|PICTURES TAKEN AND TORN|

"It's still not justified!" I huffed begrudgingly as I swirled the drink in my hand.

"Kirlia, life is never fair–"

"Lucas, I don't want you to be a philosophical friend right now. I can't take that shit, not at the moment-"

"But that's the thing, Hemmings. People were mean to them and now they are mean to us-"

"Really? Are you siding with that bullshit too?"

I and Lucas sat opposite each other in Gloria's Cafe, both of us having ordered a frap. Ever since the cafeteria scandal, all timidness seemed to have deserted me, and I was filled with anger, anger, and frustration at how illogical Jason's logic was. But everyone in school seemed to have accepted the baseless norm of impractical grudges.

"That's not bullshit! That makes sense," Lucas stood up and walked up towards me, sliding into the empty seat next to mine. He breathed loudly, shaking his head in mild amusement.

"Before you utter any other thing which would land us in further trouble, listen to me. And no interruptions-" he added as he saw how I had opened my mouth to reiterate. 

Heaving, I stayed silent for his sake. The space within us had significantly reduced but none of us were lingering on that issue. Yet.

"A year ago, things weren't this complicated. It started when I had joined Pride High and they were shocked to see me there," Lucas narrated, dejected that he was the cause of this rupture that took place in the school.

"People just couldn't accept any student from Bridgeton. So, rather than hating the school, they started hating the students. At the end of the day, they are all prejudiced about how both of us made it into the school despite being part of Bridgeton. It's a rivalry between these two schools which is to blame."

"Then why doesn't anyone do anything about it?" I shot up. If it's a rivalry between schools, then it should be dealt with rather than letting it grow and hurt people like me and Lucas.

Lucas, however, just shook his head as he inclined back to rest his head on the seat. "It's not that easy, Hemmings. It's pretty complicated to deal with. All we had planned was to lay low and complete our year."

"Why not advocate against it?"

"Because," he started as he took a sip from the frap, "you can't go around convincing others to accept us. That's exactly how the world is. The way you can't convince society to accept the LGBT community easily is the same way Pride High students can't accept straight students like us. They want us to face how they feel among others, hoping that we could make a change. If you want someone to make an impact, then you have to be the first person to do something about it."

I stared at Lucas as his words started making sense. What both Lucas and Jason want is acceptance but their ways are drastically different. One wants to silently make a change while the other is vocal about it. At the end of the day, it's the silence that suffers the most for he accepts it all without a question.

The whole drive back home was filled with troubling silence. It was me gazing outside my window while Lucas drove, a low melody playing from the radio. It was a recording of a guitar playing the tune of a long-lost song.

As he pulled up in front of my house, I couldn't stop myself from asking another question. "Was that you playing the guitar?"

"No," he awkwardly smiled, his gaze on the radio. "It was a friend's", he smiled warmly, and I got out of the car.

Waving a quick bye, I knocked four times on the entrance door of my house. It took Pa two seconds to open the door for me, for he must have noticed the unsaid code we had settled for. He was cooking, which was evident from the amount of flour on the apron he wore. 

"How was your day, honey?" He queried as both of us moved towards the kitchen. I dumped my bag on the chair next to me and settled for a glass of water which he handed to me.

"Great."

The kitchen was spotlessly clean while the dinner table was a total mess. He eyed the mess, then shifted his attention back to me. He squeezed my hand and I knew it was my cue to tell him everything about my day. 

So I started.

From the locker vandalism to the fight with Jason to the recent conversation with Lucas, I told him everything. He listened intently, not interrupting me at all.

"You're lucky that your Dad's not here," he started. Pa stood up from his seat and moved to sit next to me. He picked up my bag and kept it aside, pulling himself towards me. He sighed before he timidly patted my head, his one hand cupping my cheek and slowly caressing it. 

"You bet."

"Look, Kirlia," he started, "Not all kids at your current school would have such an interesting atmosphere back at home. As much as we hate to admit, you are a child with two fathers which makes you different. Not because you are different, but because we chose to be different ".

I closed my eyes, leaning into his palm, soaking in the parental comfort that moment had provided me with, which I didn't need until then. "If you ask me, sweetheart, then both these boys are right in their places."

I opened my eyes to meet his blue eyes as he softly glanced at me. But there was something in his expression which didn't make me say anything. Primarily because it was my cue to stay silent to let him continue talking.

"Both mean the same if you come to think of it. It's just that they don't believe that their thoughts align. It might be because have they something very different from each other but, none of them is ready to accept that they might not entirely be true."

He took a deep breath before easing into the chair beside me, his hand softly on mine.

"Look, these are stuff you shouldn't burden yourself with for these are things you would never be able to change." He sighed deeply before getting and proceeding towards the kitchen.

"But, why should I-"

"Each of them must have had their demons to deal with which can be the reason as to why they behave that way. We, as outsiders, have no right to question their intentions."

With that, he gracefully walked out of the living room into the semi-open kitchen, leaving me alone in the mental jeopardy the school was giving me with each passing day.

●●●

The weekend that followed was calm with me lazing around the comforts of my room, with Dad being paranoid about me staying indoors. I'm sure he had deemed that my new friends weren't exactly my type, making me wonder whether they'd planned something just for the six of them, excluding me.

Turns out, Zeta had a dentist appointment which ended up with her getting her braces. Meanwhile, Nick and Felix were out at an animal shelter helping with some abandoned dogs while Lucas was busy working in a cafe during weekends. All of this made them busy, which made it hard for anyone to hang out with them.

All except Addison were busy during weekends, but I chickened out in the end from texting her. As daunting as she might look, there was no doubt there must be a soft girl hiding within the tough exteriors she had built around herself.

"Miss Hemmings, care to walk into the car before you get both of us late?" Pa broke me from my trail of thoughts. Shaking my head in disapproval, I opened the door to claim my rightful shotgun position, though I've always been more of a "passenger princess" kind of a person. Having two fathers had its perks, one more person to treat me like a forever princess. 

"My turn," I called dibs on the radio even before Pa could put the key into the ignition. He just dismissed my words, shaking his head with his underlying fear of what was about to blast next.

"Best Song Ever" started blasting through the speakers as Pa muttered something under the lines of "too early for a one-direction jam" while I started singing the lyrics. It may have been years since the band had announced their hiatus, but their music would remain forever by maniacs like me who'd keep on blasting their music from their car radio early on a Monday morning, passionately annoying millennials who don't value the art of such amazing people. 

"Said her name was Georgia Rose
And her daddy was a dentist"

My jam was stopped midway when my eyes landed on a messy head of shortly cropped blonde hair and a dirty loose shirt which I could call one which belonged to Addison. She was limping on her left foot but the school was still five blocks away.

"Pa, stop the car." 

He hastened to pull the brakes, making them both jerk forward. Lowering the volume, I rolled down the windows to scream at the top of my lungs.

"Hey, McRae!"

Addison stopped in her tracks to turn back towards my car, as her eyes narrowed. "Who's she?" Pa whispered slowly.

"Hop on, Addison. We'll give you a lift."

"Ah, she's Addison," Pa concluded more to himself than to me.

Addison looked rather uncomfortable as she limped towards the car, balancing her bag on one shoulder while her other hand hurriedly hid behind her back.

"Too chirpy for a Monday morning, aren't you?" she started before her eyes met with Pa, who sat there rather sloppily, waiting for both of us to cut the chatter.

"Mr. Hemmings, pleasure meeting you."

"Finally!" he loudly exclaimed, "somebody acknowledged me."

My eyes scanned Addison' plaid red shirt to her faded black (almost-grey) pants as she sneakily tried to hide her left arm behind her as she stood awkwardly, subconsciously putting more force on her right foot.

Addison's eye twitched with the sudden outburst of excitement from Pa as she gave him an awkward smile. Pa turned towards the wheel and waved his hand to usher Addison inside the car. Before Addison could retaliate to his insistence, he hushed her up.

"Get in, child. Your school can start any moment."

Something in Addison's eyes softened considerably, her expression somewhere between serene and vulnerable as she entered the car without much retaliation and set right my seat, keeping herself confined on the back seat.

Pa sped through the rest of the way while I continued jamming while Addison kept to herself, staring blankly at my horrendous singing and Pa's eye-rolling every two to three minutes.

As we parked in front of Park High, she jumped out of the car even before it came to an entire halt, walked up to the driver's seat and bowed to Pa. That wasn't something I'd ever expect from Addison. Pa simply smiled and patted her head through the window as I walked out of my car, baffled.

"Thank you, Mr. Hemmings."

"Call me Peter. We have two Mr. Hemmings in our family. "

Pa drove off after saying the most cringeworthy line he had cooked up for Dad, whom he calls his "timeless possession". I hardly believe that their love forever falters, for they still act like two extremely hormonal kids, truly madly deeply in love.

Addison walked up to me, rubbing her neck with her face flushed, still limping. The morning bell could ring anytime now. "Thanks for the ride,  Hemmings" she started.

"You don't thank your friends." With time ticking, I started walking towards the sliding doors leading to the school. It was an oddly warm morning despite the clouds surrounding the area. It's hard to just the weather just by looking if you cannot physically feel it.

The hint of grass on the two sides of the campus feels refreshing. It reminded me of my middle school which had a varied assortment of swings with a huge group of dandelions. Also, the comforting expanse of the greenhouse provides everyone with ample space to hang out with friends. It has also become a space where my gang prefers to hang out.

Feels good to be a part of something.

"So, friends, are we?" Came Addison's voice breaking me from my trail of thoughts as she caught up with me. I could feel my heartbeat picking up its pace, ready to run a marathon and skip this entire conversation.

"Well, aren't we? Like, we have been having out for too long to just be called acquaintances and too little to be called best friends for life. I mean, we are not too close that we'd have sleepovers and we'd braid each other's hair but the state of matter is we are friends. The more-than-acquaintance friends." My rambling was cut off by something which I'd barely heard throughout.

Addison laughed as she put a hand over my shoulder, making me conscious of the cresses on the plain olive green shirt which said "No One Cares" or the weird white lines that promptly made an appearance on my black cargo pants.

"We are more-than-acquaintance friends if that's what you want," she concluded as we entered the door, all the hustle and bustle of the school just five minutes before the classes unnoticed. My phone suddenly sprang up with two consecutive notifications, and I fished out of my back pocket to receive that poor device.

Zeta "Not So" Evergreen:
Near the locker.
Reach ASAP!!!

Addison looked at the message over my shoulder and shot me a look. I shook my head, indicating that I was as clueless as she was. We walked towards the locker despite running late as she removed her carefully placed arm over my shoulder.

What had started as a simple walk soon turned into a competitive run towards the locker with Addison lagging behind me with a huge margin. Luck's by my side, today.

With Addison warming up to me and my bond with the rest of the group strengthening, it feels like nothing can go wrong. As I reached my locker  trying to grab the heavy science book out, but everything felt slow as my eyes darted towards Lucas's locker, focused onto something which certainly wasn't a part of it. As I struggled to catch my breath, Zeta and Sierra came to my aid, both standing on each side, with Zeta rubbing my back.

"It's just a baseless rumour, there's nothing wrong with it, don't worry–" Sierra started explaining something frantically, but her words made no sense to me as I saw the latest edition of "Pride High News", the monthly newspaper of the Pride High being stuck on Lucas's locker.

However, it wasn't the newspaper that made my breath hitch. It was the headline which made me feel nauseated and sick to my core.

"Two scandalous stirring school morals."

The highlighted headline felt like a pang. I began to check the contents. Below it was a huge collar of mine and Lucas's photo from Gloria's Cafe last week when we were discussing Jason and his beliefs. Even before I could start reading the content, someone tore off the front page of the newspaper.

"Motherfuckers have some apology to make or they have a death wish," Addison thundered, balling the newspaper and throwing it at the students who looked at the scene giggling mutedly.

Why can't I have one sane Monday morning?

Hey.

It's been over an year since I last updated and I'm not proud of it. At this stage of my life, idk how I forced myself to write it.

A lot has changed since then and if someone is reading it, yay you. You have faith in my skills more than myself. The grammar is not perfect but this is a story I want to write for the longest time.

If you are reading this, do let me know, kick me to force me to write cuz I get distracted faster than someone breathing.

Bear with me and read through this story while I get this done like my life's dependent on it (which is lowk true).

ciao,
sasha