Was honking the horn really necessary?” She asked him, giving him an annoyed look. 

     “You were taking too long Luci.” Ivan smirked, taking his feet off the dashboard and nodded to the slushie, “Give me it.”

     “Yeah and Nana almost saw you. You know they hate your guts. How am I gonna tell her that I got back with you?” Lucinda asked, sounding annoyed with herself. 

     It was very much true, no one in her friend group enjoyed Ivan and when they had broken up last year she said that that’s. 

     But it was a new school year and she wanted to try again after he begged to get back together. They had only gotten back together because they were both drunk at a school dance and hooked up.

     Of course she wasn’t gonna tell any of her friends, at least until she knew that Ivan was gonna change. 

     Sighing deeply, she spoke, “Here.” Lucinda passed the slushie to him and started her car, thinking about her friend and how nervous she looked. 

     Ivan laughed, “Come on Luci, don’t worry about them. You don’t need them anyway.” He leaned in and kissed her neck, “I’m all you need.” He told her.

     Lucinda felt bad about hiding Ivan from her friends and was uncomfortable in the moment, “Not now Ivan.” She whispered, grabbing his wrist so that he let go of her. 

     He had a light hold on her neck and squeezed, “Stop it, I’m trying to make you feel better.” He threatened. 

     Reaching over, Ivan grabbed her seat adjuster and forced it back so that she was laying flat, “Just relax.” He whispered, getting on top of her. 

     “Ivan-” “Luci.” He stopped her, “Let me do this, you’re too stressed.” Ivan rolled his eyes and held her arms down.

     She was sure that if she put enough force she could push him off of her but didn’t have the energy right now. So she let him. 

     Slowly Lucinda gave in, trying to forget about how she was just getting on to Nana about guys when she was doing the same…

     …

     While Lucinda was thinking about Nana, Nana was thinking about who was in Lucinda’s car. He looked familiar and had seen him before, but couldn’t figure out a name. 

     It had to have been someone at their school and someone Lucinda wasn’t really sure about if she didn’t tell Nana.

     Even if Nana didn’t tell her about every guy she was interested in, Lucinda told her everything with no questions.

     Pulling up to her hookup’s house, she set her head on the steering wheel, “Come on… who does he look like?” She asked herself, lightly hitting her head on the steering wheel.

     Her head slipped on the horn of the car, causing it to blare for a second and make her gasp and come to the realization, “ Ivan .” She whispered, rubbing her face, “Oh Lucinda… Please don’t tell me you went back to him.” 

     Ever since he had come into her life, Nana heard just about everything that Lucinda had to say about Ivan. Good and bad. 

     It worried Nana when Lucinda would talk about him last year and they even slightly celebrated by re-dyeing their hair together when they broke up.

     Maybe Nana was jumping to conclusions, her eyesight was good but maybe she was seeing something wrong.

     Lucinda would have told her if she was getting back together with Ivan, especially him. 

     Still in the car, she barely noticed the door to the house she was pulled up to opening and someone walking towards her.

     When there was a knock on her window, she jumped slightly and turned to the passenger side. There he was, watching her so she rolled down the windows, “Hey…” She whispered.

     He crouched down to her windows, “Hey.” He spoke, moving his bangs out of the way with his black fingerless gloves on, “You get condoms?” He asked.  

     “Uhh… Yeah.” She shook her head from the previous thoughts and pointed to the passenger side’s seat where the packet lay. He reached in through her window and turned it over in his hands.

     “Great, come on.” He smiled, going away from the passenger side and going to her side as she grabbed the small bag of clothes from the backseat.

     He opened her door for her and watched as she stepped out before closing the door. She quickly locked the car before they walked up the pathway to his house. 

     “Where’s your family?” She asked, knowing that they weren’t there. 

     “Out, doing family shit.” He told her and she rolled her eyes. 

     She knew that he didn’t get along with his parents that much or his brothers. So it wasn’t a shock to hear that, “Sounds fun.” 

     Rolling his eyes, he opened the front door for her and she walked in first, taking off her shoes, “For them of course.” He finished.

     Nana let out a soft giggle, “You could have gone with them I’m sure.” 

     “Yeah but then I don’t get the house to myself.” He spun in a circle and gestured to the rest of the house from the front door.

     “Which is cool too.” She smiled at him, seeing how loose he was being with himself right now instead of hunched in.

     Then he walked towards the stairs backward and she had nothing to do but follow him. Wanting to stall, she looked at the photos on the wall instead.

     Her favorite one was of all the siblings together. It looked like a professional photo shoot but when they were younger.

     “You look at all of these every time.” He sighed, walking back down the stairs to stand next to her. 

     She sighed, “Because you look nice.” 

     “Yeah no.” He shook his head, going back up the stairs.

     “Zane.” She giggled and looked at the photo as long as she could while heading to the second story…

Chapter Text

     Aphmau watched as the teacher was trying to organize all the papers on her desk, but it was difficult because of how many there were.

     She was tasked with bringing the teacher a bunch of black tests from the faculty office since it had been printed before class started. 

     Teachers weren’t exactly allowed to have the student unattended but some still did it when there were only 3 kids in the class. This just wasn’t one of those times.

     In fact, class had started and Aphmau wasn’t running to P.E. to get changed, “Mrs. Peacock, please I really have to get to gym.” Aphmau said, holding the blank tests. 

     There was a small bounce in her figure since she was ready to run out of the room and get to the locker rooms to change. 

     The teacher lifted up a few loose papers, “Oh- I know Aphmau, I’m so sorry I kept you back this late.” 

     “It’s…-it’s alright, but I need to get going. Like- right now.” She said anxiously, holding out the tests so the teacher could take them. 

     “Of course… just give me a second-” Mrs. Peacock pushed some papers to the side and Aphmau watched as a few fell off the other end of the desk.

     “...It looks like Garroth’s booth from the club fair.” Aphmau murmured, causing some of the seniors in the room to chuckle. 

     “Hey!” Garroth shouted from the back of the room, a girl named Ivy sat next to him, twirling hot pink hair with a pencil. 

     She looked Aphmau up and down, leaning on the desk and chewing on some gum like a snotty highschooler… which she was known to be.

     Aphmau looked a little shocked to see the senior in the back, “Oh- my Irene, sorry Garroth. I forgot you were here.” 

     “Yeah- yeah- get out of here before the coach gets you.” He smirked, nodding to the clock above the board. 

     She looked at the clock before jumping a bit more in her spot, “It’s fine Mrs. Peacock, I just have to go- like now.” Aphmau rushed.

     “Go, I’ll try to fix all of this later.” She dismissed, causing Aphmau to set down the papers and quickly head towards the doors.

     “Bye Aph.” Garroth waved, “Bye Garroth!” She shouted as she got out of the room and ran out of the room. 

     Ivy watched the girl leave, “She’s… interesting.” She said carefully, knowing Garroth was friends with her last year.

     “She’s just in a rush,” Garroth dismissed, grabbing his pencil from the side and twirling it a bit between his fingers, “She’s usually more relaxed… kinda.”

     “Yeah… I remember.” Ivy stretched out, a piece of her hot pink hair still being played with by the pencil in her hand, “Just saying.”

     He looked at her, “Are you still mad about last year?” He asked, a bit confused.

     Shrugging, Ivy pulled back from the desk, shaking her head, “I didn’t say that. I just think she’s… something.” 

     Garroth smiled a bit, “She’s nice. I think you’d like her if you got to know her.”

     “Yeah.” She cringed a smile at him, “I’m sure I would.” She said with a nod, not wanting to say she hates Aphmau.

     “I know you guys were like- enemies before. But she really is nice and you two could be friends.” He tried to assure her.

     Sighing, Ivy sat back in her seat with her arms crossed, setting down her pencil and somehow chewing on the gum louder. 

     Meanwhile Aphmau was rushing down the hall as much as she could, going back and forth between speed walking and running.

     “Oh ho ho~ look who’s running through the halls !” Gene said extra loud at the end, looking at nearby classroom windows. 

     She immediately slowed down, staring at him with an annoyed face, “Listen I don’t have time today, I’m already late-

     “And late ? Oh my Irene! The world is finally crumbling!” He sighed in relief, looking at the ceiling before bringing his head back down at her.  

     “Get back to class Gene.” She said, crossing her arms, trying to meet his eyes but was having trouble as he was taller than her. 

     He seemed to have seen it and crouched down towards her, “Oh I’m sorry, is this better for you?” 

     Aphmau huffed lightly, “I mean it, I’m allowed to write you up.” 

     It was a threat she wasn’t willing to do, she had never written anyone up before. Her having that ability was more of an empty threat that Teony would handle. 

     Of course she should have assumed that Gene would be her first. He was always poking and prodding at her.

     So, being Gene, he only smiled at her. It was bait, he wanted to see her actually write him up. Never before had he seen the notorious detention pad on her, so he wanted to see if she was true to her work.

     Though anxious, she opened her blazer and pulled out a pen along with a detention pad quickly writing down all the details of the incident. 

     His eyes widened slightly, but he didn’t back down, “Look, you do have a detention pad. I thought that was just a legend people wrote on the bathroom stalls.” He joked.

     As much as she could, Aphmau glared at Gene while still scribbling down the details.

     “Aww I’m sorry Aphmau, did I hurt your feelings?” He asked in a cooing voice, mocking the girl. 

     After the angrily scribbling got faster, she handed it to him, “Tomorrow during lunch.” She said simply.

     He just gently grabbed it, smiling at the useless piece of paper in his hands, “Sure Kitty, sure.” He chuckled, knowing damn well he wasn’t gonna go. 

     Somewhat happy with what she did, Aphmau turned back to the direction of the gym before stopping, seeing Teony standing there.

     “Oh, hi Teony.” She said, trying not to think about how late she was. 

     Then Gene stood up straight again, slightly disappointed that his bicker with Aphmau was over, “Hi Mx. Bitch.” Gene waved, “Don’t worry Aphmau already gave me a detention.” He held up the slip. 

     “Get to class Aphmau.” Teony said, causing the younger to nod and run to her next class, knowing she had another minute before she was completely late. 

     Gene smirked at the detention slip before looking back up to see Teony was still there, “What?” He asked. 

     “Go to class.” They told him.

     “Relax T. I’ll go eventually. I just wanted to get detention.” He joked, again waving the slip towards them. 

     Teony crossed their arms, “You want detention?” 

     “Oh yeah, love it in there.” He nodded, “Teacher basically is never there, a student takes over. Fun times.” 

     Lightly scoffing, Teony nodded, “Yeah ok.” 

     “Heard Aphmau will do some of those detentions.” He walked towards Teony, “She seems fun.” He winked at them.

     “I don’t like you around her.” Teony told him bluntly, trying to hold their head up to face the taller. 

     “And I don’t like you cockblocking me.” He joked, walking around her, the opposite way of his next class. 

     Suddenly Teony’s face felt warm from the insinuation that Gene was trying to get into Aphmau’s sheets, but tried to brush it off. 

     They knew Aphmau didn’t like Gene, but how he insinuated it made Teony uncomfortable around him. 

     Did they think he would actually do anything to her? No, but they would rather be safe than sorry. The reputation that Gene carried was more than enough to try to keep the two away from each other.

     Aphmau slipped while turning a corner but grabbed a locker handle to keep her steady while trying to get to gym class. 

     The gym wasn’t far, but she still had to change into her gym clothes and she didn’t know if she had enough time. 

     Gym uniforms had been given to them on the second day of school but they didn’t actually start changing into them until the second week.

     Most freshmen were uncomfortable with the idea of changing in front of other students so they took up more time to get changed.

     Which meant everyone else did too, great news for her.

     She skidded down the hallway as fast as she could, trying not to get caught by a teacher, but she had places to be.

     “You running late?” Aaron asked her, walking past the running girl calmly while going everywhere but his next class. 

     For a second she ran backwards, yelling after him, “Gene caught me in the halls, I gave him detention.” 

     Though he didn’t know who ‘Gene’ was, he still smiled a bit for her, having to hold in a chuckle when she fell after sliding on the glossy floors. 

     Scurrying to get up and making sure her skirt was ok, she stopped, “Wait- what are you doing out of class?” She called after him.

     Aaron looked back at her, “You gonna give me detention?” He questioned, she shook her head ‘no’, “Just don’t wanna go to class.” He shrugged.

     “Oh… ok.” She nodded, “Can you do that? Don’t they tell your parents?” 

     “Great thing about being 18.” He smiled softly before starting to walk down the hallway again.

     Aphmau wondered if teachers really didn’t contact the parents when a student was 18 but then remembered she was gonna be late for P.E.

     Rushing towards the doors of the locker room, she pushed open the doors with a pant, “Aphmau!” Her coach said, causing her to silently groan. 

     “I know! I know, I’m getting ready.” She huffed out, going to her locker and trying to quickly open the lock. 

     “Where have you been?” Katelyn asked, seeing her panting while trying to get her shirt off while pulling at the lock. 

     “Gene, then Teony saw so I left and then I saw Aaron in the hall.” She told her struggling with her lock. 

     Katelyn looked at her confused, “Who’s Aaron?” She asked. 

     “Oh- a senior I sit with at lunch, he’s kinda quiet.” She described, pulling harshly at the locker’s lock. 

     Gently Lucinda pushed her out of the way, lightly pulling down on the lock, causing it to open magically. 

     The owner of the locker watched in awe, “What the heck?” She whispered, looking at Lucinda who was tying her hair back, with a soft smirk.

     “You think you’d know how to open the locks after being here for a year.” Lucinda teased her, looking at herself in the small locker mirror. 

     “It’s not my fault I keep getting the bad ones.” Aphmau rolled her eyes.

     “Didn’t you have a crowbar on yourself to open lockers?” Katelyn asked, confused.

     There was a light pout from Aphmau as she looked at Katelyn, “They took it from me when I got Kim’s locker open. Apparently it’s ‘dangerous’.” She put quotations around the word and sounded annoyed.

     Nana looked at her, “...Aphmau, you do know it’s dangerous to have that on you, right?” She asked softly.

     “I wasn’t hurting anyone with it, I was just breaking open lockers. These things get stuck all the time. Kim’s has been locked for like the first week of school already.” She changed as quickly as she could.

     Carefully Aphmau closed her gym locker before sighing, “You good?” Lucinda asked, pulling her shirt over. 

     “Yeah… just tired.” Aphmau told her, leaning against her locker. 

     “Stayed up too late?” Katelyn teased, causing Aphmau to lightly hit her in the arm. 

     Nana was applying sunscreen over her face to keep herself from burning outside on the soccer field, “How late did you stay up last night?”  

     “Only stayed up until like 11.” Aphmau said, crossing her arms. 

     “Still enough time to do stuff.” Nana whispered, applying some of the excess sunscreen to her arms. 

     “Nana’s got the right idea.” Lucinda laughed, winking at the junior, causing her to lightly blush and look away. 

     The girl lightly blushed before whispering, “ That’s not that I meant…”

     A loud whistle went off, causing them to flinch or cover their ears, “Alright! If you’re done, go ahead and go outside!” Their coach yelled out.

     “I’m gonna go get Kim.” Lucinda said, pushing off her locker and going to the bathroom at the side of the changing room.

     Kim on the other hand was getting changed into her gym uniform in the bathroom stall, she couldn’t bear to let everyone see her body.

     Actively she was in her underwear and bra, staring down at her own body in what anyone would recognize as shame. 

     “Irene…” She whispered, feeling around her stomach, “Am I getting bigger?” She asked herself.

     As much as she would like to look at the bathroom mirror, it would mean leaving the stall… So Kim wouldn’t do it. Just outside the stall she could hear the other girls gossiping and probably touching up their makeup. 

     Looking at her stomach again, she sucked in her stomach and saw how it curved in. It was a better look for her body instead of the slightly fuller size in her opinion.

     The only thing she had to eat for that day was some plain cereal but she still felt like she was gaining weight. 

     Why was she gaining weight? 

     Everything seemed to be getting bigger according to Kim and she couldn’t exactly figure out why.

     A loud knock on her stall was heard, “Kim babe! We gotta go!” Lucinda called from the other side.

     “Sorry!” Kim grabbed her shirt and quickly put it on before opening the stall door, “Sorry.” She said again to Lucinda who was looking at herself in the mirror.

     “It’s ok…” She whispered, wiping a part of her eyeliner to a clean line and staying perfectly still for it.

     Grabbing her school uniform hanging on a hook behind the stall door, Kim went next to Lucinda, “...Didn’t you say we have to go?” Kim asked.

     Lucinda hummed in agreement but was still frozen as her nail dragged under her winged eyeliner. 

     “...Ok.” Kim nodded, leaving the bathroom towards the rest of the locker room where the other girls were.

     “Hi Kim.” Aphmau smiled, grabbing a hair tie and holding her hair in a high ponytail style.

     “Hey.” Kim smiled back, opening her locker and trying to fold her clothes the best that she could.

     Going to her locker Nana leaned over slightly, “Do you want a snack?” She whispered to Kim. 

     Kim had a feeling Nana knew that she struggled with her eating, and would often try to give her food. In the mornings when Nana made food, she would try to get Kim to eat more than just a few of the baked goods that she brought. 

     “...No, I’m ok. Thank you though.” Kim whispered back, trying not to see the concerned look in Nana’s eyes.

     The coach hit the window they were behind, “Come on girls! Let’s go.” They shouted before sitting back at their desk.

     Coming out from the bathroom, Lucinda was fanning her face, “You ok?” Katelyn asked.

     “Yeah, I just wasn’t blinking.” Lucinda strained, “So I’m trying not to cry now, I was trying to fix my eye liner.” 

     Nana closed her locker, “We have to go. I don’t wanna keep getting yelled at.” Though she said that, she was still obviously waiting for her friends.

     She squished Nana’s face, “You’re so cute.” Lucinda told her, moving both their heads side to side in line with each other. 

     “Weirdos.” Katelyn slammed her locker closed and went out first, Aphmau right behind her.

     Lucinda grabbed her water bottle and a hair tie before pulling Kim with her as they walked next to Nana.

     “It’s way too hot to be playing anything.” Kim lightly fanned her face right as they got outside due to the heat. 

     A boy came over to them, bouncing a ball between his knees, “Hello beauties.” He smiled at the girls.

     “Gross.” Katelyn gagged. 

     He stuck his tongue out at her, “I wasn’t talking about you .” He mocked her.

     “Like you look any better.” She snapped at him.

     “You wanna go?” Laurence stepped towards her.

     Immediately Aphmau got between them, “We’re not fighting before P.E. it’s too hot and you’re gonna get grass stuck to you.”

     “...We settle this off school property.” Laurence pointed at Katelyn while backing up from her. 

     “Deal.” Katelyn huffed before their act fell and they just smiled at each other.

     Aphmau rolled her eyes before pushing her bangs back, “Irene it is hot…”

     He scoffed, “You’ve barely been outside a minute.” 

     Katelyn grabbed the soccer ball he was bouncing before dropping it, kicking it away from him, “Fetch.” She told him, pointing in the direction the ball had gone. 

     Laurence’s jaw dropped before running after the ball, “Katelyn.” Nana warned, pulling her hair up into a high ponytail. 

     “He’s having fun.” Katelyn dismissed, gesturing to the way Laurence was running to the ball and kicking it as soon as he was able.

     “I’ll see you ladies later, I gotta go to my class.” Lucinda said, starting towards the senior gym classes. 

     “Man, why can’t any of you be a sophomore?” Aphmau asked, looking at her sophomore class. 

     They seemed to just be walking the track, but she didn’t want to be running on the almost sandpaper like ground. 

     “It's ok Aph.” Katelyn told her, patting her back before pushing her towards the group of her own grade. 

     She turned back for a second, her junior friends only ushering her off too, “Screw you guys.” She grumbled under her breath.

     “Love you too.” Katelyn said after her before looking at Nana and Kim, “Alright, let’s go play some soccer.” 

     Kim silently groaned before Nana looped their arms together, “It won’t be so bad, you get to hang out with Laurence.” 

     “That’s supposed to make me feel better?” Kim asked, knowing she was gonna still have fun with Laurence. 

     Lightly Nana shrugged, smiling a bit at her to make her try to feel better after being outside for a few minutes. 

     From a distance, Nana saw Zane sitting on the bleachers huddled up into himself. He didn’t like to participate in gym. 

     His mom had scared the school with a lawsuit over not letting Zane ‘over-work himself’ during gym. So he got away with just sitting out. 

     Katelyn pushed them towards their gym group, Nana seeing a bit of the white haired boy in the other direction of Zane. 

     …

     Travis watched from afar, seeing kids come out from the gym and outside on the soccer and football fields. 

     It seemed like the girls got out later than the boys when it came to getting out of the locker room. Or maybe he was just uncomfortable being in the locker room himself and was trying to get out of there as soon as possible.

     So it left him people watching, not for very long though since his eyes would catch something more interesting to look at.

     He saw Nana come out from the doors and smiled softly, relaxing a bit. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t really talked with her, she was nice and that was enough. 

     “What are you doing?” His coach asked him, coming closer to the freshman. 

     “U-ummm.” Travis didn’t have an answer and just stared at his coach, fingers started to pick at each other.

     A girl came running up to him and grabbed his arm, “Do you wanna play with the frisbees?” She asked, smiling widely at him.

     When she got a good look at him, she honed in on his eyes. A weird shade of vibrant green, “Are you wearing contacts?” She bluntly questioned.

     She seemed to be bouncing in her spot and was biting her lip as if she was trying to keep in her excitement. Looking at the spot she was holding, he thought he could almost feel his blood flow stop in that arm. 

     “N-no?” Travis awkwardly answered, hoping that she wouldn’t ask about it anymore since he didn’t have a good answer for why his eyes were that shade of green.

     His dad just said he was allergic and Travis never seemed to question it afterwards.

     “Oh… your eyes are just a bit strange then.” She said bluntly and he looked away as if to hide his eye color, “I like them.” She added with a large smile.

     Lightly he nodded, hoping that was the end of the conversation since she made him slightly uncomfortable with how energetic she was.

     “Oh right!” She jumped, “Wanna play frisbee with us?”

     “U-umm…” He looked at his coach, hoping for a way out that he could just go hide in a bush somewhere.

     The coach looked between them before smiling, “Go ahead Travis.” 

     Slowly Travis nodded, the girl smiling before bringing him over to 2 other boys who seemed to be fighting. 

     Fighting was a strong word to use, they were throwing grass at each other while saying incoherent words. 

     Letting go of his arm, Travis could feel the blood rush back through his arm, “Guys!” The girl shouted at the others.

     “I-i’m Travis.” He nervously introduced. 

     “Dottie.” She said, shaking his hand frantically. 

     He looked at the top of her head to see a pair of ‘wolf ears’, “Here.” She said, handing him a colorful frisbee. 

     Before he could really understand what she was doing, another frisbee came hurling at him and he tried to dodge it. 

     “No! Not like that!” She laughed, running to where the frisbee had fallen, “You gonna catch it.” 

     The girl leaned down and grabbed the frisbee, “You don’t play with these often, do you?” She asked, pointing the frisbee at him. 

     Travis shook his head, unfamiliar with what to do around her. She seemed so energetic while moving. 

     Dottie nodded before looking at the 2 boys who were holding poses while staring at each other, “Rylan! Daniel!” She yelled. 

     Both of them looked at her, “You’re breaking our concentration.” One of them yelled, legs starting to tremble in the balancing position. 

     Stomping over to them, she grabbed their ears and pulled them towards where Travis was, “He doesn’t know how to frisbee.” 

     Rylan and Daniel, which ones were which he didn’t know, stared at him with wide eyes, “What a weenie.” 

     They both had poorly done dye jobs, one a gray-ish green while the other had a muted purple. Dottie’s hair was also dyed a brighter purple but it seemed more fresh and taken care of compared to the boys.

     Travis looked nervous, not knowing what to say, “Here.” Dottie handed the two boys a frisbee and stood away from them. 

     Looking between all of them, he saw all of them having a pair of those fake ‘wolf’ ears, “W-what’s with the ears?” He asked one of them. 

     They turned to him and basically scanned him, “We’re werewolves.” One of them said, sounding serious. 

     “O-oh…t-that’s cool.” Travis said slowly, looking around for Dottie but couldn’t find her immediately.

     One of them nodded before speaking, “I’m Daniel, that’s Rylan.” He said, pointing to the boy next to him. 

     “T-travis.” He told them, before getting hit in the head with one of the frisbees that came from Dottie.

     “Oh darn…” She whispered, “Sorry Travis!”

     He lightly rubbed the spot and looked at her, “I-it’s fine…” He mumbled, not knowing what else to say about it…

Chapter Text

     “Hello gorgeous.” Lucinda complimented Nana sliding to be next to Nana in the lunch line. 

     “Hi.” She said cheerfully, waving at her even if she was less than a foot away, “What’s up?”

     She shrugged, “Oh you know, getting lunch.” Lucinda said, uninterested.

     Nana looked at her with a confused smile, “I don’t really understand why you get lunch here, you never like it.” She told her.

     “Because I like to talk to people in the lunch line.” She said, “And I have the money for it anyway.”

     “It’s because your mom works here.” Nana said.

     “That too, but that’s besides the point.” Lucinda waved her off, “If I get hungry I can just eat fruit.”

     Shaking her head at her playfully, Nana looked at her own tray, “You can get fruit individually.”

     Sighing, Lucinda bumped into her, getting in her space, “Ok enough with the filler conversation, tell me what’s going on.” She demanded.

     “What are you talking about?” Nana asked, not bothered by how close Lucinda was.

     “You know what I’m trying to do.” She told her as Nana pretended like she couldn’t hear Lucinda.

     She stared at Nana as she kept sliding down the line, but Nana didn’t comment on it. Instead she let Lucinda stay in her space, trying to get what she was trying to drag out, “So?” Lucinda tried again.

     Nana grabbed a peach and looked at Lucinda like she didn’t know what she was referring to, because she didn’t, “What?” Nana asked. 

     “Oh come on, you know what I’m talking about.” Lucinda pushed, picking up a small plate of mystery meat. 

     Lucinda sighed and spoke, “Who did I buy the condoms for?” She asked outright after Nana gave her a weird look.

     “Lucinda-” Nana hissed, not having expected her to actually say it during school, especially in the lunchroom, “Later.” 

     She smirked and looped her arm with the junior, “How about now? Behind the school.” She suggested. 

     “Now?” Nana asked, getting to the end of the lunch line, “Why now?” She questioned, trying to keep it down. 

     “Because it’s important someone knows about this stuff, and I doubt you’ve told anyone.” Lucinda said. 

     She tried to play it off, “I have other friends I tell secrets too.”

     A dramatic gasp left Lucinda and she put a hand to her chest, “You’re telling someone else your secrets?” 

     When Nana looked at her, she expected an over the top face of sheer horror but when she saw Lucinda’s eye watering, Nana stopped. “...No.” She confessed.

     The tears immediately went away and Lucinda smiled, “Oh- I knew you weren’t cheating on me.” 

     Nana’s mouth opened in shock, wanting to know why Lucinda would pretend to be sad just to get answers, “What was that for?” 

     “Because you were keeping secrets and friends don’t do that. We tell each other what boys they’re seeing.” Lucinda chuckled.

     Huffing, Nana turned away from her, “No way, not that I know you’re trying to manipulate me right now.

     As they got to the end of the lunch line, before Nana got to pay, Lucinda reached over and  laid for their lunch, “My treat, so now you owe me.” 

     Again her mouth opened in shock, “Lucinda!” She whined. 

     She had already owed Lucinda over the convenient store and now that she had paid for her lunch, there was no way out of it.

     “Fine…” Nana said, making the senior smile and start lightly jumping, “Can I at least go get my bag?” She asked, pointing to her bag at a table with Garroth and Laurence.

     Lucinda shooed her off, keeping the lunch tray off to the side so she would have to come back anyway.

     Nana ran up to the table, “Hey Nana-” Laurence started but she cut him off quickly, not wanting them to ask questions. 

     “I gotta hang out with Lucinda this lunch, I owe her for something. You guys gonna be cool on your own?” She spoke, grabbing her bag from the seat. 

     “What do you owe her for?” Garroth asked, trying to open a packet of baby carrots with his teeth.

     “Just something.” She vaguely told them, turning back, only to get startled by Kim, “Sorry Kim- I gotta go. I’ll see you later. Hey, make sure to eat, ok-?” 

     Kim stood there, confused as hell, watching Nana go towards Lucinda, “What happened?” She asked, setting her books down. 

     “I don’t know…” Laurence said, looking down at the stack of books on the table now, “I thought you said they were getting you a new lock today!”

     He had been carrying the girl’s books for over a week and was starting to get tired of it. Kim didn’t make him carry all of the heavy textbooks but he had felt sorry for her so he did it anyway. 

     She lightly flinched and sighed, looking tired, “Apparently they mean Wednesday of next week. Sooo…” 

     “Then we go back to Aphmau.” He told her but she shook her head, “Pretty sure Aphmau got the crowbar taken away.” Kim shot down.

     He groaned, head going back, “Fine, let’s just go get lunch.” He told her, getting up and grabbing her hand but she was clearly trying to get out of his hold, “We eat Kim!” He playfully snipped.

     ‘ I do not .’ She told herself but didn’t say it outloud so he wouldn’t interrogate her on why she hated eating.

     Katelyn finally got out of the lunch line and sat beside Garroth, “Where’d Nana go?” She asked, “I could have sworn I saw her just a second ago.”

     “I guess she owes Lucinda and they’re gonna go do stuff.” He tried to explain, not actually knowing what they were doing. 

     When Katelyn stared at him with a confused look, he just put another baby carrot in his mouth and looked away. 

     “You’re being weird pretty boy.” She said slowly... 

     …

     “Alright, sit.” Lucinda said, pulling Nana before pushing her to sit on the ground, dropping her own tray out of the way. 

     Nana looked up at her, slightly nervous, “I don’t know if here is the best idea-” Nana tried, “What if someone hears?” She asked.

     “No one even comes back here, and if they do- we can see them before they get too close.” Lucinda told her, gesturing that they were against a long wall. 

     “But do we really have to have this conversation?” Nana asked.

     “If you get pregnant on my watch, I gotta know who’s paying child support.” She said, sitting herself down in front of the junior. 

     It was a blunt statement and took Nana by surprise. Where did that idea come from? Condoms were being used, Lucinda knew that.

     “Can we even eat out here-” Nana tried to ask but Lucinda waved her off, “This year we’re allowed to sit outside- now come on!”

     She scoffed, “What about you? How do I know you’re not getting pregnant?” Nana crossed her arms and tilted her head at Lucinda.

     Lucinda scoffed back, “Why would I get pregnant?” 

     “Ivan.” Nana said simply and watched Lucinda’s smirk fall into an almost lightly embarrassed one cringe.

     “How did you know?” Lucinda asked, sitting straight, getting ready to confess to her scandalous crimes since there was no way out.

     “I saw him in your car when we were at the gas station.” Nana remembered, looking at Lucinda with disappointment, “I thought you said you guys were over.” 

     She sighed, “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” She smiled weakly, knowing she was being a hypocrite. 

     “So… how long?” Nana asked, leaning back against the school building and wanting to know Lucinda had been keeping this secret.

     “6 inches.” Lucinda joked, causing Nana to fake gag and hit her shoulder, “Gross, you know I didn’t mean that.” 

     “Yeah, yeah, uhhh... 4 months? Just about?” Lucinda told her, making Nana think about what she was doing a few months ago.

     “In junior year?” Nana guessed.

     “Yeah… right at the end. During prom.” Lucinda agreed, thinking about how she was ‘swooned’ outside near a soda machine. 

     Not really swooned, she had snuck in a few drinks and got slightly tipsy with her ex boyfriend at the time.

     “Ew.” Nana shivered at the thought.

     “Yeah, really gross. Back to your problem.” Lucinda pushed the side conversation out of the way, “Who’s risking you getting pregnant?” 

     “I’m not gonna get pregnant .” Nana hushed, peeking around to see if anyone had heard what they were talking about, “You bought me condoms, remember?”

     Sighing deeply,  Lucinda shook her head, “I didn’t even know you were active. I knew you had- because you asked me what kind to use- but I thought that was a one and done kind of thing.”

     “Well it was .” Nana played with her nails, “And then we just kept doing it… that’s kinda it. We’re not really dating or anything.”

     Lucinda scoffed, “Yeah I’ve heard that one before, when?” She repeated. 

     “Just over the summer.” Nana answered.

     “With who?” 

     “Luci-” “Nana, I’ma need to know who I need to track down if you decide not to come to me for condoms again.” Lucinda cut her off.

     Pouting, Nana crossed her arms and argued, “I’m not gonna do that again.” 

     Mockingly, Lucinda nodded before, “Guess why we don’t see Lily anymore?” 

     Her eyes went wide at what Lucinda had said, “That’s why she’s not here this year? I thought she was just suspended!” 

     “That too, but she got pregnant first, then got kicked out for smoking in the bathroom to ‘naturally abort’ the baby. Some random shit she saw online.” Lucinda sighed in annoyance. 

     “...Did it work?” Nana asked, wondering if that was an actual way to get rid of a baby by yourself. 

     “Kinda. It’s weird, either way, she never had the baby.” Lucinda shrugged before shaking her head, “We’re getting off topic, who is he?” 

     “He’s no one, really!” Nana rushed out. 

     “Then tell me!” Lucinda laughed, slightly annoyed, “I just wanna make sure you’re alright with this guy.” 

     Nana knew if she said anything about him she would be looked down on. No one liked him, only his family and Nana.

     Even then, she didn’t exactly like him. He was just someone she thought she liked, but soon realized she just liked the idea of him. Once she had figured it out though, it seemed too far to go back. He liked being close to her and found romantic feelings for her. 

     Sometimes he would say morbid things and she thought about if he would do anything to hurt her. Then she realized that he didn’t even seem strong enough to do anything he was talking about. 

     In all honesty, Zane scared Nana . 

     They both just stared at each other, well Lucinda was at Nana because Nana was just staring off into space, “Well?” Lucinda pushed. 

     Lightly Nana shook her head of the thought, “Sorry?” 

     Lucinda saw the reaction, “Babe, should I be worried?” 

     “No Lucinda-” “Then why can’t you tell me? We share everything. You had your first period with me.” Lucinda bargained. 

     It was true Nana got her period at homecoming and Lucinda had to take her home so they could wash the blood out of her dress. 

     She started fixing her school skirt and her sitting position, “He goes here… and no one really likes him.”

     “Balto?” Lucinda tried, trying to think of people that their friend group didn’t like. 

     “No he’s-...A brother of a friend?” She clued, hoping Lucinda would think of everyone but the guy she was quietly hooking up with. 

     “A brother of a friend?” Lucinda repeated, unsure of where to go with that information, “Come on- why can’t you just tell me.” 

     Nana’s eyes wandered away from Lucinda and onto the hallway a bit away from them. Right at that moment, a white haired boy came out from one of the doors. 

     His head went around before realizing the area had nothing he needed and started fidgeting with his tie.

     “Travis!” Nana yelled, waving her hand at the freshman, who seemed to be lost in and panicking. 

     He had almost head back inside before turning around and almost crying to see a familiar face, a friendly one at that, “N-nana.” He breathed out. 

     Travis had been walking around since first lunch started, thinking he had finally gotten his schedule down. 

     Shamefully proven wrong by the teacher scolding him, saying how he’s in the wrong class and his class across the school. The boy looked conflicted, wanting to rush over to her but unsure if they were close enough to do that. 

     Nana smiled at the frantic kid, getting up and going to him, seeing a way out for her too, “Wha-?” Lucinda huffed, “Nana!” She whined.

     Ignoring Lucinda, Nana went up to him and gently asked, “What are you doing out? Do you have first lunch?” 

     “N-no, I don’t. I-I have second-” He told her, tugging on his tie harshly as if to fix his breathing.

     She watched him pull at his tie, “I-i got lost and I don't know where my next class is- and I-” He stuttered out, taking in a shaky breath at the end. 

     Gently Nana grabbed his hands away from messing with his tie, “It’s alright, I can take you to your next class, ok?” 

     “Oh- but-” Lucinda said, having thought she put the pieces together about Nana’s mystery friend with benefits. 

     “O-oh Nana you don’t have to-!” He started to say but stopped when she held her hand out in front of him. 

     “It’s alright, I am a part of the mentor club afterall and just because it’s not the first week doesn’t mean I can’t still help you.” She told him.

     He sighed but smiled at her, “T-thank you.” 

     She smiled at the younger and helped fix his tie, “Try not to worry so much, I’ll tell the teacher I pulled you away or something.” 

     Quickly he nodded, ready to follow her, “Lucinda, we’ll take later, alright? I promise.” She told the senior. 

     Lucinda shook her head, taking the peach from Nana’s tray, “Nana, you know I’m just looking out for you. I love you babe.” 

     The junior grabbed her bag anyway and flattened her skirt, “I love you too Luci. I promise I’m ok. I’ll tell you if something happens.” Nana told her, smiling. 

     Travis could feel the tension between them, but it was more comforting than other nerve racking situations he’s seen. 

     Both girls held out their hands, just to hold them for a moment, “...Fine, but if he’s doing something bad to you-” Lucinda said, looking at her worriedly. 

     “I’ll tell you first, I promise.” Nana reassured, smiling when Lucinda kissed the back of her hand and let go. 

     “Go, take the kid to his class.” Lucinda said, shooing them off. 

     Nana looked at Travis before starting to walk back into the school, “What class do you have?” She asked. 

     “U-uhh.” He stuttered, pulling out his schedule from a pocket in his backpack, “H-here.” He pushed the paper towards her.

     She looked it over for a moment before thinking how to get there the fastest, “Why haven’t you gotten your schedule down yet? It’s been two weeks. Didn’t they send out a school package?” She asked gently, trying not to scare him.

     Travis was trying to think about what Lucinda and Nana were talking about. They were close, clearly, the first time he saw them talk was over Lucinda buying condoms for Nana. 

     The rest of the conversation was playing over in his head. Lucinda had been worried about Nana and made it seem like Nana should be cautious. Was Nana in a bad situation with someone? “Hm? Travis?” Nana said, looking up at him, lightly nudging the boy. 

     He shook his head, “I-i was homeschooled for the most part. So I think they just skipped over me.” 

     Nana smiled softly, “Alright, we can take the passage by the stairs and that will only take like 3 minutes.” 

     “N-nana?” Travis spoke, tapping the older on the shoulder. 

     “Yes?” She responded, looking up at him since he was taller than her, only to see him looking nervous again, “What’s wrong?” 

     He started to pull at his tie again, “A-are you alright? I-is someone… hurting you?” He whispered, not looking at the girl and instead at his shoes. 

     While she didn’t know much about Travis, she could see that he was a ball of nerves and what little he had heard scared him. 

     “Hey,” She snapped her fingers in front of him, wanting him to look at her, “I’m alright, just some personal problems that I put myself in.” 

     It wasn’t a direct answer to his question, causing him to pull at his tie more, starting to freak himself out with what Nana was doing. 

     “Y-you didn’t answer.” He pointed out, starting to panic. 

     She bit her lip, seeing how fragile he really was at anything, “Travis. No one is hurting me, alright?” She spoke softly. 

     “B-but what you and Lucinda were just talking about-” He pointed towards the outside doors where Lucinda probably still was. 

     “She’s just worried about me, but nothing is happening, I have no bruises, no scars, nothing. ” Nana rubbed his arms. 

     “T-that doesn’t mean you’re not getting hurt.” He panicked, “Hurt is anything , emotional, physical, psychological-” He took in a pained breath.

     “Travis.” Nana stopped him, “I’m not getting hurt, in any way .” She promised, trying to convince the freshman. 

     After a moment he calmed down, “T-then what was-?” “She just thought something was going on, nothing was happening.” She lied. 

     They stared at each other for a moment before Nana hooked her arm around him, “Let’s just go to class, alright? We can talk about it later if you want.” 

     “...W-who is it?” He quietly asked. 

     “A… friend.” She told him slowly, not knowing really what to call Zane. 

     She lightly rubbed his arm, “Why don’t we just get to class? Do you have a club after school?” She asked, trying to change the subject. 

     He shook his head quickly, “I-I usually go with Dante, he’s in the baseball club. S-so I just kinda sit off to the side and do homework.” 

     “Why don’t you come to my club then? It's hosted in the cooking club. We mostly just cook for a few hours. Anything we want.” She offered. 

     “I-is that ok?” He asked, getting nervous at the fact of going somewhere wasn’t supposed to go.” 

     Nana nodded, “Of course, I usually run the club so it’s alright with me. Ok? So if you come see me after school, I’ll bake you something.” 

     Travis just quietly sighed, “W-what room is it in?” 

     “I’ll come find you, just go to where Garroth plays baseball after school.” She told him, “Let’s just get you to class.” 

     “O-ok…” He nodded, allowing her to pull him to his next class…

     …

     Dante was rambling about the baseball club while Travis played with his fingers, “I swear to Irena Travis! It was amazing! And could you hear everyone gasp?” He asked Travis. 

     Half of what he had said was a lie. The ball Dante was talking about wasn’t an amazing one… but it did get everyone to gasp. 

     Garroth had thrown him an easy ball, Travis had been realizing that no one seemed to have faith in Dante. So to make him look better, Garroth had been throwing him easy ones, getting easier and easier as practices went on.

     He had never spoken to Garroth but Dante had dragged him to enough of the practices to know the captain's name.

     This specific ball had ricocheted and went so far away from the rest of the field that they just got a new ball. It just surprised everyone that someone could be so cocky but so terrible at the sport they spoke lightly of.

     “Y-yup…” Travis kicked at a rock that had somehow found its way onto the bleachers. 

     Travis was sitting in the very front of the bleachers, not wanting to walk up and down for when he had to go to the bathroom.

     It made it easy for Dante to run over to him to dramatically retell a story Travis had actively seen in front of him. 

     “Travis!” Someone yelled and both looked over to the side gate that led to the baseball field. Nana stood there, waving at him.

     “...Is that the girl from the store?” Dante asked.

     “U-uh yeah.” Travis picked up his bag and started walking towards her.

     “Where are you going?” Dante followed him from the other side of the fence that blocked the audience from the field. 

     Turning to him, Travis pointed at Nana, “S-she invited me to the cooking club. S-so I thought I was just gonna go hang out in there.” 

     “Nana!” Garroth yelled, running over to her, a baseball bat still in his hands but Nana didn’t even flinch. 

     “You are?” Dante asked, seeming disappointed.

     “Y-yeah but- we can still walk home together.” Travis told him, still walking in the direction of the girl.

     Dante grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, “Are you trying to get with her? Cause I don't think that's going to happen. She’s a bit out of your league.” He jumped to conclusions.

     “W-what? N-no! D-dante, she invited me, and I want to go.” Travis shook his head, clearly uncomfortable with the idea. 

     “...Ok if you say so.” Dante let go of him, “Go cook or something.” 

     Sighing, Travis went over to Nana who was excitedly talking with Garroth, “No really, I think she wants to ask you to help but doesn’t want to bother Zane.” Garroth told her.

     “Oh that sounds so fun though, your mom is a good cook.” Nana smiled at him before looking at Travis, “Ready?” 

     “Y-yeah.” Travis nodded, playing with his backpack straps.

     Garroth smiled at Travis, “You stealing him?” 

     “Just for a bit. I wanted to show Travis the cooking club.” She told Garroth who only shrugged, “He’s not in my club so I got no rein on him.” 

     “Thanks Garroth, I’ll see you later.” Nana waved goodbye as she walked back into the school with Travis following quickly behind her.

     When she slowed down so he could stand next to her, she asked, “So I’m just gonna carry on in my club but I’m sure you can try the end result.” 

     “W-what are you going to make?” Travis asked. 

     “Thinking muffins.” She answered and Travis smiled softly since she seemed so well put together and calm, it made him calm…

Chapter Text

     Travis watched as Dante shoved the school work in his backpack, not caring if it got crumpled.

     “Bye Travis.” Dante said, “Have fun making out with Nana.” He teased before running off to baseball practice. 

     It was something Dante had started assuming Travis did after school and lying about the cooking club. The whole joke made Travis uncomfortable since he barely knew Nana and only saw her as a friend.

     He was sure it was mutual since she only ever spoke to him as a friend and he didn’t find any implications… or maybe he wasn’t looking correctly. Relationships never were really Travis’s thing, the concept seemed weird to him but he enjoyed the idea of friends. 

     And he considered Nana his friend. 

     Dante didn’t mind that Travis wasn’t ever coming with him to the baseball club anymore, which then started the joke. After the first week of Travis not following him, Dante seemed to have accepted it.

     They still walked home together and hung out whenever they could. But Travis wasn’t against the distance, he had Nana to keep him company for the time that Dante gave to the baseball club. 

     In fact, Dante seemed to be pushing for Travis to go to the cooking club and away from the baseball practices. Even the times where the cooking club was closed after school, Dante didn’t talk to Travis.

     The boy lightly waved to his friend, slowly putting his chromebook in his bag and zipping it up afterwards. He didn’t even try going after Dante to really say bye since he had to go the other way anyway.

     “Close the door on the way out Travis will ya?” His teacher said, leaving before Travis could say anything. 

     Picking up his bag, he went towards the light switch of the room and turned it off before walking out. A good amount of the students had left or were in their clubs already, leaving the halls empty and bare. 

     Standing alone in the hallway, he looked up and down the hallway, trying to suppress the need to run to his next class out of paranoia. 

     “O-ok…” He whispered to himself, trying to think about why he was paranoid. 

     When Travis was younger his dad often would grab him in the hallways before taking him to his office.

     As much as Travis tried to push it deep deep down, he knew his dad would do strange experiments on him as a child. 

     His dad was a professor at the local university who taught about human anatomy that would use Travis to test small theories. To try to get away from his dad, he would look down the hallway multiple times before running to where he needed to go. 

     Travis knew that’s why he was so anxious all the time, the unexpectancy and irrationality of his dad. 

     Being homeschool for most of his life didn’t help with it. It made everything so much worse since he rarely left the house.

     He pulled at his tie, loosening it and tightening it back and forth. A new tic started to form in the act of cutting off his air. 

     After he held his breath for over a minute, trying to let his paranoia leave, he got out of the door frame, “Ok- ok- ok-”  

     The cooking club wasn’t so far that he couldn’t get there in under 2 minutes but he kept looking behind him as if something was there. 

     Nana was always nice to him during the cooking club, and outside of it. She let him eat whatever they had made that day while also sometimes helping him on homework. 

     Quickly he had realized that everyone liked Nana and rarely had anything bad to say about her. One of his earlier thoughts about hanging out with Nana was that it was out of pity, but it hadn’t.

     It was just how she was, friendly with everyone and anyone. He had heard sayings of her giving food out during the mornings sometimes when she came in early enough but he hadn’t ever gotten there before her.

     Lightly he yawned, seeing parts of the theater door to his right, causing him to stop in front of it. 

     He had thought about joining the theater club when he first got to the school and saw the booth but his anxiety didn’t let him. Though he’s always loved acting and theater in general, always wanting to have been in a school play. 

     There was never an opportunity for him as he was homeschooled for a large part of his life, only getting 8th grade in actual school, letting him meet Dante. 

     Dante had kept on harassing the girls in their class and to try to stop the problem, the teacher put him in the back of the class with Travis.

     Travis had sat alone at a table for a large part of the school year, isolating himself by accident after having passed out in the middle of class. 

     That day his dad had taken a little too much blood for a test causing him to be loopy at school and not eat enough sugar to bounce back.

     The school had the nurse look at him and called his dad but got no answer so they had called an ambulance. Nothing came of it though, apparently no one found it suspicious that a 13 year old had lost so much blood that he passed out.

     It gained him a reputation of being weird and unhealthy which led to no one wanting to sit with him.

     But for Dante it was great to have a recluse as a friend. It let Dante do whatever he wanted to with Travis since he had no one else to talk to. 

     They had mostly watched movies when getting to know each other, Dante liking the violent and action scenes. 

     Travis liked the movies for how people were portrayed, stories and realism. He did like a good story that was consistent. 

     The only reason Travis even got into middle school was because his dad had gotten a better position at the university while also getting more hours.

     Since he was mostly gone, he didn’t want to leave Travis alone, sending him to middle school for his final year before going to Phoenix Drop. 

     So while standing outside the door to the theater club, it gave him time to think about how he would have liked being in theater if he was in school longer.

     But also, probably not. His anxiety would take him over and he probably would pass out if he had to audition for anything.

     In his own thoughts, he didn’t fully register when the door opened. It revealed the same girl who had hit him in the head with a ball during the club fair. 

     He had learned from Nana that her name was Katelyn and that she was captain of the volleyball team. Which explained the perfect shot at his head.

     It didn’t explain why Dante thought that Travis would get along well with her or want to be seen in a relationship. She was somewhat aggressive and scared Travis more than he would have liked. 

     The cooking club was just down the hall, giving him a way out, but he stood still near the doors of the club. His feet wouldn’t move, he learned to freeze when scared. 

     Katelyn was still turnt towards the inside of the room, laughing with some of the other kids in the club. 

     Travis immediately started to pick at the end of his tie, the paranoia gone as he knew it wasn’t his dad. Now it was replaced with anxiety of what she would do to him if he pissed her off accidently. 

     When she turned towards him, Katelyn seemed startled, “Irene dude! Don’t do that.” She told him. 

     “S-sorry.” He whispered, hands not letting go of the end of his tie.

     She stared at him, wondering why he wasn’t moving before jumping, “Oh! Sorry, do you need to get in?” Katelyn asked, pointing towards the inside and moving out of the way.

     He shook his head and backed up, “N-no, sorry.” Travis went down the rest of the hallway towards the cooking club.

     “Weirdo…” Katelyn said, no hostility behind it and left the theater club to go back to her actual club, volleyball. 

     Katelyn had remembered the kid, knowing how the volleyball sounded when it smacked the back of his head. He went down almost immediately and stayed on the floor for a few extra seconds, as if in shock.

     She thought he had weirdly green eyes but knew better than to ask about it. It had been right after she almost knocked the kid out.

     There was a feeling that she had scared the kid and that excused the strange interaction. She had apologized but he seemed so lost in thought that she didn’t think he heard it. 

     Travis looked down the hallway one more time before quickly opening the door to the cooking club. He sighed when it was closed and leaned against it, looking around the rest of the room.

     “Hey, you ok?” Nana asked, washing her hands in a nearby sink.

     “S-sorry…” He whispered, going to a small table in the corner of the class where Nana had dubbed it ‘Judge Travis’. 

     Of course Travis would crumble when one of the members brought over a baked good to be ‘judged’. Though the club knew he wasn’t qualified to judge anything, they thought it was fun to watch him eat their food. 

     All their food was so good, he’s found liking sweets too because of it. He wasn’t allowed a lot of sugar when he was younger or now, so being able to have treats after school was a blessing from Irene. 

     “There’s nothing to be sorry for Travis, what’s wrong?” Nana asked, going to his side while drying her hands with a cloth. 

     “I-it’s nothing, really.” He shook his head, sitting down in the desk and grabbing his chromebook out of his bag.

     Nana gently sighed, letting it go, “Well we’re making caramel corn today, do you want any?” She offered, leaning down to look at the kid. 

     Travis looked up at her slowly, still not actually used to being asked if he wanted sweets. They usually just came over to him and gave him a bowl, “I-i’m alright Nana, I just wanna finish some homework.” He tried to turn down. 

     She huffed, “Fine but tell me when you want some.” She told him, straightening her back to look at her little class. 

     “Alright! Guys today’s the day we make caramel corn! And I thought it would be fun to put a movie on, any suggestions?” She asked.

     “Midnight!” One of the girls yelled.

     Shrugging, Nana spoke, “Fine, but no fights on who’s better.” She told them…

     …

     The older girl watched Travis from afar, holding a large bowl of caramelized corn, planning to give him some. 

     She was worried about him but didn’t know if she should be. Naturally he was just twitchy and shaky, at least she had only seen him like that.

     It was like this every time he saw her, his eyes would visibly flicker around often as if something was gonna get him. 

     “Nana? Do you want a bowl?” One of the members asked, holding out a paper bowl from the stack they kept in the cupboards. 

     “Yes, thank you.” She said sweetly, causing the member to blush lightly and nod, quickly walking away. 

     For a moment she still stood, wondering if she should bother the kid from his studies since he seemed to be focused. He always ate whatever they gave him and somewhat fast like he hadn’t eaten.

     By muscle memory she poured some of the popcorn into the bowl, before going over to the studying boy. 

     “Here.” Nana said, setting a small bowl of caramel popcorn in front of him, “Eat something, ok?” 

     He looked at the bowl before looking back at her, “T-thank you…” He said, slowly pulling the bowl closer to himself. 

     The girl smiled before asking, “What are you working on?” 

     “J-just some science.” He said, lowering his screen back a bit so she could see he was actually doing his work. 

     Just glancing over the homework Nana saw how detailed Travis was when it came to science. He had a paragraph for each answer and seemed to have doubled the length of the document with it.

     “Who’s your science teacher?” Nana asked.

     “M-ms. Hyria.” He answered, looking between Nana and the homework, “W-Why? I-is it wrong?” 

     She giggled, “No Travis, I’m sure it’s right. I don’t really remember my freshman science class.” 

     “O-oh…” He whispered, picking at the back of his school tie.

     Noticing it, she tried to change the subject, “You said your teacher is Lucinda’s mom?” She asked, causing Travis to look at her confused, “Ms. Hyria? Your science teacher? Or did you say someone else?” Nana asked him. 

     Travis slowly nodded, “T-that’s her mom?” 

     “Yup. She’s cool, she does freshman science and chemistry.” Nana listed on her fingers, “What’s freshman science again?”

     “B-biology.” He answered.

     “Can’t remember a thing, but I’m taking chemistry right now.” She told him, “She’s pretty easy as long as you do your work.”  

     “I-i think she likes me…” Travis whispered, not having seen any harshness whenever the teacher talked with him.

     Pointing to the computer screen, specifically at a long paragraph for an answer, “Yeah she’s gonna like you, you write whole answers. She’d be happy with 1 sentence, you give her 5.” 

     He looked at her nervously, “D-do you think it’s too much? D-dante says it’s too much.” He asked her.

     “It’s perfect Travis. You’re probably secretly getting extra credit for it.” She explained, remembering how Lucinda told her how to get bonus points without actually doing anything. 

     “O-ok…” He turned his computer back to himself. 

     Nana sighed in content as she watched him pick apart two popcorn pieces that had gotten stuck together. He seemed calmer now, his hands were still shaking but his leg was bouncing slower.

     Taking a look at his hair she saw his roots had grown out, showing a blondish brown color. Her hair was also grown out because she had been busy with school and wanted to redo it with Lucinda.

     “You ever wanna redye your hair? Your roots are showing.” She asked, a finger pointing towards his hair. 

     Though the action was barely anything Travis fought the urge to lean back from her, wanting to trust the older teenager as she’s been nothing but nice to him.  

     “Hmm?” He hummed, not actually having heard what she said. 

     “These are grown out, do you want me to dye them?” She repeated, grabbing a few strands to examine.  

     Travis shook his head carefully and the hair she was barely holding was let go, “N-no thank you Nana, my hair is already kinda dead. I-i’d rather get my natural hair back.” 

     Nana just nodded understandingly, “Alright, your natural hair looks nice too.” She smiled at the golden brown color, “Did you get the dye professionally?”

     From the looks of it, the answer was no. His hair looked slightly burnt as if it was someone’s first time. She had dyed her own hair enough to know what to look out for and his hair was one of them.

     Maybe if she tried to shape it, it would stay in the position even if it was straight up. 

     “O-oh no it was Dante, he wanted to dye his and mine for his birthday and I didn’t really know now to tell him no…” He explained, pulling down a strand to look at it too. 

     “And now your hair is kinda fried, leave the bleach in too long?” Nana asked, looking closer at his hair. 

     Lightly he shrugged, “I-i don’t know. D-dante just read some random pinterest post.” He told her. 

     Finally the name had clicked for her even though he had said it multiple times and seen the two together, “Dante? Like, Gene’s brother Dante, that Dante?” 

     “H-how does everyone know Dante? L-lucinda knew him too!” Travis asked, sounding confused but panicked. 

     Nana laughed lightly, “Gene, it’s all Gene. He brings him up enough with Dante’s wild shenanigans. He’s mentioned you a few times I think too, I just never connected those dots.”

     He still didn’t want to know what Gene had said about him, but Nana didn’t seem to be displeased with him so it could have been worse.

     “It was mostly just Dante. He tried to flirt with me I think a few days ago.” She finished, brushing off the subject. 

     “D-dante or Gene?” Travis asked, looking surprised. 

     “Dante. Gene I think tried once? Or maybe he was just making fun of me, I’m never sure.” She chuckled. 

     Travis sighed, embarrassed that Dante somehow already did that to Nana. With the jokes Dante made about him and Nana, he thought Dante wouldn’t do that, “I-i’m sorry Nana. D-dante is always doing this stuff to girls. A-and I’ve tried to get him to stop-” He tried to apologize. 

     It was how they met after all and after being written up multiple times for sexual harassment and being forced to sit in the back of the class, Travis thought Dante would have seen it was a horrible thing to do. 

     Again she laughed, “It’s ok Travis. I shouldn’t be surprised by him because of how Gene acts… Though Gene was always more of a tormenting type of flirting.”

     “S-still, it’s wrong.” He whispered, hand coming up to his tie again.

     She saw how the discussion seemed to bring him down, “Don’t worry Travis, a lot of the girls here don’t do anything with freshmen because of kids like Dante.” 

     “D-do I do that?” Travis was horrified at the thought of himself being like Dante.

     Nana let out a laugh before realizing he wasn’t kidding, “Travis, no. You’re like- the only guy I know that hasn’t made a pass at me, at least not in a serious matter.” 

     “O-oh…” He gripped his tie harshly in relief that he wasn’t accidentally making passes towards Nana.

     “Travis, don’t worry about that. I don’t think you will ever be like Dante and if you do… Aphmau will handle it.” Nana threatened but it was only cheerful with no underlying lies.

     Tightening his tie more, it cut off his air, “O-ok.” 

     Sighing at the action Nana tried to backtrack the conversation, “Anyway, do you wanna help me dye my hair?” 

     “Huh?” He stared at her confused. 

     “Well my roots are coming in too. And I was gonna redo it with Katelyn, Lucinda and Aphmau… You wanna come?”

     He wanted to say no, but didn’t know how, “I-I don’t know Nana.” 

     “Why not? You’re friends with me and Aphmau. And it’s gonna be at Aphmau’s house.” Nana tried, “Please? I think it'll be fun.” 

     “A-alright…” He was weak when it came to making people happy. It was so much earlier to do what they wanted and deal with the consequences. 

     She clapped, “Yay! It’s gonna be so fun. Because we usually get the hair dye out of the way but we need to keep it in for like 30 minutes or sometimes a few hours so we usually just watch movies.” 

     By the way Nana was putting it, he could stand a few hours of that, he would just stay in a corner while the girls talked.

     “And my hair needs it. You can see my real hair and I can’t stand it. You’re really supposed to do it every like- 4 to 8 weeks but, we forget.” She jokingly spoke but Travis didn’t see it that way, 

     “W-what’s with your hair?” He asked, wondering if it was allowed to even ask that. 

     It seemed personal to her and even if he did hang out with her after school, maybe she didn’t see him as an actual friend.

     “Oh, just… something.” She twirled a strand of hair between her fingers, “I just like to stand out, you know?”

     “I-I’m sorry.” Travis put his hands in his lap, trying to stop his leg from bouncing, “I-I shouldn’t have asked-” 

     Nana quickly swatted her hands in front of him, “No- no- Travis that’s not what I meant- My hair isn’t anything special. I just like the color and all my friends have dyed hair, so it makes a fun sleepover.” 

     “I-It’s a sleepover?” He tightened the chokehold his tie had on him.

     Her head went back with a soft sigh, “No Travis. It’s a day thing. Sometimes we do have a sleepover and do it though.” She explained gently.

     His hand didn’t move from the tie and she could just barely see him breathing, “You gotta stop doing that.” She told him.

     “Doing what?” He asked, but it sounded strained.

     “Whatever you’re doing with your tie, it looks like you’re choking yourself.” She pointed towards his hands around his tie.

     Letting go and pulling down the tie enough for airflow, he looked at his computer screen in embarrassment, “S-sorry… b-bad habit.” 

     Turning to the rest of her club, she huffed and told him to eat and that they’ll talk about dying her hair later.

     He watched her go to her club and picked up another caramel popcorn, turning it over in his fingers before eating it.

     Oh if he was allowed to just eat Nana’s sweets all day…

Chapter Text

     Zane had walked home from school, Garroth offered to drive him but Zane knew that he was gonna go pick up Vylad. 

     He didn’t like Vylad, he didn’t like Garroth either but he could stand being in the same school as him. 

     Somewhat. They mostly stood out of each other’s ways and chose not to be associated with the other.

     Unlocking the house with his key, he pushed the door in and stepped into the warm house. His mom always left the heat on for when they all came home since she also hated the cold.

     On the counter of the kitchen, he saw a small tray of cupcakes that his mom had probably made before she left and quickly kicked off his shoes.

     Taking off his black mask, he tried to see which ones had the best looking frosting before grabbing one. His mom was good when it came to baking but liked Nana’s baking more.

     Zane smiled to himself when he had picked out the best one and ran upstairs with his school bag. Once in his room, which was left dark with minimal light being let in by his dark curtains, he slammed the door closed.

     No one else was home, so he didn’t have to worry about the noise. Usually Garroth was blamed for door slams anyway.

     Setting the cupcake wrapper on his desk he ate the last bit of the cupcake, having eaten most of it while going up the stairs. 

     “I should have gotten another…” He whispered to himself, not bothering to go back downstairs. 

     He had a very strong sweet tooth, unsure of where it had come from. His mom had a knack for always having sweets around the house for him specifically. 

     And with Nana’s endless love of sweets, it gave him another outlet to just gorge himself on sugar. 

     Looking at the top of his door, he saw a shelf full of colorful ponies. The only actual color in his room besides black and gray. 

     “Hi girlies.” He said, grabbing a chair and putting it in front of his door so he could stand on it and see the ponies. 

     Once at eye level with his favorite, Pinkie Cake, he smiled at her, “Excuse me Pinkie.” He whispered. 

     As carefully as he could, he pushed the pony out of the way to show a ‘My Little Horsies’ themed music box. 

     Opening the music box, he saw a cigarette box, “I’m almost out.” He said, taking the box out and feeling how light it was getting. 

     It was a habit Zane was starting to form, he found the pack in the back of the school under the bleachers, hidden away. 

     He was sure it was someone’s secret stash that they were saving but Zane took them for his own. “How will I get more?” He quietly asked himself, closing the music box and getting off of the chair. 

     Trying to think about other kids in the school who smoked, he thought of Gene. It wasn’t directly smoking, Gene vaped but probably got it the same way he would get cigarettes if he ever switched.

     Zane opened his window and struck a match, finding it to be easier to hide in his room and explain if it were to ever be found. 

     With the cigarette lit, he took a drag and blew it out the window, thinking about how he would have to talk to his mom today. He had skipped class because he had wanted to, the school probably got in contact with her when he didn’t show up.  

     Looking down at the trashcan below his window, he glanced at the recycling bin and noticed a few empty beer bottles. Then he thought about getting a beer before his parents came home and smiled, liking the idea.

     Nana popped into his head, the pink haired girl always made him smile. She was nice, cute, and knew how to make sweets. 

     It was a wonder they had become friends, only due to circumstance. To him, Nana was the best thing to ever happen. Everything she did made him smile, even when she’s angry with him, or at the very most annoyed.

     She was good with sex and came to him when he wanted her too. Nana was perfect to him and wanted to be the same for her. 

     Zane took another drag from the cigarette, blowing the smoke from the window trying not to keep the smell from lingering. 

     His mom would probably blame it on the neighbors who used to be heavy smokers when they were kids…

     …

     “Zane? Honey? Are you home?” He heard his mom ask along with the closing of the front door. 

     Sighing that he had only gotten 10 minutes to himself, he dropped the cigarette and a mostly empty beer bottle into the trash below his window.

     While trying to get the smell out of his room he grabbed a few pieces of gum and tried to dilute his breath. 

     He heard his mom’s footsteps coming up the stairs, “Garroth? Vylad?” She called out, going to the only closed door. 

     She opened it to see Zane on his bed with his computer, “What?” He asked, blowing a bubble with his gum. 

     His mom sniffed before cringing, “Zuzu I told you to not open your window for a bit- the neighbor is smoking again. I went over there the other day and they said they haven’t but-” She shut the window with a sigh.

     “...They say they’re not.” She huffed, locking the window, before looking back towards her son. 

     The cupcake wrapper on his desk caught her attention, “Did you only have one?” She asked, crumbling up the wrapper in her hand. 

     “Mmhmm.” He drew out, clicking on a random youtube video. Zane wanted her to leave so that he would be alone again.

     His mom didn’t like the idea of any of her kids being alone but Zane was one of the more persistent against her when it came to that. 

     Zianna looked at her middle child, “Zuzu?” She said, trying to get his attention. 

     He peered at her for a moment before looking back down, “What?” He asked again. 

     “I heard you’re skipping class again- is that true?” She asked gently, sitting down on the end of his bed.

     “...No.” He lied after a moment. 

     She started to fold a blanket on his bed, “Zuzu you know you can be honest with me. Are you skipping class?” She repeated. 

     “I thought you said you would always believe me first.” He snapped, causing his mom to stop folding the blanket. 

     Instantly she was scooting closer to him, a soft look on her face, “Honey, you know I will always believe you over what people say.” 

     “And hear you are doing it-” He backtalked. 

     “Hey!” She snapped back causing him to lightly flinch, “I was just asking Zane, I’m your mom I’m allowed to know where you are during school.” 

     He went silent, looking at the mute youtube video playing on his computer, waiting for her to make the next move. 

     Gently she got up, leaning over to kiss the top of his head, “I’m sorry honey. I’m just worried about you.” 

     “I know.” He whispered, feeling as she moved his head so that he would look up towards her. 

     “Are you skipping class again Zuzu?” She repeated carefully. 

     Realizing that he wasn’t going to get out of it, since she already seemed to know and just wanted to hear him say it, he nodded. “Why honey?” She asked. 

     “I don’t like school.” He shrugged, not wanting to go in depth on why he had hated the school from the start.

     They’ve had this argument already, though it wasn’t an argument right now. He could ramp it up to be one if he wanted too.

     “Zuzu I know you don’t like Phoenix Drop, but it’s what’s available right now. Why don’t you try to enjoy it?” She suggested. 

     He rolled his eyes, “Yeah…” 

     His mom looked at her most depressed boy, wondering what to do for him. She knew Zane was having a hard time at PDH. 

     When she tried to really figure out why she hated it, he would shut down and go silent. So Zianna was left to assume, but she would hear the other parents talk about how Zane was an odd one of the bunch. 

     Zianna moved his bangs out of his eyes, “We should cut these soon, I can’t see your pretty face.” She looked down at the black mask he always wore, “This too. You’re always covering your face Zuzu.” 

     “...Can you go now?” He asked, moving away from his mom, causing his bangs to fall in front of him again.

     Lightly she sighed, “Ok, I’m gonna make dinner soon, do you want anything?” She asked, wanting to make it up to him after snapping. 

     He shook his head, closing his computer and unfolding the blanket she had just done to cover himself. 

     She watched as he laid on his side away from the door, “Don’t sleep for too long, ok?” She told him. 

     When he didn’t respond, she left the room, sighing again as she went back downstairs to start dinner…

     …

     Zane was quietly going downstairs, trying to sneak another cupcake before dinner was finished. 

     “Zuzu? Is that you?” She asked, hearing the light creaks of the stairs, knowing only Zane would try to be that quiet. 

     He peeked his head out from the side of the stairs, looking at his mom, seeing her smile at him, “Are you hungry?” She asked. 

     “Can I have a cupcake?” He asked, knowing she was gonna say no to him since dinner was close enough. 

     “After dinner, your dad should be home soon and I’m almost done.” Zianna explained gently to him. 

     He sighed, about to head upstairs again, “Zane, why don’t you stay downstairs for a bit? You’re always cooped up in your room.” 

     “No.” He said quickly. 

     Zianna sighed, wanting Zane to stay downstairs for a bit, “I’ll let you eat half of one.” She offered.

     He stopped on the stairs, thinking about the deal before slowly going downstairs, “3 quarters.” He tried. 

     “Half Zane.” She firmly said. 

     “...ok.” He agreed, going over to the kitchen counter and watching her cut one of the cupcakes in half.

     The front door opened to show Garroth and Vylad, “If you told me-” Garroth began to say but Vylad cut him off, saying it was none of his business.

     “Fine- besides that, you’ll be fine. It’s just 8th grade.” Garroth said, messing up Vylad’s hair. 

     “It’s 8th grade for you. It’s basically my senior year for me.” Vylad huffed, going towards the kitchen before looking at his mom. 

     “Trust me, it’ll be over before you know it. And you’ll be begging to go back once you’re in high school.” Garroth said, patting him on the back, and Vylad felt his eye twitch. 

     Their mother saw Vylad tensing up, “Garroth.” She lightly warned, giving him a pointed look and a nod towards Vylad.

     Garroth looked at her confused, “What’d I do?”

     Zane made movements to go upstairs with the cupcake but his mom stopped him, “Zane no, I gave you half so you have to stay.” 

     He looked at his brothers and at his mom, silently telling her that he didn’t want to be around them, “Go to the living room then.” She told him, causing Zane to grab the half and run towards the living room. 

     Garroth let go of Vylad and sat at the island of their kitchen, grabbing a cupcake before taking off the wrapper, “What’s for dinner?” He asked. 

     “None before dinner.” She told him, carefully but quickly grabbing the cupcake he was about to eat from his hand. 

     “Wha-? Zane got one.” He pointed to the living room where Zane was curled up on the couch.

     “It was a trade.” Zianna explained.

     Rolling his eyes, Garroth leaned on his hand, “Then what’s for dinner?” He repeated. 

     “Sylvanna gave me some jalapenos so I thought about making tacos. She’s bringing some more ingredients over soon and she might stay for dinner.” Zianna explained. 

     “Is Aphmau coming?” Garroth asked, getting a look from Vylad with a raised eyebrow. 

     Of course Vylad had noticed Garroth’s interest in Aphmau, when she would come over they would just hang out in his room. She would hang out with Vylad but mostly Garroth since they were in the same school.

     Aphmau and Zane never really bonded as far as Vylad could tell but no one could ever be friends with his brother so he didn’t blame Aphmau.

     He scoffed at his younger brother, knowing what he was quietly questioning.  “I’m just asking, I don’t like her like that.” He told him.

     Vylad rolled his eyes, “Not anymore.” He whispered, sitting down next to Garroth at the kitchen island. 

     “What did you say, Vylad?” Zianna asked, setting a small bowl of chopped jalapenos on the counter. 

     “Nothing.” Vylad mumbled, pulling at the hem of his regular t-shirt unlike Garroth’s high strict school uniform. 

     Garroth’s mouth was slightly gaped at what Vylad had said, “That was last year-!” He quietly hissed. 

     “It still happened and you’re still asking.” Vylad pointed out, causing Garroth to let out a harsh breath, looking at their mother. 

     Zane was listening to the conversation and liked the family drama, “Vylad’s getting bullied again.” He called from over the couch.

     “What the hell Zane!” Vylad yelled, his head going up to look between his mom and older brother frantically. 

     Zianna stopped chopping some vegetables to look at her youngest son, “Sweetpea, what did he say?”

     Vylad opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say or even call it, “Nothing!” He panickally tried to dismiss it.  

     “Mom- it's just some kids at school.” Garroth said, causing Vylad to elbow him in the gut harshly, wanting his older brother to shut up. 

     “Vylad, don’t do that.” She scolded as Garroth rubbed the spot he elbowed, “What’s going on with the kids at school?” She asked. 

     Quietly Vylad grabbed a cupcake from the plate, “It’s nothing.” He whispered, undoing the wrapper. 

     She looked at her boys, “Vylad…” She sighed, believing Garroth and Zane over Vylad in the situation. 

     “Mom I’m not! Garroth and Zane are just idiots who don't know when to stay out of it!” Vylad yelled for both to hear.

     “Vylad, if you’re getting bullied again-” “I’m not getting bullied.” Vylad shot down, trying to not remember the first time they did this song and dance.

     Garroth sighed, knowing he was gonna tell his mom eventually, “It’s important for her to know.”

     “It’s not for you guys to tell!” Vylad angrily shouted before turning back to his mom, “It’s not true!” 

     Taking off her plastic gloves, she lightly pushed Garroth away from the kitchen, “Go upstairs.” She hushed. 

     “Mom!” Vylad said but Zianna stopped him, “Sweet pea we’re gonna talk about it.” She said softly. 

     Vylad looked at Garroth and Zane, “ Fucking dicks .” Garroth’s mouth fell open while Zane smirked at the retaliation. 

     “Vylad!” His mom shouted, taken back by the language, “Where did you get that?” She asked. 

     “I said public school wasn’t for him…” Garroth whispered, surprised that Vylad had actually said it. 

     Zane just smiled mockingly, “Yeah, there’s this one kid who said-” 

     “Shut the hell  up!” Vylad yelled at Zane. 

     “Ok!” Zianna cut off, seeing how stressed Vylad was getting, “Garroth, go upstairs.” She lightly nudged him out of the kitchen.

     “What-? What did I do?” Garroth asked, feeling like he was in trouble.

     Zane looked back at his mom to see her also looking at him, “You too, you can go upstairs.” She told him. 

     Immediately Zane put the rest of the cupcake in his mouth and ran upstairs, past Garroth to get to his room faster.

     Sighing, Garroth went upstairs, leaving Vylad and their mom downstairs to talk by themselves. 

     Zianna tried to fix the boy’s shirt but he lightly shook her off, “It’s nothing mom.” 

     “Honey it’s clearly something. What’s up?” She asked again, “Are the kids bullying you again?” 

     Vylad looked at her before opening his mouth, ready to say something but stopped when a door upstairs slammed shut. 

     Zianna looked upstairs, about to yell at Garroth for slamming the door, knowing he didn’t mean to. Before she could, Vylad got out of the chair and ran up the stairs, not wanting to talk about school. 

     “Vylad!” She started to go after her son but stopped when the door opened to show her husband. 

     “Hi honey,” Garte said once he came into the house, “What’s wrong?” He asked, seeing how his wife looked worried. 

     His wife just went over to him before hugging him tightly, “What’s wrong?” He repeated.

     She shook her head, “Vylad. Garroth and Zane said he’s being bullied again.” She whispered, starting to tear up. 

     Garte rubbed her back, “What is it this time?” 

     “I don’t know, he ran off just before you came in.” She mumbled, feeling a kiss on the top of her head. 

     “Do you want me to go up there and talk to him?” Garte offered, knowing how Vylad’s bullying has always affected her. 

     “...No, I’ll go talk to him after dinner. Maybe I’ll just bring it up to him.” She suggested, looking up at her husband. 

     He smiled at her, “Alright, you do that.” 

     Zianna smiled, kissing him before going back to the kitchen, “Sylvanna might stay for dinner, is that ok?” 

     “Yes honey it’s fine.” Garte said, going over to the fridge to grab a beer but noticing a few gone, “Hey did you drink some of the beers?” 

     She turned back to him, looking at the fridge with him, “Umm, no? I don’t remember drinking any. Maybe Garroth wanted to sneak one?” 

     “Garroth doesn’t like the cheap stuff, Zane?” He suggested, only to feel his wife’s glare on him, “Just a suggestion-” 

     “Zuzu wouldn’t dare, he’s not like that.” Zianna said, putting on a new pair of plastic gloves to finish chopping vegetables, “Can you cook this too?” She asked, holding out some beef. 

     Though he was tired, his wife was staring at him with so much love that he had to do it for her, “Of course sweetie…”

     “...Do you think I should take him back to that therapist?” Zianna quietly asked.

     “Who?” He asked.

     “Who do you think?” She asked, sounding a bit stressed.

     He shrugged, “I don’t know Zianna, it could be Zane or Vylad. Maybe both.” He told her, sighing.

     Zianna closed her eyes and took a moment to herself before answering, “Vylad, I mean Vylad. Do you think he needs some help?”

     “The shrink?” He looked back at her, “I thought he didn’t like her?” 

     Giving him a sad look, she shrugged, “I’m just a little worried . This is the second school and…” She trailed off, not wanting to say that his first middle school did something mentally to him.

     Garte stood up, “...We can look into it, but last time he didn’t react to it well. It’s why we sent him to this school.”

     “I know, but it’s just a sensitive time right now. I’m just scared he’s gonna become like Zane and get held up in his room all the time.” She whispered as if Zane was actively listening. 

     “We can talk about it with him, but school has just started, let’s give him some time.” He told her, lightly patting her shoulder, “Ok?” 

     “Yeah, ok.” She smiled a bit and nodded…

     …

     Vylad closed his door quietly, leaning against the door, trying not to cry in the space of his own room. 

     “Irene- Irene- Irene-” He panted, feeling his heart. 

     As much as he didn’t want to say it was true, he was being bullied in school again, a different problem though. 

     He was unsure how his older brothers even found out in the first place as he had never brought it up. 

     The first time he was bullied was because it got spread around that his dad wasn’t the same as Garroth’s and Zane’s. 

     Though it was true, it was a part of Vylad that he tried not to think about, feeling disconnected from his family when he did. 

     When he asked about it, his mom had to gently explain it was a very bad time in her marriage with Garroth and Zane’s dad. He didn’t understand it and still barely did, his parents adored each other and the idea that at some point they didn’t felt weird.

     Garte was his adopted dad, he treated him no less then his biological sons which helped Vylad. He never knew who his first dad was and lightly hoped he never did, knowing it would stress him out. 

     When people found out about Vylad being a bastard from his dad, he had to change schools, it was just too much for him. 

     It had been no one’s business and yet, everyone knew about it, whispering in the hallways about how he wasn’t gonna inherit his dad’s business. 

     While he had no plans to take over his dad’s work, he knew what it had meant in a school for rich kids. 

     He didn’t want to ever say it but had a feeling Zane spread the information around as revenge over some petty argument.

     Vylad had a speculation that Zane disliked Vylad due to him being illegitimate to their dad, but never outright said anything. 

     The idea always seemed to linger in the air though and Vylad had to pretend like he only had 1 brother, Garroth. While he didn’t get along with Garroth as much, it was better than wherever Zane and him were doing.

     After he was taken out of the middle school, he was placed in a public school which he liked a lot more until another rumor started to go around. 

     Getting on his bed, Vylad tried to calm down but was unable to. So he tried something new he was slowly getting used to: meditating. 

     It did help a lot and took a minute for him to get into it, but once he was calm, he was calm for a while and can organize his thoughts. 

     He knew how the new rumor started, always looking at someone in particular, writing their name in the tiniest writing he could on papers. 

     A light crush was all it was and Vylad knew he had to shove it deep deep down into himself to make sure it didn’t get out.

     But people were watchers he assumed, and he wasn’t very good at not staring. 

      “Why do you always look at Kacey so much?”

     “You’re always staring at him, it’s kinda creepy.” 

     “Do you like him?” 

     “His sister is gonna beat the crap out of you when she hears that.” 

     “He doesn’t like you like that, you know?” 

     “It’s just kinda…weird.” 

      Vylad opened his eyes, “Yeah.” He whispered, feeling his heart still racing while thinking about the lightly blond boy. 

     He knew Kacey had an older sister, Katelyn. Garroth and her hung out a little bit but Vylad and her had never talked. 

     Though Vylad didn’t know if Katelyn would ever beat the crap out of him and the thought scared him. 

     Katelyn was an active volleyball player and would spike anyone with a ball if she was even slightly pissed off. 

     Trying to force down the fear, he left his room to Garroth’s, “Garroth?” He knocked on the door to his older brother’s room. 

     “Yeah?” Garroth answered, letting Vylad open the door, “Oh… hey, what’s up?” 

     “...You know Kacey’s older sister, Katelyn right?” He asked, carefully but determined.

     Garroth turned in his chair to look at Vylad, “Yeah? Why?” 

     “...Is she nice?” Vylad asked. 

     He looked at Vylad confused but sat up in his chair, “Yeah, when she wants to be. As long as you don’t piss her off.” 

     Vylad took a moment to think, “Ok…” 

     “Vylad, what are you asking this for?” Garroth asked. 

     He didn’t answer, only left the room while quietly closing the door. 

     Sometimes he wanted to kill himself…

Chapter Text

     “O-oh hi Aphmau.” Travis smiled and waved lightly but stopped when he saw the way she was panting a bit.

     She had sped walked over to the cafeteria where she knew Travis would be for lunch. Since running was against the rules she almost was bouncing between steps to get there faster. 

     “Hey- you gonna be ok without me? Cause- I got that detention thing with Mr. Castor and that’s gonna be starting soon.” She said, trying to steady her breath. 

     “I-I know.” He nodded but she kept going, “And I really don’t want to leave you alone for all of lunch. I don’t even know if you and Aaron even talk regularly outside of lunch-” 

     Travis wanted to cut in to tell her that he understood but was scared of interrupting, so he waited while picking at his school tie.

     “-That alright?” She asked again. 

     Quickly he nodded, reassuring her, “Y-yes, Dottie invited me to sit with her, Rylan and some senior they met… W-wait I think she said he had lunch detention today.” He laughed a bit. 

     “Are you talking about Blaze? And the pup-trio, Dottie and Rylan?” She asked slowly, trying to remember if they were talking about the same people. 

     “Y-you call them the pup-trio?” Travis asked, confused at the name. 

     Aphmau shook her head before explaining, “You’re talking about the kids who wear the wolf ears, right? I’ve only seen them a few times, but there are usually 3 of them.” 

     “Y-yeah, I hang out with them during PE.” Travis told her, thinking about the purple dyed hair girl. 

     Aphmau grabbed the boy’s shoulders, causing him to flinch, “Travis, look me in the eye and tell me you’re not gonna hide out in the bathroom.” 

     She put their foreheads together, Travis having to lean over her since he was taller, “I-i’m not gonna hide in the bathroom Aphmau.”

     The girl pulled away, smiling at him, “Good, I’ve got eyes everywhere .” She said, being dramatic while holding her hands out everywhere. 

     Travis tried to hide a smile, “I-i promise Aphmau.”

     “Oh! That means Aaron is gonna be alone!” Aphmau clapped a hand over her mouth because she was shocked at forgetting about him. 

     Even though Travis and Aaron didn’t really speak besides during lunch, he knew that the senior could hold himself over lunch alone. He barely spoke during lunch, usually just letting Aphmau talk.

     “I-I don’t think that’s gonna be a problem Aphmau.” Travis tried to tell her, hands going back to his tie.

     “Still, he doesn’t deserve to be alone.” She crossed her arms, “Make sure he doesn’t sit in a corner. Do you think he’d get along with the pup-trio?” 

     “M-Maybe.” He settled on, knowing it was better to just agree than question.

     Then she gave him a sweet smile, “Do you think you could get Aaron to sit with them?” 

     Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Aaron could crush Travis if he so wished, he hadn’t yet of course but it was always a possibility. “S-sure…” Travis smiled back awkwardly.

     How was he supposed to tell Aaron that Aphmau wanted him to sit with freshmen for lunch?

     Seeing that Travis was ‘happy’, Aphmau headed towards detention to watch a bunch of ‘delinquents’ for an hour. From what she saw, detention wasn’t actually a place for delinquents, it was for average students who did something wrong. 

     Plenty of kids were actual delinquents, but they never showed up to the lunch detention, after school detention or any others the school had to offer. 

     She opened the door to see a few students that had found themselves in an hour of silence during lunch. 

     Blaze, the senior she assumed Travis was talking about, sat in the back while twirling a pencil. From what she knew, he had gotten himself into trouble to stick up for freshman in general.

     Freshman being harassed was normal, Aphmau had gone through the same thing but this year seemed worse than the last. The only support she got from the school was just to stay away but was lucky enough to make friends in all grades.

     In the front row doing some homework was Sasha, headphones on while lightly swinging her legs. Since the class hadn’t actually started yet, she let Sasha keep the headphones on as she was actively doing work. 

     A boy with blue hair sat off to the side in the middle, looking out the window into the halls, seeming annoyed. 

     “Stop it~” A girl giggled and Aphmau turned around to see Lucinda with a guy’s arm around her. 

     She looked at Aphmau and stopped, “H-hey Aph. What are you doing in detention? Did you get in trouble? You silly girl.” Lucinda asked, stepping away from the guy. 

     Aphmau looked at him to try to remember who he was as he looked very familiar to the sophomore. Probably just a student from last year that she didn’t get to know very well.

     “Uhh, no I’m just here to help out the teacher with detention. Did you get detention too?” She asked. 

     Lucinda looked at the guy, “No, he is. I’m just making sure he didn’t skip out on it.” She tried to cover up. 

     “Oh… ok,” Aphmau turned towards the taller one, “Just have a seat the teacher should be in soon.” 

     He lightly scoffed, “Yeah, I know freshie.” He said, rolling his eyes and taking a seat near the back. 

     The comment took Aphmau back since she didn’t think she was being snarky about the situation. “Ivan-” Lucinda hissed, “She’s a sophomore.” 

     Aphmau looked at Lucinda trying not to judge her on the students she hung around, “Ok then.” She drew out.

     Lucinda felt awkward on how Ivan was acting towards Aphmau, knowing she hadn’t liked him last year. 

     “I should get going Aphmau,” Lucinda said, making motions to leave the room, “I’m really sorry about him.” 

     “Yeah…” Aphmau nodded blankly, turning away from her to set her bag down and looking at the other kids in detention. Quietly she sighed, “What’d you guys even do? It’s only a month into school.” She whispered. 

     “I got in trouble for pushing some dude through a window.” Blaze said, having heard her since he had strangely good hearing. 

     A little surprised, she spoke, going over to the white board and erasing what was on it, “How do you even do that?”  

     “Uhh, I don’t know… just the adrenaline rush that comes before and after it.” Blaze explained, running a hair through his dyed red hair, “It was only on the first floor, he landed in some bushes.”

     “Charming.” Sasha mumbled, getting a chuckle out of the kid with the dark blue hair. 

     Aphmau shook her head while smiling, “For the pup-trio?” She inferred, referring to the kids Travis was hanging out with at lunch today.

     Blaze nodded slowly, trying to balance a pencil on the desk, “Yeah, people just keep messing with them, it’s only been a few weeks since school started. I don’t even know how it happened.”

     “Freshman hazing is just a thing that happens every year. There’s no real way to keep it down apparently.” Aphmau shrugged.

     “Which is why I pushed him out the window.” He gestured to the window beside himself as if that was the obvious choice. 

     “While I don’t like the violence,” Aphmau set the eraser down, “I’m sure they’re grateful of you Blaze. 

     “I know they are, but what about when I leave? What if it just gets worse when I’m gone?” He asked, sighing. 

     “They have all year to get their footing. It’s not gonna get worse.” Aphmau reassured him, knowing that friendly people will make friends no matter what.

     Sasha spoke up, “So the kids who are being bullied… who are they?” She asked, leaning back to stretch her arms and back. 

     “Daniel, Dottie, and Rylan apparently. Those kids who wear those werewolf ears.” Aphmau said, putting her hands in the form of puppy ears above her head. 

     “Oh! Those kids? They’re Gene’s neighbors. I love those guys, they’re so cute.” Sasha said smiling, causing Aphmau to chuckle. 

     Aphmau knew as much as Sasha hung around troublemakers, Gene and Zenix, she followed a large part of the school's rules. 

     Blaze smiled, “They're good kids, just always being picked on because of their games.” He sighed. 

     “Games?” Aphmau asked. 

     “The werewolf ears are a part of this big game they made up on a video game. They liked it so much that they roleplay as their characters and keep it going.” He explained. 

     “Weirdos…” The blue haired boy whispered but Aphmau didn’t hear it.

     “Have you ever gotten in on the game?” Aphmau asked.

     He scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Yeah I do! My character is just called Blaze and last week we got together to really play it.” 

     “Sounds like DND.” Aphmau said, causing Blaze to nod quickly, “Exactly DND without the graphs and dioramas.” 

     “So LARPing.” Sasha said. 

     He thought about it before shaking his head, “No idea what that is.” He said, still smiling at Sasha. 

     She turned around, tapping her pencil on the desk, “It stands for ‘live action role-playing’. It’s DND but without the dice and mini scale models.” 

     Blaze snapped his fingers in her direction, smiling proudly, “Yes, larping that’s what they do- And it’s fun, they’re fun.” 

     “I’ve seen them around, they seem cool. Travis is sitting with them this lunch.” Aphmau told him. 

     “Is he a scrawny white boy with white hair?” Blaze then asked, leaning on his arms and towards Aphmau. 

     Controlling a laugh, she nodded, “That’s Travis. You know him?” 

     Shaking his head quickly, Blaze answered, “Na, but Dottie talks about him sometimes so.” He shrugged.

     “They seem nice, just sometimes a little intense.” Sasha mumbled. 

     “Was it Dottie? She sometimes can get into people’s faces when she’s excited.” Blaze explained. 

     “I think Travis hangs out with them during PE.” Aphmau said, trying to reshape a loose curl with her hands.  

     “He does, Dottie says he doesn’t know how to throw a frisbee.” Blaze confirmed with a few nods, “So like- he’s good, right? Not gonna hear about him shoving someone into a locker?” 

     Aphmau’s eyes widened a bit, “Travis? Oh Irene no. You said it yourself… scrawny white kid.” She awkwardly repeated what Blaze had called him before finishing, “He’s not a problem.”

     “Hangs out with Dante.” Sasha said loud enough for Aphmau to hear.

     “Who’s Dante?” Blaze questioned, the pencil back in his hand as he tried to balance the lead part on his nose. 

     “How do you not know Dante? Everyone knows Dante, Gene’s brother Dante? I mean I forgot who he was but I remembered afterwards.” Aphmau asked, surprised since it seemed every student at least heard of the freshman.

     The pencil fell when Blaze looked at Aphmau, “That douche?” He asked slowly, clearly not liking the  idea of Travis with other freshmen now.

     “Hey-” Aphmau put her hand out to stop him.

     He also put his hands up, “Sorry- I know- ‘don’t call people that’ and stuff. But come on, Gene is one story, his brother is another, and now the brother’s friend.” 

     Sasha turned around in her chair to look at Blaze, “Travis is harmless, Dante barely had any affect on him if any.” 

     The door opened again to show a student with an undone tie, “No teach?” He asked, looking at Aphmau, “Who would have expected?”

     “Oh my Irene…” Blaze mumbled, going back to playing with his pencil, thinking he accidentally summoned Gene by talking about him. 

     “Gene… What are you doing here?” Aphmau asked, crossing her arms. 

     “You gave me lunch detention, remember?” He smirked. 

     “Yeah like a month ago.” She told him, laughing humorlessly. 

     He opened his arm, gesturing to himself, “Well I’m here now.” He said, turning around in a circle to show her he was there. 

     “Go sit down.” She sighed, “Where is the teacher?” She asked, looking at the clock having seen it was 8 minutes past when lunch detention should have started. 

     Sasha peeked at Gene, who sat 2 seats away from her, “What are you going here?” She asked. 

     Gene looked at her, having not seen her and was only there to piss off Aphmau, “Couldn’t have you doing time on your own, could I?” He lied with a scoff. 

     “I’m here because of you.” She scoffed back, “Left me in the hallways when you got caught overflowing a water fountain.” 

     “I told you to run, you can outrun Mx. Bitch.” Gene said, referring to how Sasha was much faster then Teony when she wanted to be. 

     She rolled her eyes, letting out a sigh, “Stop calling them that, I hate it.” She told him, lightly sketching a doodle on her homework. 

     “Aww, look at you sticking up for them. At least I’m using Mx for it.” He smirked, watching how Sasha looked annoyed. 

     Aphmau had watched the conversation and saw that Sasha didn’t respond, “Ok!” She said, getting their attention, “I’ll just start detention, silence for the rest of the hour.” 

     “Miss Aphmau?” Gene mocked, putting his hand up, “Why do we have to be in silence for all of lunch?” Gene asked. 

     “Gene, stop it before I give you another detention.” She said, collecting the white board markers from around the room. 

     “That’s not nice Miss Aphmau.” He sighed, leaning his head back so it laid on the desk behind him. 

     “Gene!” Aphmau strained, trying not to give the reaction he was looking for. 

     He smirked, crossing his arms while looking at Aphmau, ‘ I like this side of her ’ He said to himself.

     …

     The room had been silent for 10 minutes, Sasha doing her work, Gene had fallen asleep and Blaze was still trying to balance a pencil on its eraser.

     “My Irene, I’m sorry Aphmau-” Mr. Castor said, rushing into the room, causing Gene to wake up, “I forgot I had lunch detention!” 

     Aphmau looked at the frantic teacher, “Oh it’s alright. I’ve already got it handled.” She said, looking back at all the students. 

     “Sure you do-” Gene said, cracking his neck and yawning. 

     “Shut it Gene.” Aphmau snapped, causing him to just quietly chuckle. 

     Mr. Castor straightened out his shirt before looking over a small sticky note, showing the kids who were supposed to be in lunch detention. 

     “Are all of them here?” He asked, looking at all the kids in the room. 

     “Oh no, we’re missing Zane.” She shook her head but leaned towards him, “Also I’ve never seen that kid before and he’s not on the list.” Aphmau pointed towards the dark blue haired student. 

     For a few seconds, Mr. Castor stared and the kid actually looked in their direction as if he knew that they were looking at him. He held the stare but stopped when Mr. Castor pulled back, “I think Ms. Layla put him in here because she didn’t know what to do with him.”

     Taking the answer, Aphmau nodded and continued, “But I haven’t seen Zane at school in general for a while.” 

     She didn’t see the second Ro’ Meave brother nearly as much as she saw Garroth. He always seemed to be hiding away anyway. 

     Even when she went over to their house with her mom, she rarely saw Zane since he would stay in his room. 

     “The emo kid?” Blaze asked, looking out the window, “Cause like- I’m seeing him on the bleachers.” 

     Aphmau and the teacher went to the window and looked out to see Zane sitting on the bleachers. He wasn’t usually in the sun, but it was slightly cloudy outside so he could slightly enjoy the weather. 

     Getting up from his seat, Gene went to look out the window, “Oh shit… is he smoking?” He asked. 

     Lightly Aphmau hit his stomach, “Language.”  

     Looking closer she saw Zane holding something but couldn’t distinguish if it was a cigarette or something else.

     “Aphmau,” Mr. Castor said, grabbing a walkie-talkie, “Stay here and watch them, I’m gonna get some other teachers.” 

     “Ok.” She said, still looking out the window, staring at Zane. 

     “What an idiot…” The kid with blue hair said, causing Gene to laugh. 

     Aphmau looked at the kid, who’s name she didn’t know since there was no name to cross off on the attendance. “Are you new?” Aphmau asked him.

     He looked up at Aphmau, looking surprised that she had called on him, “Hmm?” He hummed as if he didn’t hear her but he had, and just wanted to hear her say it again. 

     “Are you new? I feel like I’ve never seen you before.” She repeated. 

     Quietly he nodded, “They didn’t know where to put me for lunch so they just put me in here. The principal said they were gonna come back for me afterwards.” 

     “That sounds mean.” Blaze said, causing them to look at him, “Instead of actually going to lunch, like a new kid, you get put into lunch detention.” 

     He blinked at the kid, “Well no one asked you.” He suddenly snapped. 

     Blaze looked confused but still smiled at him, “Cool down broski, just a comment.” He said, putting his hands up. 

     “Don't be snippy, he was just talking.” Aphmau told him, looking back out the window, seeing how Zane got up from the bleachers. 

     Quietly the student slid down in his chair, not speaking anymore, feeling like a scolded child when Aphmau said that.

     “He’s so stupid. Why the hell are you smoking on the bleachers?” Gene asked, sitting on the desk to still look out the window. 

     “Where do you smoke?” Ivan asked from across the room. 

     Gene saw Aphmau glare at him, “Uhhh… not on school property.” He drew out, keeping eye contact with her. 

     When she rolled her eyes and turned back to the window, Gene turned back to Ivan, ‘Bathroom.’ He mouthed. 

     Ivan shook his head, “No wonder we had a fire drill every week, last year.” He mumbled. 

     Blaze gasped, pointing at Gene while laughing, “That’s because of you?” 

     “Only a third of the time, I can’t take credit for the other two thirds.” Gene laughed, causing Aphmau to hit his knee. 

     “We haven’t had one so far.” Sasha shrugged, “So I guess that’s a win.” 

     “You know, I think it’s because the fire alarms don’t have batteries.” Gene pointed at her, “I need to test that though.”

     Aphmau glared at him, “Don’t smoke in the bathrooms.” 

     “...Wanna light a sparkler?” Gene looked back at Sasha who rolled her eyes while Aphmau hit his knee again. 

     Sasha looked up from her homework and towards the rest of them, “Zane just started smoking though, I saw him taking a pack of cigarettes from the underside of the bleachers like 2 weeks ago.” 

     Jaw opening, Gene asked, “¿Robó mis cigarrillos?” 

     “Yours?” Aphmau questioned, understanding he was asking if Zane stole his cigarettes, head snapping towards Gene whose eyes went slightly wide at the action. 

     “You understand spanish?” He asked, a bit surprised.

     “Definitely his.” Sasha nodded.

     “Sasha, don't encourage them.” Aphmau said, “And Gene, get off the desk.” She said, and Gene only put his shoes up on the wall since he was close enough. 

     She hit his shoes so they would get off the wall before looking closer at the bleachers, “Oh he’s running…” 

     “No way.” Sasha said, getting out of her seat and went next to Aphmau, “Oh my Irene that emo stick can’t outrun the gym teacher.” Blaze whispered, still staring out the window.

     “Don’t call him that, he’s just a little thin.” Aphmau told him, “Why do people try to run?” 

     “Cause it’s easy.” Gene said, causing Aphmau to sigh. 

     They watched as Zane got cornered and was taken back inside before going back to their seats and sitting in silence. 

     …

     When the bell rang, Ivan was the first one out, mumbling about something Aphmau couldn’t hear. 

     Gene stretched again, waiting for Sasha to pack up while watching Aphmau still clean the room, “Whatcha doing after this Kitty?” He asked. 

     Sighing, Aphmau spoke, “Don’t call me that, I’ll write it up as sexual harassment. But I work as a TA for 3rd period, so I gotta go do that.” She told him, picking up a forgotten pencil.

     “¿Qué es una TA?” Gene asked. 

     “Teacher’s assistance.” Sasha understood, capping a blue pen after having made marks on an essay.

     He turned around in his chair, “You’re a teacher’s pet?!” He gaped while laughing at the sophomore, “Oh Irene why am I surprised, of course you are.”

     “No I’m not, I take some of the stress off the teachers.” She told him, stacking the calculators into a box. 

     “Bye Aphmau!” Blaze said, running out of the room and she saw him from the window, catching up with Dottie and Rylan who were in the hallway. 

     “Oh Blaze don’t run!” She shouted after, lightly huffing when she knew he didn’t hear what she had said.

     Sasha got up from the desk, putting the essay into a folder before stuffing it in her bag, “Alright, let’s go.” She told Gene. 

     “Fine,” Gene sighed, “Adiós Kitty.” He waved, walking out of the classroom before Sasha, who just looked Aphmau up and down before leaving too. 

     Aphmau didn’t say anything, but looked over to the last kid in lunch detention, “Are you gonna just wait here?” She asked. 

     He turned to look at her, “Umm, the principal should be here any minute.” He told the sophomore. 

     “Ok, then I’ll stay.” Aphmau said, sitting down in the seat in front of him and turning back to face him, “So what’s your name?” She asked.

     Clearly biting back a stupid insult, he spoke, “...Ein.” 

     “Alright Ein. How is your day? Is this your first day?” She asked. 

     Ein stared at the girl, “Why do you care?” 

     She just shrugged with a smile, “Just making conversation, is today your first day?” She asked. 

     Slowly he nodded, “Yeah…” 

     “Cool, you’re a… freshman?” She questioned, trying to tell what grade he was in by looks alone. 

     “You look like one.” He snapped. 

     Aphmau’s smile slowly dropped into an annoyed look, “Fine, we can just wait in silence.” She said, turning back around in the seat. 

     With Ein facing the back of her head, he wanted to say something since she’s one of the only people to talk to him today. 

     Before he could say anything, the door opened up to show a blond lady in a white suit, Principal Layla. 

     “Oh! Aphmau! Perfect, I was gonna come find you. I’ve assumed you’ve met the new student, Ein Shalashaska.” She introduced. 

     Quickly Aphmau turned back to look at the freshmen, “Shalashaska?” She questioned, looking at him shocked. 

     He scoffed, “It’s fucking common I know.” He mumbled, crossing his arms and looking out the window. 

     “Ein- we don’t use that kind of language here.” Ms. Layla scolded and he wanted to shove her into a box. 

     But before he could snap at her, Aphmau smiled and leaned forward, “I’m Aphmau Shalashaska.” She introduced, causing him to be slightly shocked, looking at her with questionable eyes since he had been short with her before. 

     Principal Layla clapped, “I’m glad you guys have something in common- Aphmau, I would like for you to show Ein around the school.” 

     Aphmau looked at the older lady and slowly nodded, “Oh ok… But Ms. Layla, can I talk with you outside?” 

     Ein gave her a suspicious look but Aphmau shook her hands at him, “Oh it’s not you- I just have to ask her about something private.”

     Ms. Layla nodded and they went outside the room lunch detention had been held in, “What’s wrong Aphmau?” 

     “I was gonna ask about Ein-” “I understand Ein may need a bit of time to adjust to the place, but I really would like him to be comfortable.” Ms. Layla cut in. 

     “That’s fine, I don’t mind watching over him but… Did something happen for him to transfer a month into school?” Aphmau asked, jumping to the assumptions she was assuming. 

     The principal sighed, “While I’m not allowed to tell you. You may have to keep him out of trouble before he settles in. He doesn’t seem to understand the higher up schools.” 

     Trying not to question how Ms. Layla was talking about the freshman, she nodded, “Ok, I’ll do it…” 

     Letting out a light squeal, Ms. Layla hugged her, “Oh thank you Aphmau! Please tell me if he’s too much for you. Then I’ll hand him off to Teony.” 

     Again Aphmau held back a comment on how she seemed so dismissive of a new student who had trouble with schools in the past. So she stayed quiet and watched as Ms. Layla walked off from the conversation.

     Sighing, she turned back into the classroom, watching Ein doodle on the table with a pencil, “Don’t do that.” She told him and he just stopped mid action, still holding the pencil to the desk.

     “Do you have your schedule Ein?” She asked as she walked towards his desk. 

     He glanced up at her before dropping his pencil and digging into his bag beside his chair. Pulling out a folded piece of paper, Ein handed it to her, “Here.” 

     Taking the paper from him, she opened it while Ein watched his pencil roll off the desk and to the floor. Though he didn’t make any motion to pick it up, she sighed, “Pick it up.” 

     Ein huffed and picked up the pencil while she looked over the schedule, “Come on, you’re where I need to go.” She told him. 

     Reaching down again, he grabbed his bag and stood up, she realized that he was taller than her and seemed surprised. It wasn’t by much, Travis was probably the same height as Ein but she would have to measure side by side. 

     “Where are we going?” Ein asked, not putting on his backpack but dragging it. 

     “You’ll see.” She spun back to the door and started to walk out with Ein slumping behind her as if he didn’t want to be there…

Chapter Text

     Travis sat on his bed, staring at his phone while criss crossing his legs, occasionally looking at his door as if someone was gonna burst in.

     No one was, his dad was out for the day and it left Travis alone but his anxiety just by being in the house told him otherwise. So the only door to the room was his safety net.

     A small bowl of popcorn with a large amount of caramel syrup in it, sitting in the center of his bed. It wasn’t the same as Nana’s caramel popcorn but it was the best he could do since he wasn’t paying attention when she was making it. 

     He had started craving sugary items when he wasn’t in school. Ever since he had gotten a taste from the after school club, he didn’t want to be without it.

     It had given him a weird sense of comfort when he was eating sugar. Maybe it’s because it made him think of Nana and she always was so nice to him. 

     Even if he was actively awkwardly chewing on caramel covered popcorn to calm his nerves, it was comforting. 

     Or maybe that was because he was splitting his attention… huh.

     Either way Nana had given him more sugar in the last month than he’s had in years … and he’s never been happier. The sugar had opened more anxiety for him but it was different and he had liked the happy jitters he got from it. 

     From a young age Travis wasn’t allowed to have a lot of sugar, only getting it when his dad needed some blood or it was halloween. 

     Otherwise, he never really had it. 

     Today’s jitters weren’t from the sugar, though he had wanted it to be the sugar jitters very much. 

     He had to go with Nana to Aphmau’s place to watch the girls dye their hair today since he accidentally told her he would. There was no way for him to back out, she seemed so excited. 

     His nerves got the best of him and he had been waiting for the girl hours before she was supposed to show up. It was all he could think about, he couldn’t start doing anything because she would pick him up. 

     Looking at his hand that had another handful of popcorn, he saw how shaky he was, “I-irene.” He whispered, rubbing his face anxiously with his other hand while eating the handful.

     Getting off of his bed, he stared at his sticky hand because of the caramel. There was nothing to do right then, he just started pacing his room. 

     Though the room was small, he kept going around the sides of his bed, mentally trying to make time speed up. 

     There wasn’t much in his room either, it was relatively plain. He assumed his dad liked to keep it a strange shade of gray as another long term experiment. 

     Once he saw his dad’s notes as a kid, it was almost a blueprint of Travis’s exact room. The notes on the side were vague, ‘Keep it mute’ ‘Nothing too bright’.

     As a child, it confused him but after doing some research Travis thought he now understood it. Growing up with only gray caused negative emotions with kids during childhood while brighter colors got them more excited. 

     Either way, it worked. His room slightly unnerved him, there was no color besides different shades of gray. 

     When he asked his dad if he could dye his hair, he agreed but only if it was nothing colorfully bright. He allowed white instead.

     Shoving his hand in the popcorn bowl, he started to pick at his skin with the other. He needed to calm down. 

     He wasn’t sure if he wanted for Nana to get there faster or for her to not to get there at all, but then he would wonder if he had done something wrong. 

     It was almost time, but still long enough for him to sit down and do a small task while waiting for her. But his body wouldn’t hold still, or at least he didn’t want to hold still, his mind was making him dizzy. 

     Nana had been his first friend since Dante and he just wanted to get it right so she wouldn’t distance herself from him. 

     Travis liked hanging out with her after school, it wasn’t even the snacks he was allowed to eat while there. If she stopped wanting to hang out with him, he didn’t know what he'd do since he’s already hooked on the sugar. 

     Maybe she was putting something in it, he didn’t go nearly as crazy when he got halloween candy. The idea of himself being on something again got his mind to go blank and he stopped pacing.

     His dad used to drug him when he was younger, usually sedation and small experiments. Either way it made him seem even more twitchy.

     There was a part of Travis’s life that he really just didn’t remember because of it and he didn’t talk about it much.

     …who was he kidding? Of course Nana wasn’t doing that. Travis had a fun time with Nana herself and was tying sugar to her. 

     The problem with Travis’s twitchy demeanor came from his dad and the experiments he used to do on Travis.

     Dante’s pokes at Travis having a crush on Nana wasn’t really helping with his anxiety either right now. It made him uncomfortable since he didn’t really understand crushes. 

     From what he had heard; crushes were what caused people’s hearts to race- in a good way, unlike anxiety. 

     As much as Nana did make his heart race, Travis wasn’t so sure it could be labeled as a crush. The candy was nice and he couldn’t tell if the crush was on the candy or her, but he didn’t want to lose either…

     …

     Nana pulled up to a house, getting out of her car and going up to the house she had never seen before. It was kinda a dull color, compared to the pale yellow shade the house next to it was. 

     She pulled her phone from her pocket to text the freshman that she was right outside. Humming a bit as she swayed because she was excited. 

     This was gonna be good for Travis, getting to be friends with more people… at least she hoped it would be. 

     After about 10 seconds, the front door to the house opened and she watched as Travis closed it very slowly. He was picking at his nail, seemingly almost out of mussel memory. 

     “H-hey.” He said, looking at her after having locked the door from the outside and putting the house key in his pocket. 

     “Hey.” She said back, “Ready to go?” She asked, starting towards her car before looking back at him.

     He hadn’t moved yet, still right at the door. When she tried to look at what he was looking at, she saw the doorbell was one of those cameras that the owner was allowed to look through. 

     It looked like it had been covered with painter’s tape, someone didn’t want someone else to see out.

     “Travis?” She called, tilting her head.

     Slowly his head turned to her, but his eyes stayed on the doorbell for as long as they could before switching to her, “Hmm?” He hummed.

     Before she asked if he was alright, she shook her head, “Ready to go?” She repeated instead.

     “O-oh, right-” He nodded, walking towards her. Even while walking to the car, he kept looking back at the house before standing in front of the car door. 

     Going to her side of the car, she stopped before going inside, “...You know, you don’t have to go.”

     Again his head whipped towards her, seeming embarrassed, “S-sorry. I-it’s just… N-nothing, it’s nothing.”

     Glancing down at the car, he waited for her to unlock it but she didn’t. So when he peeked at her, she was staring at him, “W-what?” His eyes flicked both ways as if he was looking for something else. 

     Nana’s facial expression turned into a smile, “Nothing, just thinking in my head.” She dismissed, getting into the car.

     About to get inside too, he now had to decide if he was supposed to sit in the front or the back of her car. 

     The window on the passenger side rolled down, “Travis,” She called, “You can sit in the front.” She told him.

     Travis crouched to look through the now open window towards Nana, “A-are you sure?” 

     “Yes Travis, I’m sure.” She reassured, leaning over and opening the door for him, “Come on, we have to get to Aphmau’s place.” 

     “A-aphmau knows I’m coming, right?” He asked, putting on his seat belt. 

     “Yes of course,” She chuckled, “Lucinda and Katelyn also know you’re gonna be there.” She added. 

     He thought about being alone with 4 girls, only 2 of which he assumed to be his friends. The idea itself wasn’t what made him uncomfortable, he felt the same amount of anxiety around girls as he did with guys. 

     The problem was accidentally making one of them uncomfortable that almost made him puke out his guts. Honestly Travis would be fine sitting in a corner with a side table while they did their hair.

     This was for the girls, he was just tagging along for Nana. So he would sit in a corner and do nothing so that they never got the wrong idea… Yeah that’s what he’d do. 

     Thinking about the 2 girls he didn’t really know though, he asked, “A-are Lucinda and Katelyn nice? I-i don’t talk to them much…” 

     She had to think about how to explain it to him, since she knew the girls a lot longer than Travis had. “Lucinda is a bit- forward, but she means well. Katelyn is just a bit mean, but as long as you respect her, she respects you.” 

     “H-how?” He asked. 

     “I’ve already told both of them to be on their best behavior for you. I don’t want them to stop you from having a nice time.” She told him. 

     “O-oh you don’t have to do that-” “I want to.” She cut off, looking at him while stopped at a red light. 

     He stared at her, “W-why?” 

     “Because,” She said happily, causing him to lightly flinch, “Travis! You’re making it hard to have fun.” 

     Unsure of how to react, he stared at her, wide eyed. Her words barely hit him in the way she probably thought it did. 

     She was right, he wasn’t fun to be around and had a hard time trying to have fun with other people. It was obvious to him in middle school so it didn’t come as a shock, he just didn’t expect her to actually say it. 

     “Look Travis, I adore you, I do. But- you need to stop being so tightly knitted. I invited you so you can have some fun with the fun people I know.” She said, going softer at the end. 

     Nana watched as Travis started to tighten the seat belt as much as he could, hurting his stomach in the process. 

     Irene, why did she say that? Clearly he had a hard time being loose and was trying his best to get out of it in a way he knew how.

     “...I’m sorry Travis, that was wrong of me. I’m sure you do have fun in your own way, but… you always seem so miserable at school. Doesn’t it get tiring?” She asked.

     It was tiring but he would never call it that. He had grown used to the feeling so it was hard to identify if it was something new. 

     Again he wasn’t angry with her words, just a bit surprised since she wasn’t one to go louder than her normal voice. 

     “...Why do you do that?” Nana quietly asked, seeing him still tightening the seat belt to an uncomfortable state.

     He turned to her, confused, “I-i’m sorry?”

     “Your seatbelt. I’ve seen you do it with your tie too.” She pointed out and Travis shrugged lightly. 

     “I-i don’t know.” He whispered, starting to untighten the seatbelt. Yes he did, it was a weird nervous habit he does, but it probably wasn’t the best to say it now. 

     Nana ruffled his hair and his shoulders came up to his ears as if he was trying to hide, “It’s ok. Relax, we’re just gonna go dye my hair with some friends.” She told him. 

     “Y-yeah… sorry.” He said, still holding on tightly to the seatbelt but not tightening it.

     What she said, still replayed back in his head ‘ You always seem so miserable at school. Doesn’t it get tiring?’

     Sure it did, but it didn’t change the fact that he’s always felt it. So it’s only mellowed under his skin in a way that he’s adapted. 

     When Nana got to Aphmau’s house and undid her seatbelt, she turned in her seat so that she was looking at Travis. He was looking at the house instead, fidgeting with the seatbelt. 

     “Ok,” She said, criss crossing her legs in the driver’s seat, “Do you really not wanna go?” She asked, looking at him, “Cause I can cancel and we can go get ice cream.” 

     Travis shook his head, “N-no it’s not that! I-i’ve just never been in someone else’s house besides, you know, Dante…” 

     “Well, you know Aphmau, she’s nice and friendly. She knows how you are. Lucinda and Katelyn…” She paused before shrugging, “Don’t take anything they say to heart.” 

     He sighed, “I-i know. I… I wanna have fun Nana.” He told her, gripping the seat tightly, digging his nails into the slides of it. 

     She softly sighed, “I shouldn’t have said that Travis. Everyone has their own form of fun. I’m sorry for forcing you to do this kind of stuff but… Thank you for at least taking up the offer.” 

     “N-nana, I want to go. I-i don’t wanna dye my hair but I wanna just be around you. I-i have fun with you.” He tried to explain. 

     Nana stared at the boy before smiling, “Come on, the others are already here.”

     The older got out of the car first before going to his side of the car and having to coax him out there too.

     “Hi Nana! Hey Travis.” Aphmau immediately said after having opened the door for them to go inside.

     “Hi Aphmau!” Nana said, giving the sophomore a tight hug. 

     Katelyn and Lucinda saw them at the door, “Hey Nana.” Katelyn said as Lucinda was applying the light blue hair dye. 

     “Hello Katelyn, Luci.” Nana said, smiling at the girls. 

     “I would get up to hug you but Katelyn’s dye is really specific when putting it on.” Lucinda sighed, before seeing the freshman behind her, “Oh hi Travis.” 

     “Who?” Katelyn asked, watching the movie on the TV. 

     Aphmau leaned her head into the living room, “Travis, remember? White haired kid? You hit him with a volleyball the first day of school?” 

     She didn’t turn around to see for herself, “The kid who stutters?” Katelyn asked instead, trying to remember anyone close to that description. . 

     “He only stutters at the start of his sentences.” Nana then poked her head into the living room, before looking at Aphmau, “My hair dye is in the upstairs bathroom, right?” She asked.

     After Aphmau nodded, Nana ran upstairs, leaving Travis with Aphmau who pointed at him while squinting, “You’re not dying your hair.” 

     He shook his head, confirming her, “N-no.” 

     “That’s ok! Everyone is just in the living room,” She pointed to the left of her and Travis peeked in to see a group of high schoolers watching ‘Midnight’. 

     Travis had seen only parts of midnight from Sasha putting it on when she was over at Gene’s house. 

     “O-oh ok.” He said, stepping into the house and immediately taking off his shoes, setting them by the door. 

     “I know it’s not your favorite thing to do so- Do you wanna help me cut strawberries?” She asked, nodding over to the kitchen. 

     Travis nodded, watching as Aphmau sat a plastic container full of strawberries in front of him, “Are you allowed to use a knife?”

     He nodded quickly making her smile and grabbed a knife from the wooden block that they were stored in. 

     When handed the knife, he had to watch how Aphmau cut her before trying to mimic her method. 

     Nana came back downstairs, holding a box of pink hair dye, “Bleach?” She asked. 

     Aphmau went over to the kitchen sink and opened the cupboard underneath it, “Here.” She set a container on the counter.

     “Thanks!” She said, going over to the counter and watching Travis cut the strawberries, grabbing a few pieces quickly. 

     “W-what’s that Nana?” Travis asked, looking at the container. 

     “Hair bleach, I have to destroy my hair before it can look pretty.” She told him, grabbing the powdered bleach to mix with some developer. 

     The girls watched Travis cut the strawberries carefully, “Do you like strawberries Travis?” Nana asked. 

     Lightly he shrugged, “I-i wasn’t allowed to have them much as a kid.” 

     “Why not?” Aphmau asked. 

     Travis looked at them, not wanting to explain that his dad documented everything he ate for up until he was 10. So any sweets were out of the question, even most fruits. 

     “J-just wasn’t.” He settled on. 

     Deciding not to push it, Nana hooked her arm around Aphmau’s, “Help me mix the bleach outside?” 

     Aphmau rolled her eyes, “Fine.” She groaned, leaving the knife on the counter and taking Nana out into her backyard. 

     Placing the already cut strawberries into a larger bowl Travis looked at the knife Aphmau left. It looked freshly sharpened. 

     He went around the counter and grabbed it, holding onto it, quietly turning it around in his hands. It shined under the kitchen light and he was able to see the blurry reflection of himself in it.

     “Travis.” Lucinda said, causing the boy to flinch but turn to her, “You ok bud?” She asked, walking towards him. 

     Travis placed the knife next to the sink, “Y-yeah, sorry.”

     She went over to the counter and grabbed the bowl of cut strawberries, “Wanna watch Midnight with us? I can cut your bangs.” 

     Lucinda held up a pair of scissors and Travis stepped back at the sight, “They seem to be getting in the way of your eyes.” She smirked.

     “U-uhh-” He looked outside to see Aphmau furiously mixing something while Nana laughed at her.

     “Come on.” Lucinda said, “You don’t have to like it, but you can watch us argue over who’s hotter.” She chuckled, grabbing a can of whipped cream from the fridge. 

     Sighing, he grabbed the knife he was using and set it next to the other one, “B-but what about Nana?” 

     Lucinda looked out the kitchen window, “They’re mixing bleach, let’s go.” She said, pushing Travis in the way of the living room. 

     Once successfully in the living room, he saw two extra people in the room. There was a guy and a girl sitting side by side. “Oh hi.” A guy said, putting a piece of popcorn in his mouth. 

     “H-hi.” Travis said, never having seen the guy in his life. Maybe Aphmau had spoken about him at lunch but he couldn’t think of a name to the face. 

     The boy had brown hair while the girl had lighter brown and black rimmed glasses that were staring at the movie. 

     He stayed by the entrance of the living room, feeling awkward in the presence of 2 other people had never met. 

     “Uhh, I saw you before in school… Trevor?” The guy tried, “That doesn’t sound right. Nana was talking about you a lot.” 

     A chuckle came from Lucinda as she sat on the couch again, behind Katelyn who was on the floor, “It’s Travis. I thought it was Trevor too when I saw him at the gas station a few weeks ago.” 

     “You saw this kid at the gas station a few weeks ago?” Katelyn asked, reaching over to grab a few pieces of popcorn. 

     “I was getting a slushie.” Lucinda said simply, before doing something with Katleyn’s hair, “Ok I’m done.” She said, sitting beside Katelyn on the floor. 

     Katelyn grabbed the hair dye box from the side, “How long are we supposed to leave it in?” 

     “Around 35 minutes.” Lucinda said, pointing to a spot on the box before looking back at Travis, “Sit dude.” She said, patting the spot in front of her. 

     Slowly he sat on the very edge of the couch, the closest to the front door, “Travis,” She said, “Down here.” 

     Sliding off of the couch cushion, he sat down in front of her, unsure of what else to do in the situation, “We’re just gonna trim your bangs. Don’t worry.” 

     “O-ok.” He stuttered, hands physically shaking as Lucinda grabbed a few strands of his hair and started to make snips. 

     “Your hair is nice…” She whispered after a few minutes. 

     “He’s blond.” Katelyn leaned over to see his roots growing in. 

     Lucinda lightly hit her shoulder, “He’s like- a dirty blond. All the white parts are dead…” She glanced at him, “Whoever killed your hair needs to be charged.” 

     “D-dante did it.” He whispered.

     “Yeah and that kid’s hair is already losing color.” The mystery guy said. 

     “I’m just saying,” Lucinda shot a glare at the brown haired boy before back at Travis, “If you’re ever going to dye your hair again, come to us. We know how to not kill hair.” She snipped a chunk of hair off for emphasis. 

     Quickly he nodded, not bothering to tell her that he didn’t plan on doing anything with his hair anymore. Dying it once and watching it seem ‘fried’ was enough, he missed his natural color.

     “Where’d he go?” Travis heard Aphmau ask from the kitchen along with a door shutting closed.

     He looked at the doorway to the living room to see Nana peek her head in, “Oh hi, whatcha guys watching?” 

     “Midnight.” The girl who’s name he didn’t know spoke. 

     Nana looked at Travis, who was still in front of Lucinda, “Is she cutting your fringe?” She asked. 

     “Yeah, it was starting to bug me that I couldn’t see his eyes very much.” Lucinda answered for him. 

     A few more snips were made before Lucinda just held his face, which he felt very uncomfortable with as she was just inspecting him.

     “Your eyes are so pretty. Weird, kinda unnatural shade of green, but pretty.” Lucinda whispered, brushing his hair with her fingers a bit, getting all the extra pieces out. 

     Travis tried not to think about what she had said. He had gotten comments on his weird eyes before but never knew what to say to it as it was just his eye color.

     Well, his real eye color was a shade of silvery gray but when he was younger he had an allergic reaction to some eye drops.

     His dad freaked out when Travis started screaming and holding his eyes. Afterwards his eyes had turned green but didn’t seem to have any other effect.

     So it wasn’t his natural color, but he couldn’t change it back either.

     “Hey Nana.” The mystery boy said, waving at her and so did the girl but she was more focused on the movie.

     She seemed surprised to see them there, “Oh hey- I didn’t know you guys, where gonna be here.” 

     “Lucinda brought us.” The girl replied.

     “W-who’s that?” Travis whispered to Lucinda.

     Lucinda glanced at him, “I’m Lucinda dummy.” She told him.

     Travis would laugh if he didn’t feel Katelyn’s eyes on him and looked at the two people he didn’t know. 

     Squinting at Travis, Lucinda turned to where he was looking, “Oh- Laurence and Kim, they’re cool. Don’t worry.” She dismissed it as if it wasn’t as nerve wracking as Travis is making it out to be. 

     “D-do they go to school with us?” He asked, trying to rack his brain to see if he remembered the kids. 

     She nodded, “Oh yeah, I’ve known them since freshman year.” She said as Nana crawled on the couch cushion behind Lucinda and sat there.

     “Don’t cut them so short.” Nana told Lucinda, pulling up the bowl of strawberries.

     “I’m not.” Lucinda rolled her eyes, “They’re gonna bounce back.” She let go of the hair she was holding and saw how they fluffed up a bit, “See?” 

     “Let me cut them.” Katelyn held out her hand but Lucinda pulled away, “No way you’re just gonna cut them off.” 

     Travis looked at Katelyn, questioning if it was true but she just rolled her eyes, “Fine.”

     Lucinda blew air into his face, brushing his hair again with her pinkie, “There. Now go.” She pushed him from the spot, waiting for him to get up. 

     Quickly he got up and sat beside Nana, who also started to fix his bangs, “Isn’t that just a little bit better?” She asked, hopeful. 

     Holding on to a strand, he stared, “...Y-yeah, a bit.” 

     “Here hold this.” She handed him another bowl with a strong smell, making him hold it away from himself. 

     Aphmau noticed and opened the front window, “Laurence, can you open that window behind you?” 

     He reached up and opened it with one hand while still watching the movie on the TV, “There.” He sighed. 

     “Kim aren’t you putting highlights in?” Nana asked, seeing how she was focused on the TV with a hair dye box in her hands. 

     “Oh yeah, I just kinda forgot.” Kim said, “Laurence, wanna help?” She asked, turning around to look at the boy. 

     Laurence pointed to the screen, “They just threw the baby in the fire though- this is like the best part.” He told her. 

     Kim huffed once, causing him to get up, “Fine, let’s go.” He said, grabbing the box from her hands.

     She smiled and went with him, “Aphmau, mind helping me too?” Lucinda asked, looking at the girl from the ground.

     Aphmau nodded, “Give me a minute Nana.” She said, as Lucinda got up from her spot next to Katelyn. 

     “N-nana, I think I asked you this before but… why do you dye your hair?” Travis asked, holding the bowl of what smells like bleach. 

     “Cause Nana wants to be different.” Katelyn said, causing Nana to scoff at her.

     “That’s like half the reason.” Nana told him, “Uhh… I have a big family, so it’s kinda hard to be your own person when there’s like 5 copies of you.” She simply explained.

     Lucinda popped her head back into the living room, “Kawaii-Chan~” She teased, causing Nana to throw a strawberry at her.

     She caught it in her mouth, looking proud, “I thought it was cute.” Lucinda told her, still snickering. 

     “K-kawaii-Chan?” Travis repeated. 

     Nana looked at him, slightly annoyed while stirring some pink paste, “Before I could dye my hair, I used a different name because everyone got me and my siblings mixed up.” 

     “And the name she chose was Kawaii-Chan-” Katelyn tried to hold the strained giggle but ended up laughing at the end. 

     “Oh! And- she talked in third person- for like all three years of middle school!” Katelyn kept laughing while Nana looked annoyed. 

     Travis stared at Nana, who looked annoyed and embarrassed, “Never bring it up- and never call me that, got it?” She playfully warned and he nodded quickly. 

     “Good.” She smiled, “Now just hold the bowl because when Aphmau gets back she’s gonna help me bleach my hair.” She told him, handing over the bowl…

     …

     It had been hours with the girls dyeing their hair and watching the Midnight marathon that was on. 

     Though Travis didn’t understand the movie, he did like watching the werewolves, reminding him of the ‘pup-trio’ as Aphmau called them. 

     “We’re not dying my hair orange!” Laurence yelled at Lucinda, who still held some left over hair dye. 

     “Oh come on! You’ll look like Cadenza again!” Lucinda told him, trying to seem serious but was smiling the whole time. 

     “Do not spill that on the couch!” Aphmau snapped at them but didn’t move from her spot on the couch to stop them.

     He was backed up against a corner, Kim the only thing between the two, “He’s already done that freshman year!” Kim shouted.

     “Yeah, it was a sight to see. Took him all freshman and sophomore year to grow it back out.” Katelyn told Travis. 

     “Oh Irene when it was that really faded orange… looked really bad.” Aphmau whispered, mouth full of popcorn.

     “L-Laurence dyed his hair orange in freshman year?” Travis asked, watching as Nana was still finger combing her newly dyed hair.

     “His older sister has orange hair and she wanted them to look alike.” Katelyn explained, still intently watching the movie. 

     Nana pulled out her phone, showing a picture of an orange-haired Laurence next to a taller girl with very long hair, “That’s her.” 

     He noticed that Laurence and his sister looked nothing alike, but choose to keep his mouth shut as it seemed rude to ask 

     “She’s so pretty.” Aphmau nodded, looking over Travis’s shoulder to see the photo, “Laurence, why didn’t you get her genes?” 

     “Uhh, because she’s adopted?” He ‘duh’ed at her while still backed up against the corner of the room. 

     “Cadenza was cute!” Lucinda said, “You are siblings.” She tried to convince the junior into dyeing his hair again. 

     “She was hot.” Katelyn added. 

     Laurence looked uncomfortable at the comment, “Will you guys stop saying my sister is hot? It’s weird.” 

     “You can be hot too!” Lucinda said, about to climb over Kim to get to him. 

     “I already am!” Laurence shouted, offended.

     “My arms are getting tired-” Kim said, still trying to keep Lucinda from Laurence while trying not to accidentally grope her as to how close she was.

     “How does my hair look Travis?” Nana didn’t even bat an eye at the fight and held up a mirror between the two so Nana could see. 

     He looked at the back of her hair, “I-it looks fine, just still wet.” He said, seeing how the hair in the front is a different shade as the ones in the back because it was wet. 

     “I’ll let it air dry.” She said, leaning back on the couch and stretching, making him remind her of a cat. 

     “Oh shit, the fall festival is next week.” Katelyn suddenly spoke while staring at her phone, “We should go!” 

     “When is it?” Kim asked. 

     “Next Friday.” Katelyn told her, “Nana, you wanna go?” She asked, turning back to the relaxed girl. 

     She nodded, but Katelyn didn’t see so Travis had to speak up, “S-she said yes.” 

     “Cool, then next Friday we can go to the fall festival.” Katelyn said while Laurence screamed at Lucinda.

     “Get away from me you witch!” Laurence shouted…

Chapter Text

     “Come on, I gotta pick up like- 3 other people after you.” Nana jokingly lied out her window while rushing Travis to get in her car. 

     His head went up to her, having stared back at his house while he was walking. His dad wasn’t home today, so Travis was allowed to go out, but he was still nervous about taping over the cameras.

     Travis would rather keep his dad out of the loop when it came to his friends, he already knew about Dante… even if he didn’t like him. 

     “O-oh I’m sorry. I-i’ll get in the back.” He said, reaching for the back seat door. 

     She scoffed, “No Travis- sit in the front.” She told him, giving him a look to not go against what she said. 

     Giving up, he got in the front seat and buckled his seat belt, “W-who else do you have to pick up?” He asked. 

     “Hmmm?” She looked at him confused. 

     “Y-you said you had other people to pick up.” He reiterated.

     “Oh,” She swatted at him and giggled, “No one, I was joking. You’re my only passenger for today. Everyone else is getting a ride.” She smiled, pulling away from Travis’s house. 

     “W-who else is coming?” Travis questioned, lightly fidgeting with the seatbelt. 

     Putting the car in reverse and pulling away from his house, “Katelyn is getting Aphmau and she’s bringing her younger brother, Kacey. He’s pretty shy so you shouldn’t have any problems with him.” Nana tried to remember who she was texting earlier in the morning. 

     “D-does he go to our school?” He asked, trying to imagine Katelyn having a younger brother. 

     Nana shook her head, “No, he’s an 8th grader. I’ve met him a few times, and he’s really… not like Katelyn. I don’t think you’ll talk but if you do, you’re gonna be alright.” 

     They chuckled a bit, “W-who else then? O-or is that it?” Travis asked. 

     She started to list names off on her fingers, “I think Laurence is going with his sister? And picking up Kim. Lucinda should be going by herself- actually I think she’s bringing Sasha.” 

     “S-sasha?” Travis asked, remembering the junior while slightly tightening the seat belt. 

     “Yeah, she’s pretty cool too. Just a little… angsty.” Nana said in a playful tone. 

     Travis was getting slightly better with people, a somewhat slow process that keeps moving thanks to Nana, “I-i know her, kinda. S-she’s over at Dante’s house sometimes.” 

     “Right, you know Gene.” She reminded herself with a short nod, “Is Dante coming to the festival?” 

     He shrugged, “I-i don’t know.” Again the seat belt tightened, causing a slight gasp from him. 

     Nana glanced at Travis, noticing the seatbelt, “Are you and Dante doing ok? I’ve noticed you guys haven’t talked much recently.” 

     They hadn’t talked in a while, small conversations here and there but it wasn’t what it used to be in middle school. Dante just started seeming to pull away since he started to hang out with Nana.

     It wasn’t exactly Travis’s fault and he didn’t want to go back to sitting on the bleachers for up to 2 hours after school. Even walking home together, they didn’t really speak, at least not Travis. 

     Dante carried on his own conversation, while Travis just nodded along without any input. When Travis did try to speak, Dante would disprove anything he had said and carried on. 

     So it was left with Travis just walking alongside basically a radio that only talked about how great he was at baseball. 

     Honestly it was starting to get… annoying. Travis felt awful calling his conversations with his best friend annoying, but it was. It was annoying and repetitive. 

     “Y-yeah…” He nodded, “I-i think we’re just growing apart.” Travis tried to cover up instead, not wanting to expose the crumbling friendship.

     “Oh, why? You guys seemed so close at the start of the year.” Nana asked, wanting to talk about it but was still trying to focus on the road. 

     “I-i don’t know- he’s just different to me now.” He told her, unsure of what to tell her. 

     She glanced at him again, “...Is he being mean to you Travis?” 

     “N-no it’s not like that. I-it just… he seems uninterested. L-like he doesn’t want to hang out with me anymore.” Travis explained, pulling the seat belt tighter. 

     “Why not?” She questioned.

     If he was honest with Nana and told her he probably doesn’t want to hang out with Travis because of her. 

     Nana was talking up his time and left no time for Dante to even try, if he ever did try. Travis liked it better this way, she was good for him, he assumed.

     Meeting new people and trying new foods was always seen as good, that’s exactly what Nana was doing. 

     If he were to do it himself, he’d never do it and just stay off to the side in a corner probably still listening to Dante.

     So telling her that using all his time with her is what’s causing the rift between someone he’s increasingly finding annoying was out of the question.

     “D-dante’s just busy with school and he does the baseball club after school a lot so we just don’t see each other often.” Travis said instead. 

     There were other people to hang out with, she had shown him that. He didn’t need Dante to introduce him to people, Nana did.

     Over the last week Laurence and Kim had said hi to him in the hallway and Lucinda had sat with him in the cooking club once.

     Travis wasn’t even thinking about Dante in his downtime.

     “That happens. It’s a miracle I have so many friends from middle school… Do you wanna be that type of ‘middle school close’ again with him?” She asked. 

     “K-kinda? I-i liked him, but I feel like he was only my friend because no one else really liked us in middle school. A-and people do like me now… right?” Travis tightened his seatbelt and looked at her for reassurance.

     Nana noticed and got slightly worried but smiled, “Yes Travis, of course. We all like you… Do you like being friends with him?” She questioned carefully.

     He knew that he could say yes, that he enjoyed being around Dante and all their small conversations.

     ‘ Did I like him ?’ Travis asked himself. ‘ He is my best middle school friend, but I love hanging out with Nana so much more than him .’

     “Travis.” Nana called, not wanting to bother his train of thought but her phone was ringing and she couldn’t answer it. 

     Letting go of the seat belt, he caught his breath, making Nana glance at him with a worried look. 

     He didn’t register what he was doing but picked it up, “H-hello?” He spoke, not checking who was on the other end. 

     “Travis?” Lucinda asked, “Is Nana almost here? We’re about to head in.” Lucinda told him and he blinked slowly. 

     “I-i’m sorry what?” He asked, shaking his head lightly.

     “We’re gonna head in, are you guys almost here?” Lucinda repeated laughing a bit. 

     “Who is it?” Nana asked.

     “L-lucinda.” He answered.

     Nana hummed, “What does she want? We’re almost there.”

     The senior sighed, “Are you guys almost here or not?” She asked again.

     Travis turned to Nana, “S-she’s asking us if we’re close, they’re about to go into the festival.” He retold. 

     “We’re about… 3 minutes away. Tell them to go ahead.” She instructed, “Oh, ask who else is there.” She added. 

     “A-about 3 minutes. W-who else is there?” He asked. 

     Lucinda started to count her friends, “Katelyn, Aphmau, Kacey, Sasha, Kim and Laurence.” 

     Not wanting to list off all those names, Travis told Nana, “A-a lot of people…” 

     Nana giggled, “Ok, we’re almost there.” She said, loud enough so Lucinda could hear on the phone. 

     “We’ll wait for you guys.” Lucinda said before hanging up. 

     Travis started to pick at his nails and Nana noticed, “It’s just a bunch of kids hanging out Travis.” 

     “I-i know. J-just… still scary sometimes.” He told her before looking at her phone again to see messages unread. 

     “N-nana? Someone named Zane is texting you.” Travis said, turning away from the messages so as to not invade her privacy.

     She moved in her seat, seeming uncomfortable, “I’ll text him later…” She dismissed it while biting her lip in thought…

     …

     “Can we get cotton candy?” Aphmau asked, leaning on Katelyn as they sat on a bench outside the festival. 

     “Of course we can, but I want funnel cake.” She told her, looking up to Lucinda, “What’d she say?” 

     She put her phone in her bra, “Travis answered, they said a few minutes.” She told the group, “Do you guys think Travis and Nana are dating?” Lucinda asked out of the blue. 

     Lightly Katelyn gagged, “Ew he’s like 13.” 

     “What gave you that idea?” Aphmau asked. 

     Lucinda shrugged, “They’re spending a lot of time together.” 

     “I see it as more of a brother and sister type of relationship.” Kim said, pushing up her glasses. 

     “He only really hangs out with her.” Laurence said, leaning back against the bench. 

     “That’s not true, he sits with me and Aaron at lunch.” Aphmau tried to dismiss it, “Besides he’s got like- the worst social anxiety i’ve ever seen.” 

     Lucinda gave her a confused look, “Who’s Aaron?”

     Aphmau then returned the confused look, “You spoke with him on the first day of school. Tall guy? Drank the beer you gave to Katelyn?” 

     They both stared at each other before it clicked for Lucinda, “Oh! Him! That’s Aaron?” 

     “Who?” Sasha asked.

     Turning to Sasha, Lucinda leaned into her ear, “This kinda hot guy in second lunch.” 

     “That means nothing to me.” Sasha shook her head at Lucinda, trying to get across that she had never seen the guy.

     “Yeah I wouldn’t think so.” Lucinda smirked.

     Rolling her eyes, “Anyway, Travis is just a bit shy. He will hold a conversation if you try too.” Sasha spoke, “I’ve spoken to him a few times, him and Dante hung out a lot over the summer.” 

     Kim played with her skirt, “I want to get to know him, but he seems so… skittish around everyone.” 

     “By the way he’s 14.” Laurence corrected and they looked at him weirdly, “Gene said Travis and Dante were the same age.” 

     “You still talk to Gene?” Sasha quietly asked, scrolling on her phone. 

     “Na, hallway talks.” Laurence said, “Does Gene even know you’re here with us today?” He asked, setting his chin on the palm of his hand.

     She went quiet and looked at her phone instead, “Ooooo someone didn’t tell their leader that they were with the enemy.” Laurence teased her.

     The two were on good terms even after the explosion that was his and Gene’s friendship. On instagram Sasha was following a lot of his friend group and most of them followed her back, they just didn’t talk in school.

     “He doesn’t need to know everything.” She huffed.

     “Doesn’t he?” Laurence gave her a teasing smile.

     Sasha looked at her phone again, annoyed with him so Lucinda internviened, “Laurence stop it. She’s my friend too and we’re gonna go on the ferris wheel together.” Lucinda looped their arms together. 

     Laurence fake gagged, “That shit is for couples.” 

     “Yeah and Casanova doesn’t have a date.” Katelyn reached over and hit the back of his head with a laugh.

     “Oh you fucking-” Laurence tried to get to Katelyn but both Kim and Aphmau kept them apart. 

     “How did you guys even meet each other?” Kim tried to change the conversation, looking at Sasha and Lucinda as she kept Laurence from grabbing a fist full of Katelyn’s hair, “I feel like I can see it, but I wanna know.”

     “Skipping.” Laurence strained, making grabby hands at Katelyn who stuck her tongue out at him.

     “As a matter of fact, we did.” Lucinda leaned into Sasha who looked back at Lucinda with a questioning stare, “We also hang out in the witchcraft club.” 

     Kim poked Laurence in the stomach to get him to fold in on himself, “How is that going anyway? I heard Ms. Layla said no to it being an official club.” 

     “Yeah she did,” Lucinda signed, “But my mom said that I can still use her room after school while she does other stuff.” 

     “Why did she say no?” Katelyn asked after seeing Laurence actually scrunch in on himself when Kim poked him, “Doesn’t want you guys haunting the bathroom like that rumor in freshman year?” 

     Lucinda giggled, “Something like that. My mom says Layla doesn’t like what we do and to keep it on the down-low.” 

     “Put a poison in her coffee.” Kim whispered and they all looked slightly creeped out by what she said. 

     “Ok, that’s a little morbid Kim and that’s what we write in our diaries.” Laurence quietly told her, while patting her legs. 

     She smiled at him, “I’m kidding… but if I wasn’t, it would be rat poison in her drink.” She whispered, looking at Laurence. 

     “You know what, let me see your diary.” Laurence told her, holding his hand out as if she had it on her right that moment.

     Kim turned to him with a serious look, the joking smile before gone, “Teony has been talking my ear off about that lady. She needs to be put down.” 

     “You know you can just tell Teony you don’t wanna hear it.” Lucinda told her, checking her nails over.

     “No, I like hearing Teony talk about their problems. It’s just… Ms. Layla isn’t a good principal.”

     Glancing up, Sasha asked, “Where is Teony anyway?” 

     Kim’s teeth seem to clench, “Homework apparently.” 

     “Laurence.” Lucinda said, nodding to Kim to which he nodded back and kept patting her leg to calm her down.

     “We’re not here to talk about school, I just want to win every fair game they have.” Katelyn told all of them.

     Aphmau looked up at her, “How much money do you have?” 

     Pulling out a wallet, she opened it to show at least $50, “My dad just told me to have fun and get Kacey food.” 

     “I want a funnel cake.” Kacey’s head poked out the lightest bit from behind the bench, only Aphmau and Katelyn seeing him.

     “I want one too.” Katelyn sighed.

     “By the way-” Lucinda looked at Sasha, “Can I ask you something?” 

     Looking skeptical, Sasha nodded, “What…?” 

     Lucinda looked at her friends before Sasha again, “Let’s go over here real quick.” She grabbed Sasha’s arm and pulled her over to a tree. 

     They all stared at the two, “Weird.” Kim whispered and Laurence nodded in agreement.

     “Oh- I see Nana.” Aphmau said, standing up from the bench and waving at the car trying to find parking.

     “Kacey.” Katelyn grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him up from the grass behind the bench, “Come on kid, we’re gonna go in.” 

     The rest of them looked at Kacey, shocked that he had been there and they forgot about him. 

     “Stand up straight squeakers.” Katelyn dismissed, wrapping her arm around the kid and smiled. 

     Kacey had blond hair instead though instead of the dyed light blue Katelyn’s was. Everyone was able to see the resemblance between them though…

     …

     The Ro’Meave family, minus their dad, had been walking around the fall festival for only 30 minutes. Though there was a lot to do, the boys didn’t want to do anything together. 

     Zianna wanted her sons to bond but it only seemed to have been getting worse over the years. 

     They were all at different stages of their life with very different personalities that clashed too much for them to enjoy each other’s company. While Garroth and Vylad somewhat got along, it was mostly Vylad being annoyed at Garroth for his opinions and comments.

     Zane seemed to not like either of his brothers and there wasn’t anything ZIanna could do about it. He pushed back harder when she tried to get him to join them but this was different. 

     While he did try to get out of the fair, at some point he gave up and just got into the car, allowing her a win.

     Garroth looked at Vylad who was quietly peering around the fall festival, “Vylad, are you ok?” He asked. 

     Vylad turned to his brother, “Yeah. Sorry.” He mumbled, still trying to look around the area for someone.

     Leaning in, Garroth asked, “Do you see one of those kids who were talking about you around here?” 

     Whipping his head around to Garroth, Vylad gave him a wide eye stare, “I’m not being picked on. Drop it.” 

     “Vylad-” “Butt out Garroth. It’s none of your business.” Vylad cut him off and tried to look forward but his eyes were still shifting around constantly.

     Zane was beside his mother, dressed in all black with his hands in his pockets, “Zuzu, do you want anything?” His mom asked. 

     He shook his head, he wasn’t there to have a ‘good time’, he was looking for Nana. Pulling out his phone, he saw the messages he sent to Nana but never saw anything back from her.

     ‘Bitch.’ He insulted Nana in his mind for not texting him back but felt bad for saying that so he tried to retract it mentally.

     “Come on Zane, I took you here so you can get some fresh air.” Zianna said, slowly pushing his phone down. 

     Immediately he gave her an annoyed stare but she smiled, “How about some cotton candy?” She suggested, knowing he enjoyed sugar as much as her and his siblings.

     Vylad looked back towards her, “Can I have some?” He asked. 

     Zianna smiled, “Of course, where is the stand?” She told him, looking around for the multiple food stands. 

     “One over by the entrance.” Zane mumbled, remembering the sugary substance with a variety of colors. 

     “Oh great!” Zianna started back towards the front of the entrance to get her boys cotton candy. 

     Squinting his eyes, Garroth looked ahead to see if the group of kids at the entrance was who he thought it was. 

     “Aww it’s Aphmau!” Zianna said, seeing the sophomore with her group of friends. 

     “Great.” Vylad said, rolling his eyes slightly. 

     It wasn’t towards Aphmau, it was towards how his brother acted around her. He always got kinda… soft.

     Aphmau seemed to see them and waved before going over, “Hi Zianna!” Aphmau said happily, running over to give the older woman a tight hug. 

     Zianna was happy to see her too so she hugged her back just as tight, “Oh how have you been? Is your mother here?” 

     “No she’s at home, she wanted to come but said she had to iron a shirt and all that.” Aphmau laughed awkwardly, knowing her mom was yelling at her to make good decisions before leaving. 

     Pouting slightly, Zianna looked back at the food stand, “Oh! What do you want, Aphmau? We’re getting cotton candy.” 

     “I was about to get some too! Katelyn wanted to get funnel cake later though.” Aphmau said, pointing to the group of teenagers slowly walking into the festival. 

     While Aphmau was looking at her friends, Zianna was already buying a copious amount of cotton candy for the teenagers.

     “Oh Hi Mrs. Ro’Meave.” Katelyn said politely, arm still around Kacey, dragging him along with the group.

     “Hello Katelyn, Kacey. How are you guys?” Zianna asked, smiling at the group. 

     “We’re fine, aren’t we squeakers?” Katelyn asked, looking at her younger brother but caught him in a staring contest with Vylad. 

     They were just staring at each other, Vylad wanted to talk to him but Kacey seemed uncomfortable in the situation.

     “Kacey.” Katelyn said, gently hitting the back of his head in a playful manner. 

     “Huh?” He said, turning back to his sister, “Oh Hi Mrs. Ro’Meave.” 

     Zianna smiled at him, “I got cotton candy for all of you.” She said bluntly. 

     “What?” Laurence said, leaning forward, seeing if he had heard her right.

     “Oh Mrs. Ro’Meave you didn’t have to do that.” Kim said, looking slightly panicked at the fact someone else was paying for her. 

     She was also worried about the food that she was now going to have to eat since someone else paid for it.

     The rest of them tried to chime in to say how she didn’t have to pay for their snacks during their walk around the event. 

     Still, she smiled at all of them, “I bought twelve.” She said simply.

     The two 8th grades went back to looking at each other, Vylad looking sad and worried while Kacey still seemed uncomfortable. 

     Lucinda saw the small interaction from a far, but thought nothing of it as she was more excited to be getting free cotton candy. 

     Nana was trying to calm down an ever increasing anxiety riled Travis, having to hold his hands while taking deep breaths. 

     “We can go off on our own if you want, ok?” She whispered to him, seeing how he had been picking at his nails before she grabbed his hands. 

     “W-won’t it look weird?” He asked. 

     “It doesn’t matter, we’ll get some sugar into you and go walking around.” She told him, not having seen Zane in the small crowd. 

     Travis kept trying to follow her breaths as they waited for cotton candy, not noticing how shaky his hands were. 

     “I thought you were getting better.” Nana softly spoke, still smiling. 

     He shook his head, “A-a lot more people.” 

     She nodded in understanding, “Again, we can get some candy and just disperse between each other.” 

     Zane watched the two, not moving and unsure of what actually to do. Nana hadn’t noticed him yet and had all her attention on some twig on shaky legs. 

     ‘ Was this the kid she was spending all her time with ?’ He asked himself.

     Though she never said his name directly, he had seen the kid Nana was talking to at school, but connected the dots himself. 

     There was no proof that Nana was spending the time she would have spent with Zane with Travis, but Zane didn’t care. 

     “Nana.” Laurence said, handing a stick of cotton candy to the two. 

     “Laurence, I thought you said your sister was gonna be here.” Nana asked, taking the cotton candy from him.

     He shrugged, “She said she had to be somewhere else, so she just dropped off me and Kim, then left.”

     “Oh right- Nana, I have to ask you something.” Lucinda said, turning towards them while stuffing her face with sugar. 

     “What’s up?” Nana said, picking off a piece and handing it to Travis. 

     Aphmau rolled her eyes, “If it’s about them ‘dating’ don’t ask that.” Aphmau told her, sounding annoyed. 

     Lucinda huffed, “Nevermind~” 

     Nana looked at them confused, while Travis looked at them with concerned wide eyes, “Wait what?” Nana asked with a short giggle.

     Kim chuckled, “Lucinda was wondering if you and Travis were dating- but then I said you guys seem like siblings- then Laurence talked about Travis’s age-” Laurence put some cotton candy in her face to shut her up. 

     She let it dissolve on her tongue, trying not to think about how much sugar was in it as she let it disappear.

     “I think you guys are like siblings.” Laurence spoke up, still handing pieces of candy to the short girl. 

     Garroth looked between the two, “I can’t see them dating, it looks more like an older sister and younger brother kinda thing.” 

     “Told you.” Laurence stuck his tongue out at Lucinda.

     “Stick that tongue out again Casanova, I got nail clippers in my purse.” She held up her small bag. 

     Skidding behind Kim, Laurence crouched a bit, “Is she still looking at me?” He whispered to Kim.

     “Definitely.” Kim nodded, poking at the cotton candy but not making any motion to eat any, the amount she had had already was too much sugar for the week. Any amount would add to her weight and she didn’t need any more.

     Sasha was eating Lucinda’s cotton candy while murmuring, “So are they dating or not?” 

     Lucinda snapped her fingers, “I still haven’t asked it yet- so are you guys dating or not?” She asked. 

     Nana laughed, setting a piece of cotton candy on her tongue, “No we’re not. But he’s cool to hang out with so I try to bring him along when I can.” 

     “So a friend.” Aphmau filled in, looking at Lucinda as if to say ‘I told you so’ in a playful manner. 

     The senior pinched Aphmau’s face, “Aren’t you so cute?” She strained with a tight smile , squishing her face harshly. 

     “Yes I am.” Aphmau said, taking the pain and awkwardly smiling while Lucinda pulled on her cheeks. 

     “Nana, I haven't seen you over that often.” Zianna said casually, referring to Nana and Zane’s somewhat friendship.

     Slowly Nana looked to the side, now realizing that Zane had been there the whole time and heard the conversation, “Oh- I’ve been busy recently.” She quietly said. 

     Everyone else looked at Zianna and Nana, Nana seeming put on the spot and Zianna didn’t think anything about it. 

     Maybe she hadn’t realized what Nana and Zane had been doing behind everyone’s backs. Garroth barely knew and he lived in the same house.

     He knew that they were ‘close’, a loose term but also that Zane probably had a small crush on her. Though he didn’t think Nana returned the feelings, she was just too nice to ever tell him no.

     “I have to go to the bathroom.” Kacey said, getting out of the light chokehold Katelyn had on him. 

     “Oh I have to go too.” Lucinda said, pushing the cotton candy into Sasha’s hand, following behind Kacey. 

     Vylad watched them go, “Mom?” He spoke up. 

     “Hmm?” Zianna said, handing Garroth his cotton candy, before turning to her youngest child. 

     But he was already gone, on his way to the bathroom…

     …

     Vylad was outside the bathroom, waiting for Kacey to come out of it. 

     He felt like a stalker. Waiting for Kacey so that they would at least talk.

     The bathroom door opened and Vylad looked to the side to see Kacey drying his hands, before staring straight at Vylad. 

     Also immediately Kacey tried to shut the door, but Vylad shoved it open, closing it behind them. 

     “Can we at least talk?” Vylad asked. 

     Kacey stepped away from Vylad, seeing how desperate he looked, “About what?” He tried to play it off like he didn’t know what they would be talking about.

     “Why have you been avoiding me?” 

     “I-i’m not avoiding you.” Kacey said, shaking his head but clearly lying.

     Slowly Vylad looked at him, “Really? So you haven’t been sitting on the other side of the classroom? You haven’t been going to the library at lunch?” 

     The other looked uncomfortable, not saying anything and even turning away from the sight of his friend in such a humiliating state. 

     Vylad felt alienated once again, he thought it would go a bit different this time though. “...They’re not true, you know.” He whispered. 

     “What isn’t?” 

     “The rumors that I like you? They’re not true.” Vylad snapped, giving Kacey a glare, stepping away from the door. 

     Kacey seemed confused, questioning if what he had said was true, “Are they not?” Kacey whispered. 

     But he seemed to have calmed down after Vylad said it. 

     Vylad wanted to scream, wanting to take a hammer and break down the stalls of the bathroom out of anger. 

     If he didn’t like Kacey, things would go back to normal. They could sit together at lunch again and be partners during class projects.

     “No, they’re not. And I don’t like you… at least not like that.” Vylad said, taking a deep breath and putting his hands in his pockets. 

     “So where did the rumors come from?” Kacey asked. 

     He shrugged, “Maybe my brother? I don’t know.” 

     “You’re brother?” Kacey asked, “Garroth?” 

     “No… Zane. He’s always looking for new ways to make me wanna kill myself.” Vylad laughed, swallowing his pride. 

     “Don’t say stuff like that.” Kacey told him. 

     Sometimes Vylad wished he didn’t have to deal with things, it would make his life easier to manage. 

     “...Why would Zane spread that rumor?” Kacey asked quietly,

     Blowing his bangs out of his face, Vylad shrugged, “You know Zane, hates me and all.” He reminded Kacey.

     Kacey had heard small bits about Vylad’s family, Garroth was annoying and Zane hated everyone’s guts. So the idea that Zane spread around the rumor that Vylad was gay wasn’t too far-fetched. 

     “So, are we cool?” Vylad asked, putting his head down but peeking at Kacey to see his facial expression.

     Kacey put his back against the wall, feeling dirty, “Y-yeah, I guess…” 

     “Great.” Vylad sighed, “Can you go now? I actually have to use the bathroom.” He lied. Vylad just wanted a moment to cry. 

     “Oh yeah. Sorry- umm, I’ll go.” Kacey was embarrassed but stepped around Vylad to go outside the bathroom. 

     Once alone, Vylad slowly sat down on the dirty floor, trying to force the lump in his throat down. 

     “Irene, I’m gonna kill myself.” He looked up to the ceiling and put his hands together, “And I’m not joking this time. Please let me get it right on the first try.” 

     The door opened again, to show a lady with bright orange hair standing there, “Come on.” She said simply. 

     “What?” Vylad mumbled, confused to see the girl there. 

     “Come on, let’s go.” Lucinda said, “I can hear everything from the girl’s bathroom.” 

     “Please go away.” Vylad mumbled, trying to keep his cool but eyes watered quickly. 

     She crouched down, “A public bathroom is no place to cry. It’s gross and dirty… and I’m pretty sure Irene would not like you crying.” 

     The walls had actually been very thin despite being made of tough material. She was able to hear his short prayer to Irene to take him away from here.

     He gave her a weird look, “I’m 13.” He suddenly told her, feeling creeped out.  

     Lucinda gagged, “And my friend’s brother you little weirdo.” She said, making Vylad look at her confused, “Garroth, and technically Zane. But he’s kinda a punk.” 

     “You know Garroth and Zane?” Vylad asked. 

     “I know Garroth, Zane is… difficult to get to know, so I never tried.” She said honestly. 

     Vylad still stared at her, only having seen her just a minute ago in the group of teenagers, “Now will you go away?” He quietly asked.

     “Go wash your hands and come out.” She said, closing the bathroom door and waiting outside. 

     He got up and washed his hands, before looking in the mirror and sighed, taking her statement a little too literally, “I’m… gay, and I like Kacey.” 

     Afterwards he chuckled to himself, feeling stupid but flicked his wet hands at the mirror, “ Pew .” He whispered, watching the droplets go down. 

     Drying his hands, he went outside, “I’m Vylad.” He introduced. 

     “Lucinda.” She said, putting her phone in her pocket, “Let’s go walking.”

     “How much did you hear?” Vylad went straight to the point. 

     “All of it, bathroom walls are thin and all that.” Lucinda looked at him, “...but I won’t say anything. I promise.” 

     Suddenly Vylad held out his pinky, making Lucinda laugh, but hook their pinkies together, “I promise I won’t tell anyone your little crush.” 

     “And that I wanna kill myself?” He threw out. 

     She pressed her lips together, thinking about it, “Not that one.” 

     He bit his lip, “I’ll take what I can get.” 

     “So… who's the guy?” She then asked and he groaned. They let their pinkies go, separating into their own group with the small crowd they had left from. 

     For the first time in a few weeks, Kacey smiled at him. 

     Vylad knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up the charade for as long as he would like to…

Chapter Text

     “Mom, I'm going to Katelyn’s!” Aphmau said, closing the door before her mom could oppose, but she still heard her voice from outside the house. 

     “Aphmau! You get back here!” Her mom shouted and Aphmau quickly left so that her mom didn’t follow after her.

     Even if she was 3 miles away her mom would come running after her…

     Of course she had asked to go to Katelyn’s but wanted to walk there instead, it saved her a lecture on what not to do at someone else’s house from her mom. Aphmau had hung out plenty of times at Katelyn’s house since freshman year, this one would be no different.

     Their parents were half dating, so she never really understood the lecture about the dangers of hanging over at someone else’s house.

     She ran down the street a bit just in case her mom came out of the house to get her, but just until down the next block. 

     Aphmau walked towards the house, peeking at her phone for a second to see that she had 3 messages from Katelyn asking when she was gonna come over.

     Katelyn had some out of school volleyball practice that ended around 10 minutes ago, so she assumed she was home and just waiting around for Aphmau.

     Quickly she texted back that she was on her way before putting her phone away and looking up and down the road before crossing. 

     Even though she knew there were no cars, she could swear that her mom would know if she hadn’t looked both ways before crossing. 

     The two girls had planned to hang out the week after dyeing Katelyn’s hair but didn’t get around to it until two weeks later. The walk to the house wasn’t long, they walked home after school most of the time since they were close enough. 

     She walked up the steps to their house and quietly knocked on the door, looking down at her phone for a second to see if Katelyn had texted her again.

     When the door opened, it didn’t show a taller blue haired girl but a blond shorter boy, “Hi Aphmau.” Kacey smiled softly.

     “Hey Kacey- Sorry I thought Katelyn was here by now. I know she went to practice volleyball.” Aphmau apologized, feeling bad that she might have come here before Katelyn did. 

     He shook his head and his hands quickly, “Oh no- Katelyn is here, she’s just in the shower. You can come in if you want.” Kacey told her, opening the door. 

     “Are you sure? I can come back later.” She said but a larger man walked into the room and spotted her immediately.

     “Non-sense. Come in, Aphmau.” Eric, Katelyn’s dad, said motioning for her to come inside the home.

     “Yeah I-i heard the shower turn off a little bit ago so she should just be getting dressed…” Kacey told her.

     She smiled while lightly sighing, taking off her shoes before going past the front door, “Hi Mr. Katelyn’s dad.” 

     “Hello Aphmau.” He smiled while going into the kitchen, “Kacey, go see if Katelyn is almost done.” 

     Huffed silently, Kacey closed the door behind her and went back upstairs, seeing the bathroom door open.

     So instead he went to his sister’s closed door and knocked lightly, “Katelyn?” He called, hearing rustling inside.

     It opened, to show the junior in a sports bra with a tank-top over it and pants, “What’s up squeakers?” She teased, wringing her hair dry with the towel. 

     “Will you stop calling me that?” He said, annoyed but came off more concerned.

     Katelyn ruffled his hair, “No, what do you want?” She asked, letting go of the towel and throwing it over her shoulder.

     “Aphmau’s down stairs-” He said, causing Katelyn to push the kid- by his head- out of the way and to run downstairs. 

     “How is your mother Aphmau?” Eric asked, grabbing some fruits from the fridge as Aphmau sat down at their dining table. 

     “She’s good… single.” She told him, whispering at the end, knowing both the adults used to date in high school. 

     Eric looked at her while holding a cream puff, “What did you say Aphmau?” He asked, not having heard what she mumbled.

     “Nothing!” She said, sitting up straight and shaking her head, “Can I have one?” She asked, pointing to the creme puff in his hands. 

     Immediately he handed it to her, “Of course, I have some more if you want.” He offered it to her. 

     “I’m ok, I just want one.” She politely declined while biting into the sweet treat.

     The sounds of heavy footsteps running down the stairs were heard and Aphmau knew it was Katelyn. 

     Said girl’s head popped out in front of the stairs to look straight at Aphmau, “Why didn’t you come up?” She asked, slightly panting.

     “Kacey said you were in the shower, so I just decided to wait down here.” Aphmau said, covering her mouth while talking but still chewing the cream puff. 

     She came down the stairs, grabbing onto her arm and tugging slightly, “Well- come on, I wanna tell you about something.” Katelyn told her. 

     Rolling her eyes playfully, “Fine.” She agreed, putting the rest of the cream puff in her mouth to eat it quickly. 

     Katelyn’s dad had another cream puff in his hand but Katelyn grabbed it before he could eat it, “Thanks dad.” 

     He looked slightly annoyed but grabbed another one from a small plate on the counter, watching as the two girls ran up the stairs. 

     “Where are your other brothers? I haven’t seen them in months.” Aphmau said, noticing the other doors in the home, closed. 

     “Out and about.” Katelyn said vaguely. She had 3 brothers, but she barely saw two of them, only seeing Kacey on a regular basis when hanging out with Katelyn. 

     Being pushed into Katelyn’s room, Aphmau sat on her bed while Katelyn closed the door behind them, “I’ve got news.” Katelyn faced Aphmau, hands still on the door and pushing off of it.

     Aphmau fixed her shirt while staring at her, “What?” She asked, crossing her legs and setting down her phone.

     “Sooo,” Katelyn stretched, putting her hands together as if she was planning something, “You know how I’m always in the theater room and not doing volleyball sometimes after school?” She asked. 

     “You’re fired.” Aphmau guessed, pointing at her as if she got the correct answer right off the bat.

     Katelyn scoffed, “No way they’re gonna fire me because of some missed practices. Those girls love it when they get a day away from me.” 

     Giggling, Aphmau nodded, “So you’re not fired, what is it?”

     “I was talking with Mr. Bob- the theater teacher- you know?” Katelyn said, smiling widely, her body not being able to sit still.

     “Of course.” Aphmau nodded. 

     “Well I was talking with him and the new school play that’s coming up soon.” She continued, sitting on the side of the bed. 

     “Don’t the school plays happen in May?” She asked, it was only the middle of October so the school plays weren’t actively on her mind.

     “Yeah, but the theater club has to start now.” Katelyn dismissed with ease, while sitting down next to her on the bed, “But you know about them, right?”

     Skeptical, Aphmau tightened her crossed legs and held onto them, “Yes, I know about them. What about them?” 

     Katelyn squirmed in her spot, “We’re doing Romeo and Juliet!” 

     “That old cliche play?” Aphmau asked, raising her eyebrow as if that was the news Katelyn was so excited to tell her about. 

     “Not just that- I can help out!” She blurted out and Aphmau finally understood what she was so excited about. 

     “Oh Katelyn, that's great!” Aphmau said, leaning over to hug her tightly, “-What about volleyball?” She then asked, the tension in the hug immensely lightning to think.

     Still hugging, Katelyn answered, “I’m still gonna do that, but I’m gonna have someone be co-captain of the team.” 

     “Aren’t you gonna miss it?” Aphmau asked. 

     “Nope-” Katelyn pulled her to lay down on the bed, so they both stared at the ceiling, “I like volleyball but I like theater more.” 

     Aphmau huffed, “You’re neglecting the kids in the volleyball club.” 

     Katelyn looked at her, “What did I just say? I work them to the bone, they’ll be happy to not have me as a full time coach anymore. I’ll have Nicole do it or something-” 

     “Nicole barely comes to school. I haven’t seen her since… I haven’t seen her this year.” Aphmau told her, “Where is Nicole?” She asked herself.

     “Some trip, I don’t know. Far enough for a time zone difference. When I text her during the day she texts me somewhere at night.” Katelyn told her.

     Nodding Aphmau went back to the conversation, “But still, she doesn’t really come to school right now and sports are just starting to get into the swing of things.” 

     “I’ll get Teony to do it. They liked volleyball.” Katelyn dismissed.

     “Teony is always busy, running errands for the school. It seems like that’s all they do right now.” She told her, pointing out the holes in the plan.

     “Aphmau-” Katelyn got up from the bed, “I can help in a play . This is big for me. I love volleyball, but we only do like- two school plays in a year. Probably only one this year.” 

     They stared at each other for a few moments, “Ok… But you can’t abandon the volleyball club, alright? They look up to you.” 

     Lightly, Katelyn scoffed, “Of course not, I love those kids. I swear I do, but this is important to me.” 

     “Gonna play a part or just help around the stage?” Aphmau questioned, not wanting to figure out who was gonna substitute for the volleyball team.

     She shrugged, “Either one, but I would love to play any role in it. Oh- you can help me!” Katelyn said, sitting up at the end. 

     Aphmau looked at her, playfully annoyed, “With what? I can play a rock- or a tree!” She said, sarcastically excited. 

     “Oh come on Aph! We used to do plays together!” Katelyn said, sitting up while looking down at her. 

     “That was last year for a short assignment and I played Juliet horribly.” Aphmau reminded her. 

     “You just dropped the script and had to ad-libbed it.” She rolled her eyes, “Not everyone can ad-lib!” Katelyn tried to reassure. 

     “You yelled my ‘eyes shine like a thousand suns’ when I did.” Aphmau gave her an annoyed look. 

     Katelyn’s eye twitched while the smile turned strained, “You were a lovely Juliet, Aphmau. Now be a theater kid.”

     Aphmau just stared at her, slightly annoyed while pouting her lips. Katelyn crossed her arms, “I’m gonna get you to help out.” 

     Sighing, Aphmau sat up, “I’ll help where I can, but I’m not gonna play a role.” 

     “Good enough.” Katelyn said, lightly jumping her and hugging her tightly, “...Do you wanna stay the night?” 

     “Why not?” Aphmau shrugged…

     …

     “How are they still talking?” Katelyn asked boredly, watching Aphmau’s mom and her dad conversing in the kitchen. 

     Aphmau’s mom had come over, to drop off her bag of clothes and necessities for an overnight stay.  

     Though when Eric saw her, they started to chat. As much as the girls loved seeing their parents happy, it was getting in the way of their movie night.

     “I think it’s cute.” Aphmau told her, holding the packed bag of clothes.

     Katelyn fake gagged, “Sure, but it’s been like an hour. They’re about to start making dinner together.” 

     “Don’t you like my mom’s cooking?” Aphmau asked. 

     She lightly nudged her shoulder, “Course I do- it’s just… my dad, your mom, that thing we did in freshman year.” 

     Aphmau shushed her, “You said we would never bring that up-” 

     In freshman year, Katelyn had been playing around with her sexuality, while still dating Jeffory. 

     For the sake of curiosity, they had kissed, Aphmau feeling weird as it had felt like she kissed her sister. Katelyn felt the same, but realized she had a fondness for girls… just not Aphmau, which she was very offended by.

     When Jeffory heard about them kissing as a tester he had chuckled and just asked that Katelyn didn’t do it again.

     Then Aphmau found them showing pictures of girls to each other and saying that the girls in photos looked cute.

     It wasn’t why the two broke up, at least that’s what Katelyn told Aphmau and the break seemed to be amicable. 

     Chuckling, Katelyn hugged her from behind and set her head on Aphmau’s shoulder, “But it made us better friends now.” It caused Aphmau to also laugh.

     “What are you girls giggling about?” Sylvanna, Aphmau’s mom, asked after seeing them still on the stairs

     “How you’re still here.” Katelyn teased, swaying side to side with Aphmau.

     “Katelyn!” Eric snapped, lightly blushing, “Sylvanna is a guest and is welcome to stay however long she wants.” 

     Sylvanna huffed at him, gently hitting his stomach, “Katelyn is just joking. I’ll be out soon Katelyn, then you and Aphmau can have the kitchen to yourselves.” 

     “I wanna make chocolate strawberries.” Aphmau said, looking at her friend who was on the step behind her. 

     “We can make chocolate strawberries Aph.” Katelyn said, making the girl clap very quietly while smiling. 

     Kacey walked downstairs, seeing everyone there before slowly going back up the stairs again. Aphmau and Katelyn had heard him, but didn’t say anything, seeing how he noticed other people there.

     “Kacey?” Sylvanna said, looking over to peek at the boy, “I know you’re there. I can hear footsteps.” 

     Lighty creeped out, Kacey went down the stairs, “Hi Ms. Aphmau’s mom.” He said quietly, waving. 

     Sylvanna smiled, “Hello Kacey, how’s school going?” She asked as she sliced something with a knife.

     He shrugged, looking down at his shirt and playing with the hem, “It’s ok… boring.”

     “Hey,” Katelyn said, getting his attention, “You know Vylad, Garroth’s youngest brother?” She asked. 

     “Zianna’s boy?” Sylvanna jumped in for a moment, smiling at the mention of her best friend.

     “Yeah.” Katelyn agreed, turning back to Kacey, “You know him?”

     But he seemed to get a bit uncomfortable, “Yeah? Why?” 

     Katelyn shrugged, “Garroth said Vylad asked about me. So I wanted to know if you knew what it was about.”

     Quickly Kacey shook his head, “No. I-i don’t.” He ran back up the stairs and shut his door just as fast. 

     The girls looked at each other, then at their parents, who also seemed confused, “What was that about?” Sylvanna asked, worried. 

     “Kacey!” Eric said, worried and lightly offended that his son had acted like that in the moment. 

     “Eric- it’s ok.” Sylvanna said, lightly touching his arm to calm down. 

     Eric looked at Aphmau and Katelyn on the stairs, “Can one of you girls go check on him?” He asked. 

     They looked at each other, “I think we should give him some space-” “I’ll go.” They both said at the same time. 

     “What? Why?” Katelyn asked, “He’s being weird, we have to go see what’s up with him.” Katelyn told her, standing up on the steps and pointing up the stairs.

     Aphmau cringed a bit, “Yeah but he seems a little tense right now-”

     “I’m his sister.” Katelyn told her, “Yeah and why would he tell you what’s going on?” Aphmau asked. 

     “Because I’m his sister-” Katelyn repeated again slowly, trying to see where the problem was.

     “Will-” Eric harshly cut into a vegetable, “-one of you please just go check on him?” He asked, seeming more worried. 

     Katelyn turned to Aphmau, “We’ll both go.” 

     “Then we’re tag-teaming him-” Aphmau said but Katelyn grabbed her arm, pulling her up the stairs. 

     When in front of the 8th grader’s door, they stood there, unsure what to do since Katelyn was running off of little worry. Now in front of his door, she understood why Aphmau wanted to wait to talk to him. 

     Aphmau pulled on Katelyn’s shirt, “Maybe we should let him- you know- cool off. He did seem on edge.” She tried again, not wanting to ambush him.

     “Yeah… we’ll check in later.” Katelyn turned to the direction of her room, realizing how bad of an idea that had been…

     …

     Aphmau sat up from the couch, looking at the clock above the TV, “What happened?” She asked, while yawning. 

     Moving a bit, she whined and felt like she had eaten everything in the house, now her stomach hurt.

     She looked to her side to see Katelyn passed out with one of her legs off the couch and drooling, “Wake up.” 

     Poking at the girl’s thigh, she flinched, slowly waking up by blinking, “What?” Katelyn asked. 

     “What happened?” Aphmau asked, rubbing her eyes. 

     “What?” She asked again, groggy.

     “What were we doing before we fell asleep?” Aphmau asked again, rubbing her eyes with her wrist.

     Katelyn shrugged, turning over, “I don’t know… you started to babble about some kid you have to take care of. Ein? I don’t know. Then you also ate- like- 3 plates of your mom’s food… then ate like- 24 strawberries.” Katelyn slurred, still sleepy. 

     “I talked about Ein?” Aphmau asked, rubbing her eyes, skipping over the fact that her stomach ache was being she was in food heaven.

     Partially she had forgotten about Ein, but knew she had to make sure he had to stay out of trouble. He seemed to avoid her though as she had seen glimpses of him when going down hallways. 

     When she went after him, he would duck around a corner and disappear somehow. She assumed he was hiding in a locker but the kid was kinda tall and she wondered if he would actually fit.

     For now she was chalking it up to nervousness, he didn’t want to be a bother to her and kept to himself. Ein hadn’t gotten in any trouble as far as she had heard of so there was no reason for her to be worried.

     Katelyn started to fall back asleep but Aphmau pushed her awake, “Come on, let’s go sleep upstairs.” 

     When Katelyn didn’t move, Aphmau got up from the couch, fixing her shirt as it was twisted up. Stretching her arms a bit, she pulled the girl from under her arms off the couch, “Come on sleepy…”

     “Come on Katelyn, my tummy hurts.” She whined, tugging at her friend as she slid off the couch.

     “There’s pills in the cupboard…” Katelyn responded, pointing in a random direction as if that was gonna help.

     “Let’s go-” Aphmau strained, pulling at her more.

     “...no…” Katelyn mumbled, not helping the girl and leaving Aphmau to carry the older girl up the stairs.

     …Or as much as she tried. 

     Aphmau was just as sleepy as Katelyn and was only pulling her out of not being able to register that she was tired.

     Then her stomach pain got worse and she almost thought she was gonna puke if she tensed up her whole body again to pull Katelyn up another step.

     Halfway up the stairs, Aphmau had to just gently set her down, opting to place a blanket over her body. 

     Leaning down to Katelyn’s head, she placed a sleepy kiss on the top and waved goodbye, “Night Katelyn…” She yawned.

     She went all the way upstairs, stopping to go to the bathroom but stumbled into the wrong room. 

     When she opened the door she stopped, covering her eyes as a lamp was on, “Turn it off.” She mumbled. 

     “O-oh sorry. I thought you guys were asleep.” Kacey said, turning off his desk light immediately. 

     “We were, then I woke up and dragged Katelyn up the stairs. But then I got tired so I left her on the stairs.” Aphmau explained, rubbing her eyes. 

     Somewhat awake, she looked at Kacey, who sat on his desk chair with his legs pulled up to himself. “What are you doing up anyway?” She asked. 

     He looked at his computer, opening and closing his mouth, “What are you doing?” He slowly asked back. 

     “Kacey.” Aphmau crossed her arms, “What’s going on? It’s late.” She pointed out, looking at him worriedly. 

     “I know… I’m just talking to a friend.” He said, pointing to his computer screen while still looking at her. 

     Aphmau leaned over to look at the screen, “It’s 2 in the morning, who are you talking to?” She asked him. 

     “Just someone from school.” He said, biting his lip and closing the messaging tab, seeming embarrassed. 

     She seemed to notice but still pushed, “A girl?” Her voice wasn’t teasing, she was too tired for that, but confused.

     He looked at her, mouth slightly open as if he had something to say but closed it, “I’m gonna go to bed.” 

     “Aww Kacey. You don’t have to be embarrassed.” Aphmau smiled softly, watching as he turned off his computer. 

     Kacey didn’t respond, he carried on with shutting down everything for the night. His eyes never met hers and kept his head down.

     In his head, it was racing with thoughts, he had been talking with a student in his class… about Vylad.

     Just poking around to see what everyone was talking about when it came to him. They still all said that Vylad had a crush and was lying to him. 

     Now he didn’t know what to believe, he liked Vylad as a friend but would rather distance himself if it was true. 

     “...Hey, I wanted to ask about what happened earlier.” She said slowly, quietly walking over to his bed and sitting on the edge. 

     Kacey stared at her, “It’s nothing-” 

     “I know it’s nothing but- Kacey we’re just a bit worried. Do you just not like Vylad? You guys seemed fine at the festival.” She asked. 

     He swiveled in his chair, “I don’t not like Vylad, he’s just…” He closed his eyes, “Vylad.”  

     Aphmau didn’t understand what he meant, “What? I don’t get it.” 

     “We’re fine-!” He laughed awkwardly, “We talk at school.” It wasn’t a complete lie, they did talk… just not very often. 

     “Oh… Ok.” She said, shaking her head a bit, seeming like she thought too much of the previous talk.

     Opening his eyes, he bit his lip again, “We’re cool, friends, classmates. Nothing’s wrong.” He said slowly.

     “... Are you sure?” She asked carefully.

     “Yes… you should go to bed.” He told her, wanting the conversation to end quickly.

     She got up from the bed, “Alright… ok then.” 

     “Good night.” He rushed out, jumping into bed and covering his head with the covers, trying to get her to leave. 

     “Goodnight Kacey.” 

     “Night Aphmau.” He mumbled again while Aphmau closed the door. 

     Still surprised by the conversation, she went into the correct bathroom, not turning on the lights…

Chapter Text

     “Dottie?” Blaze said, peeking his head into her class before lunch. 

     He had gone to the doors of the cafeteria, but when he saw that she wasn’t there, went to her classroom. She was usually at the door before him since her class was closer so it was weird to not see her already there.

     She was there, neatly organizing her papers into a folder trying to smooth out the wrinkles in it. Then she shoved the folder into her bag that looked already full enough.

     Her head came up but her hand was still actively trying to fit the folder into the bag despite how packed it was, “Hi Blaze!” She smiled.

     “Whatcha doing?” He asked, going inside to the almost empty classroom. 

     The last few students saw Blaze and he gave a short wave before standing in front of Dottie. One of the kids whispered to the other and gave Blaze a weird once over before they started to leave.

     “I thought you got lost or something.” Blaze told Dottie, ignoring the look he had gotten.

     “Oh no, I stayed back to talk to my teacher about something.” She dismissed with a quick flap of her hand.

     One last push of the textbook in her bag, Dottie was able to zip the thing close. Blaze seeing how the bag was in the shape of the textbook. Clearly her bag was full of other items and school supplies so the textbook didn’t exactly fit. 

     Smiling at the girl, he held his hand out towards her and she dropped her bag strap into his hands. It weighed down but he curled it backup to himself and held it in place. 

     Somehow Dottie was able to put the amount of 3 textbooks in her bag and carry it around with ease. When Blaze offered to carry her bag the first time, he had folded a bit at the extra weight.

     Now it had turned into a regular thing for Blaze just to carry around her stuff while they went to lunch.

     Dottie walked out of class before starting to twirl around, her skirt flowing freely as it caught air. Blaze started to spin too, following in her lead, but slower as he was holding both of their bags.

     She smiled, head dipping down to look at her skirt while it flew, “I like this skirt, it’s so flowy, but it’s a cupcake skirt.” 

     “Cupcake?” Blaze asked, feeling the blood now start flowing to his head.

     Still spinning, Dottie answered, “It’s- like- layered but vertically, you know? I think they call it pleated?” 

     Lightly he chuckled, seeing how happy she seemed with the school uniform, since most freshmen hated it. 

     “How’s the game going?” Blaze asked, referring to the freshman’s LARPing. 

     She stopped spinning, slightly swaying afterwards and having to rub her eyes to see clearly afterwards, “My head hurts…” 

     “Which is why we don’t spin.” Blaze also stopped, getting a tiny head rush before holding the top of her head still so the swaying would stop, “So, your game?” 

     “Great!” She said happily, forgetting her head was just hurting. 

     “-We just got to Rylan’s homeland!” She went on, sounding mystical at the end, before stopping and looking at Blaze, “I’m just talking about his home.” 

     Blaze nodded, trying to remember what was going on in their world, “That’s cool, what’s going on in the story?” He asked. 

     “Well we are on season 2 episode 66 and Rylan just found his old owl and named him Bigglesworth.” Dottie explained, giggling as she talked.

     “You just keep a notebook for each ‘episode’ right?” He asked. 

     Dottie nodded, opening her bag and pulling out an old notebook, filled with different colored sticky notes, “It’s so cool!” 

     Her excitement spread to him immediately and he admired the notebook that the kids had been using for most of middle school. “It is.” Blaze said, seeing how worn out it looked.

     “Oh! We need to build swords!” Dottie said, skipping through the halls, Blaze trying to keep up with her. 

     “For what?” Blaze asked. 

     The girl turned back to him, looking playfully annoyed, “Because it’s a battling game!” She said in a ‘duh’ tone. 

     “Out of what?” Blaze asked, “Foam?” 

     She scoffed, stopping to look at some plants at the cafeteria. “We can use wood! My dad has some in the backyard that we can use.”

     “Isn’t that kinda dangerous? I mean it is wood.” Blaze told her, fixing his bag and trying to get a better hold on hers. “Why not like those foam swords from the dollar store?” 

     “But then it isn’t fun!” She said, letting go of the plant and going into the cafeteria to go get lunch. 

     Blaze shrugged, allowing her to get her way, “You’re right- the theater club might help you guys. They do anything.” He suggested, “I think they’re helping the theater club.”

     Dottie thought about it, “I don’t know anyone from the theater club…” 

     “Don’t worry, I do.” Blaze told her. “Where’s Rylan?” He added, “He’s usually here before us and I saw him earlier today. 

     “I think he got out late.” She said, grabbing a tray, “You know what? My dad can make the swords!” 

     “He does that kind of stuff?” He questioned, giving her a curious look.

     She nodded quickly then blinked oddly as if her head hurt, “He does all the construction for me. Swords will be nothing!” Her voice was proud and her stature from talking about her dad showed it too.

     Grabbing a tray from the stack, Blaze went into the lunch line behind her, “They’re letting us eat outside starting this year. Do you wanna go outside?” He asked. 

     “Yeah! I can text Rylan.” She said, stopping in the line and pulling out her phone. 

     Knowing the line would be held up, he started to lightly push Dottie forward, putting up her tray for the food he knew she liked.

     “Hi Rylan. We’re gonna eat outside… ummm, Blaze?” Dottie spoke slowly as she texted Rylan, saying each word as she went before looking at the senior, “Where are we going outside?”

     “We can go out the left side of the school. Next to the fire exit.” He told her, still pushing both trays. 

     “It’s by…” Dottie went on pronouncing the words she was typing but Blaze started to look around while waiting in the line. 

     A few students behind them snickered and Blaze frowned, unsure if they were giggling at Dottie. 

     “What?” He asked, looking them up and down. They had something to say, and he thought he knew what it was, he just hoped he was wrong.

     “Sorry it’s just- you’re holding her bag- her food tray- and she’s just texting.” One of the girls, Ivy, giggled some more. 

     “Ok, and?” Blaze pushed for an actual answer, he wanted them to say what they were thinking.

     The hot pink haired one, Ivy, rolled her eyes, “If you wanted her, you could probably just ask. Freshmen are easy.” Ivy peeked over at Dottie, “ She looks easy.” 

     It gave Blaze a sickening feeling in his stomach, the idea that he would ever try to get with Dottie. He had been hearing it in the halls quietly, that he was befriending the freshman to get with them.

     No- fucking -way.

     Blaze was hanging around Dottie, Daniel and Rylan because of these rumors, to make sure it didn’t get to them. 

     When he first saw them, they were alone out in the P.E. field and felt bad, so decided to help them out. Then he began to actually enjoy their company and try to introduce them to other people.

     Now because of him, people think he’s trying to get in her skirt. No one’s taken it out on Dottie yet and he planned to keep it that way. 

     “Ivy, I don’t know what kind of drugs you’re on nowadays but you should get that checked into.” He told her, uncomfortable.

     She sighed, “Always knew you were a perv.” 

     “Always knew you watched too much porn and probably will end up making it.” He snapped at her.

     Weirded out, Blaze pushed Dottie further along, “Put in the code.” Blaze tried not to let his anger slip into his tone as he referred to the student code you had to put in to get lunch.

     She looked at the keypad, “Hmm… I wrote the code on my arm.” Dottie rolled up her uniform blazer to see the faded code, “I kept forgetting it.”

     Smiling, she put the code in quickly and grabbed the tray, “Come on I wanna sit in the sun!” She said excitedly. 

     Blaze put in his own code to pay for his lunch before leaving the cafeteria as fast as he could. Being around Ivy and hearing her say those types of stuff when Dottie reminded him of a little sister creeped him out. 

     “So it’s where again?” Dottie asked, standing outside the cafeteria while looking down the hallways. 

     “Near the fire exit.” Blaze said, going to her side. 

     Starting to walk in the direction, she started to ramble on about their LARPing game so far, Blaze just quietly listening to her.