★

"HEY," AMARA GREETED, COMING down the steps to meet the two eldest Gallagher brothers and Mandy before they headed off to school. She attempted to give the blonde a kiss on the cheek, but by the tenseness of his face and his body language she decided otherwise. "What's got your panties in a twist?"

"Told him about all the applications I sent in," Mandy answered as they started to walk. "He's throwing a temper tantrum about it."

"Wow, Phillip," Amara rolled her eyes. "Stop being a bitch boy."

"This is un-fucking-believable," he muttered, falling behind with Ian, who minded them no attention as if he were trying to avoid the drama. The walk to school was mostly silent, besides the few giggles from the pair of girls that bursted out randomly. Finally, when they arrived, it seemed like Lip was ready to erupt, which is exactly what Amara had been waiting for. He was like a goddamn volcano. "You really don't get why I have a problem with this?"

"No," Mandy replied shortly.

"Really?!" He looked to Ian, who was keeping his head ducked. "Ian, do you get why?!"

"Not getting involved."

"Why are you being such a dick about this?" Mandy demanded. "Those applications are ninety pages long. It took us forever to fill them out."

"Us?" He repeated, and Amara grinned cheekily. "Tell me you're in on this too."

"I'm in on this too."

Her blood started pumping at the familiar face that suddenly appeared before them, and Mandy's lips turned up as she sneered at Karen. "Walk the fuck away."

Amara completely lost it at this, and had to hide her laughter behind her hand when Lip's annoyance became even more clear.

"You're not my mother," he said, and she could tell he was itching for a fight. "Neither of you are. You're not-"

"Spare me the rant, Lip," Amara cut off, patting his chest. His jaw clenched and he rolled his eyes, opening his mouth to say something but she hushed him. "Uh-uh. No more words. I had a shit day yesterday, I don't need you and your little PMS attitude to mess up this one as well just because you're mad we actually care about your future. Shut up and walk me to class."

Mandy snickered when Lip closed his mouth, and offered no response other than a nod, and he turned on his heel to follow her to first period.

★

"How'd the interview go?" Amara asked, poking her head into Lip's room. "I'm going to cut your nuts off if you tell me you didn't do it. Do you know how-"

"Mandy did that application, didn't she? The one for MIT?"

Amara faltered. "Yeah I guess. I don't really remember every single one which of us did. Why?"

"She plagiarized Mandela."

She snorted. "Yeah. That one was hers. I wrote all of my own essays for you. At least I'm good at something."

"Why?" he asked, standing up to walk over to her. "I mean, why not just write essays for yourself? Why for me?"

"Because I..." She felt a lump form up in her throat, and she looked away. "I just don't see myself going to college, you know? But you deserve to go. You're too smart not to."

"So are you."

"Not school smart. You know that."

"Thank you," he said, and she felt her brows raise in surprise. "I had a talk with the interviewer and I think it went over well. Maybe things will finally go my way for once."

"You're not gonna scream at me or anything?" She didn't quite believe it.

"I never scream at you," he gave her a pointed look. "I just...speak angrily. And no, I'm not. I mean, I was really mad, but you don't deserve my bullshit. You got enough from your dad yesterday to last a lifetime." Lip carefully wrapped an arm around her, pulling her down onto the bed, and she laughed as they both plopped onto the mattress. "So, do you want to do it?"

"Lip!" She smacked his arm away, blushing furiously as she avoided his eyes. "You pervert."

"Is that a no?"

She smirked at him, trailing her finger down to the waistband of his pants, and getting dangerously close to the zipper in his jeans, before cackling and rolling away from him to stand up. "For the time being."

He groaned. "You are so mean to me."

"Am not. Come on, I'm hungry."

"Do you know how many nerve-endings are in the foreskin of a penis?" Veronica asked as the two teens came jogging down the stairs. Amara glanced around in surprise at the number of food baskets crowded around on the coffee table.

"I don't think there's a guy who wished he had more nerves," Lip chimed in, snatching a candy bar from Carl, who scowled at him.

"What if our son wants to be a transsexual? They will need that skin to make a vagina."

"Why is that even a question?" Kevin asked through a mouthful of candy.

"The gays brought the gift baskets, Kev. Look at all the gift baskets! All I'm saying is that it's a possibility."

"What's all this?" Fiona questioned, stepping into the living room, returning home from her new job with a few plastic bags in her hands.

"Frank told the world he's gay," Debbie replied.

"And the gay world responded with chocolate and cheese."

"And good wine," Veronica added.

"Debs," Fiona turned her quizzical gaze to her sister. "School. Why didn't you go?"

"Sheila was depressed. Bad depressed. Monica depressed."

"Code Pink," Fiona mumbled. "Sorry you had to deal with that."

"Me too," Silvia frowned. "But I was stuck sitting at the lunch table alone."

"Sorry," Debbie said with a small smile, before handing her best friend one half of her Twix. Silvia's anger obviously faded as she gratefully took it. "Is Frank really gay?"

They bursted out laughing. "No," the oldest Gallagher shook her head. "It's a scam. It's always some kind of scam."

"This scam tastes awesome!" Carl nodded in approval.

"Is this dinner?" Fiona asked. "Where's Jimmy?"

"Gloria made lasagna," Amara pointed to the kitchen. "There's a lot left over if you want some."

"I'm liking that woman more and more."

Amara smiled. "Yeah, me too."

The laughter and jokes continued, but there was a painfully obvious absence that bothered her so much, that she had to make up an excuse that she had to pee before she marched up the stairs. The door to the boys's shared bedroom was shut tightly, but she gently knocked on it anyway. Nobody answered, so she pushed it open, staring at Ian's back as his shoulders shook with quiet sobs.

"Ian?" She called out, closing the door behind her. "You've been acting weird all day and...I just want to make sure you're good." Still no response. She crept closer to him and sat on the edge of the bed. "I brought you an almond Hershey's bar. I know they're your favorite."

"Not hungry," he replied dryly, his voice hoarse. She hesitated, but placed it onto his nightstand anyway.

"We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want. And I'll go too, if that's what-"

"No," he said thickly. "Please stay."

She nodded even though he couldn't see her. "Okay. I'll stay." He pulled away the covers, allowing her to crawl into his twin sized mattress next to him. "Do you? Want to talk about it, I mean?"

"Mickey is getting married." Amara froze, before wrapping her arms around his waist, and burying her head into his back. "And...I don't know what to do. He's been avoiding me and I finally got him to look at me today but..."

"Is he the one who gave you the black eye?" No response. "Ian-"

"Don't," he whispered. "Just don't. Please."

"Okay," she breathed, nodding again, and the two of them fell asleep in the comfort of one another's presence.

★

a/n

the homophobic jokes this entire chapter made me sick. especially the one scene at the alibi i just ??? they angered me so much.

anyway thank u guys for 40k!! remember to vote if you enjoyed <3