[ 31 ] 2014

-

"You ever fucking try that again and I'll actually choke you with my own two hands."

-

When the movie was over, Niall and Andrea went up to their room for the rest of the night, excusing themselves and bidding their friends a good night. It was already around nine at night and the teenagers had school the next morning. Calum and Harley got up from their place on the living room couch and he followed her down the hall to the library. Harley took a few hesitant steps first, as she didn't want to interrupt their conversation if they were still having one. But when she heard nothing coming from the other side of the door, she gave a small knock, her voice sounding small at first. "Dad...Michael...are you two still alive in there?"

Calum couldn't help but stifle a laugh at her words, his mechanical hand coming up to block the sound coming from his mouth. Almost immediately came Michael's voice full of impatience. "Barely."

She then asked another question full of hesitance. "Did you guys talk things out?"

This time, she got a response from Arthur. Michael knew that if he replied to her anyway, she likely wouldn't believe him, as he was very likely to lie to her. She thought that his resentment against their father was too much for him to get over so easily. And in a way she was right. He had heard what Arthur had to say, and he was surprised to find that he understood him in a sense. He understood that Arthur cared about them, but it was dangerous for all the people he loved if he were to stay. That was why he couldn't even stay by Harleen, the one woman he had loved his entire life, or his two kids who he also loved with his whole being. Michael understood all of those reasons, but he was still resentful because the outcome of it all was that his mother had died. She died alone, and always waiting for him. 

"Yeah, we talked, sweetheart." Arthur said tiredly, rubbing his temples like he was feeling an oncoming headache. He was tired of being in the same room cooped up for hours, sitting in the same chair, with his son shooting him only glares until he finally decided to hear him out. Arthur was used to being in the shadows, never detected by anyone. Now that he was out so publicly, in front of what he felt was so many people, it was exhausting for him. Arthur Vega had never been much of a social person. It was exactly the kind of personality his two kids had inherited as well.

As he explained everything though, he could see the way his eyes and his expression softened towards him significantly. He was still resentful of what had happened to Michelle, but at least he understood the reasons why Arthur did it. Still, he had asked Arthur to give him some time and some space to think about things and come to terms with everything. It wasn't easy accepting the fact that his mother was gone, and that his father was a powerful man, leader of an organization of hunters. It wasn't easy to accept that after so many years of growing up alone, he finally had a father. Arthur apologized to Michael on that behalf as well. He knew that presents, money, and a few handwritten letters every now and then were not enough to win over his son's love. But the truth of the matter was that he never had a father of his own, and therefore he didn't know how to act as a father to his own children.

As a final condition, Michael had asked Arthur to promise that if h e were to try to get along with him, he had to promise that he would no longer continue his hunt of the two original shifters. Arthur felt like it pained him to accept this condition. It was his life's work, and the life's work of decades of dedication from his family's end. Letting it go just like that was like letting go a part of himself. He finally concluded though, that his son was more important than all of that, and he agreed. 

He had promised to back off, and talk to his hunters, calling off the ransom on the heads of Hazel and Jack Quimby. They would continue hunting, as Michael even suggested they could just enforce justice. They could go after the shifters who were known to cause trouble or murdered people, like the ones who had killed his mother. Arthur thought it wasn't such a bad idea. He could keep his organization afloat, and he could be on good terms with his son. It was a win-win situation for the two of them. 

Michael pushed past Harley to leave the room in a hurry. He had only been there a few hours, but to him it felt like days. Stopping in the middle of the hallway, keening over with his hands on his knees, he shot his younger sister a glare. "You ever fucking try that again and I'll actually choke you with my own two hands."

She only smiled at him like he was giving her a compliment. He was trying to get an argument out of her, and in the past he might have achieved it. But she felt that with everything that had happened to them recently, she was more calm. She didn't feel the need to fight with everyone about everything. Maybe because she had friends who actually saw her as herself and not Billy Quinn's little sister. She had Calum, Niall, Andrea, Michael, the originals and the hunters. They were her friends because they got to know her and they liked her for being herself.

Without saying anything more, he left the house. Harley went into the library and walked up to Arthur who was just getting back on his feet. He was taken by surprise when she threw her arms around his tall frame for a hug. His arms went hesitantly to hold her as well, his heart beating proudly at this very first moment of theirs. That was when he realized she had never hugged him before. But it was definitely a step in the right direction. She already accepted him as her dad, and now she was also showing him affection. His heart swelled with pride and he would have been lying if he denied the fact that his eyes stung with tears that wanted to flow out.

"I'm sure that whatever you guys talked about, he'll eventually understand." Harley said into his chest, as he was a bit taller than her.

Arthur nodded slowly. "I hope you're right, vida."

-

With the countdown towards their high school graduation underway, it seemed like the week was going by too quickly. Before Harley knew it, it was already Thursday and it was time for the twelfth year field trip to the amusement park. Harley had only decided to go because the rest of her friends were going. Cindy and Billy were coming along, and they had assured her it was fine if she wanted to hang out with them. But she didn't want to be the third wheel, or much less feel like their child, as Cindy jokingly put it. 

Instead she convinced her friends who had dropped out of St. Genevieve's to come along. They couldn't ride on the school bus with the class, but there was nothing that could prohibit them from going to the amusement park and casually running into everyone there. She had gotten the originals and Michael to come, Paul, Dempsey, John, Marializ, and Calum. All eleven of them had decided to hang out in a big group all night. Luke had asked to join them, but he had gotten the same threat Cindy had given him once before. That she would pull out his lip ring if he even thought of hanging out with them. Cindy knew that Luke made Harley uncomfortable, and thought he was her brother and she loved him, she didn't want anyone uncomfortable in his presence.

The night had gone by with them going on different rides, having dinner as a group inside the park, and taking lots of photos. Harley wasn't too keen on taking that many pictures, but Cindy said that she needed them for her scrap book and social media. Harley noticed the way Cindy seemed to smile more genuinely now that she was around them, rather than the obvious fake smiles she showed around the populars all the time. She made it her goal to invite Cindy over more, to show her that she could be happier if she spent more time with people who actually cared about her. She was always surrounded by people who didn't care about her, and she always had to pretend she was this perfect person. It was probably exhausting for her. Harley just wanted to show her that she could be herself around them and they would always accept her.

Everyone went back home around three in the morning with Billy, Harley, and Cindy going back in the school bus with the rest of the class. The others had gone in separate cars and they all met up back in the school parking lot. As they stood outside under the moonlight, Calum suggested that they all go have a late night meal at Iggy's Diner which was open twenty four hours a day. That caused Harley to do something of a double take because it was another new development in Calum. He hated being around people, and she never thought he would be the one suggesting that they hang out together. But it was somewhat similar to Cindy's situation. He had finally found a group of people who he actually liked, and who actually cared about him. That made hanging out with them not feel like a burden. 

Unlike his days when he hung out with the populars, as Luke's best friend and Cindy's boyfriend. He saw how fake everyone was and it just irritated him. He saw the way they were all so nice to each other one moment, but once one of them would leave, then the others immediately started talking bad about them. Except Cindy, she always had an innocence about her and always believed the best in people. It was one of the things he had liked about her when they dated.

Cindy crinkled up her nose at the offer to go out for food. Her blonde hair was all over the place from getting on all the rides, mostly forced by Billy and Harley. She wore Billy's varsity jacket over her shoulders, hugging it around because she was cold, and she had her boyfriend's arm around her. "I should probably go home, its actually really late. The big cheer competition is tomorrow and I need my sleep." As she spoke, Billy nodded in understanding, ready to take her back to that empty mansion where she hardly saw her parents. He tenderly pressed a kiss to the top of her head and she smiled subconsciously at the gesture.

Harley cut the distance between them and linked arms with Cindy, trying her best to convince her. Her mind thought about how different all of them were. Most of them were from different countries. But it wasn't just that. There were hunters among them, there were shifters, and there were regular humans. Three different kinds of species, yet they were able to all be friends and get along. It was proof that maybe Michael was right and Arthur's organization could work to bring justice, instead of striving to eradicate the shifter population. "We don't have to be at school for the pep rally until noon. We should be okay. Please come with us."

Now it was Billy who looked at his younger sister with surprise.

"You want to go out with us?" He asked her, the surprise was more than evident in his tone of voice. He almost felt like she was an entirely different person. The Harley Quinn he remembered was always irritated and snarky to people. "You're always saying how you hate going out and would rather stay in your room all day."

Harley responded with an innocent little shrug of her shoulders. She didn't quite understand it either, but she was just going with it. She just wasn't as angry and annoyed at everything as she once was. "I'm just trying to spend time with the people I actually like." Gesturing to the others around them, some of them having side conversations of their own, she added. "Plus, these are the last days of our high school lives. We'll never have something like this again."

Cindy thought it about it for a moment before a big smile broke out onto her face. "I guess if my best friend asks me, I can't say no."

At least for the moment, it felt like she would go through the rest of her school year without a problem.

-

hi guys, just a quick update tonight.

now ima go to sleep because i have to wake up really early for work. i honestly dont want to go because my boy has the day off. but the grind dont stop. 

plus, we're doing better. we texted yesterday. but i stopped replying after a while because im trying this new thing where im not making myself seem always available to him. bc i feel like i do that alot. we did talk on one of the many group chats we're in together. its one we have where we talk about animal crossing with our two other friends fer and greed. 

since im the only girl there, i made them all say that this is a girls only chat and that they all must identify from now on as powerful women. 

but anyway, i will try really hard to post an update tomorrow.

-clary