Turns out, running for Governor was boring. It wasn't as exciting as people made it out to be.

Tanner spent the majority of his time locked away in his room, his notebook filling up page after page of notes, mock speeches, angry pen marks. He didn't leave his room often, and when he did, he was somber. Focused. Determined.

He tried his best to keep his door closed and locked, keeping out the people who would throw him off of his game. His determination was strong, but he knew like most motivated people, you could only run so far on the steam pushing you forward.

The only person really allowed in his room was Gryphon.

Polly knew her time in Lennard's house was over. She knew her uncle and aunt worried about her constantly, and she knew she would have to return to school. They all would; skipping could only go unnoticed for so long. And so, after a few days in the large house, Polly went back home.

Minny stayed. As did Gryphon.

"I'm home," Polly said to the quiet house. She hadn't expected it to look different, but at the same time, she did. She was different. The last time she was there, in that house, was before she confronted her parents. While it hadn't been a large gap of time, it felt like forever since she was in the house, looking for her missing sketchbook.

Now, it was under her arm.

For a moment, the silence continued, and then her cousin caught her eye. She stood beside the doorway, unblinking as she watched Polly with her large eyes. Polly had forgotten all about the Jenny drama back at this house, and she rolled her eyes.

"What do you want, Jenny?" Here to tell me about how you told all your friends I ran away?

The girl scuttled away, rounding the corner and disappearing down the hallway. But Polly wasn't having any of it; she ran as she too rounded the corner, seeing Jenny turn towards the stairs. For a moment, it was a game of cat and mouse, and Jenny was always ten steps ahead of her. Until they reached Jenny's door.

"What is your deal?" Polly asked her cousin, loud and angry. Her words sounded mean. Unlike Polly, but not surprising.

Jenny turned back towards her cousin. "You're crazy! All my friends say so!"

Polly rolled her eyes. "Jenny, just because I've had some trauma in my life doesn't mean I'm crazy."

Jenny pressed against her door, cramming her eyes shut. "I know what you are!"
Polly was interested to hear what her cousin had to say. She knew it was probably nothing. Probably more rumors about her being crazy, her being insane. To be honest, Polly once would have thought she was.

She was healing.

"Yeah? What am I?"

Jenny opened her eyes and stared at her older cousin, her body shaking in fear. "You're gay! That means you're going to Hell!"

Polly flinched back from her cousin. She'd heard those words so many times before, from her parents, from Tanner, but she hadn't heard those words since moving to her aunt and uncle's house. This was her safe place. A place to be herself.

And the words, ugly as they already were, sounded horrid coming from the young girl's mouth.

"Why would you say that to me?" Polly demanded, but the space between her and Jenny was large enough now for the girl to open her bedroom door and scurry in, slamming the door in Polly's face.

Polly felt her chest tighten, the tears collecting in the back of her eyes. She would not cry, but she felt her cheeks get hot with shame for who she was, what she was fighting for. Never had she imagined her own cousin saying that.

But, she knew she shouldn't have been so surprised.

"My goodness! What is going on out here?" It was her aunt at the end of the hallway, right by the stairs. Her bewildered look told Polly that she'd heard none of their conversation, just yelling and door slamming.

It was better that way. She was the outcast here.

"Nothing. I'm just, I'm back."

Polly's aunt approached her, but shook her head. "No, no you don't. I heard what Jenny said. I just, what has gotten into that girl?"

Polly's mouth opened, but she said nothing. Never before had anyone really been on her side, other than her friends. It felt nice for once, to have a parent figure protecting her. Her aunt opened Jenny's door forcefully, and entered the bedroom.

Polly watched through the open door. "Jenny. What is wrong with you? How dare you say that you Polly? Do you even understand what your cousin has been through? How lucky you are to have us as parents?"

Jenny squirmed on the bed as her mother gripped her ear tightly. "Polly is your cousin, and she lives with us now. Her being gay is not going to send her to Hell. She's not a freak, she isn't crazy, and she's not someone you can torment."

Jenny nodded her head, connecting eyes with Polly. Her's were narrowed into a glare at her blonde haired cousin.

"Now, up you go. You're going to apologize. Then, you're going to go downstairs into dad's office, and you're going to do your homework in silence. Understood?"

Jenny got off of the bed, her ear still between her mother's fingers. Her eyes softened when she looked at Polly, whose cheeks were red and eyes were teary. If she were at school, Jenny knew she'd be sitting in the timeout chair, ashamed of her actions. This was no different.

"I'm sorry, Polly. What I said, it's what my friends say. And it was stupid and dumb of me to repeat their words without thinking first."

Polly didn't want to accept her cousin's apology, but she knew Jenny was just a girl. Foolish, but young. And she knew the power of an apology, and the power of accepting one. "That's alright, Jenny."

Jenny scurried from her bedroom, looking over her shoulder as she reached the stairs. The look on her mother's face said dad's study, now. I will be down in a moment, and you better be sitting and doing homework.

Polly looked at her aunt, surprised. Tears filled her eyes, then fell down her face. She was what Polly had always wanted; a mother. A real mother, who didn't send her to camps, who didn't leave her behind and forgot. A mother who didn't abandon her.

She wrapped her arms around her aunt and hugged her close. The power of family was strong, but wasn't anything Polly had experienced before. Even before coming out as gay, her family was disjointed. She was ashamed. Afraid. Tormented.

"Shh, Polly. It's alright. You're safe here, and Jenny will understand soon enough how careless her words were. Please don't take what she said to heart."

You're safe here. The words Polly had always wanted to hear.

When she pulled away, the tears still damp on her cheeks, she smiled. "I love you. I don't care if my real parents abandoned me. You are my real family. Thank you."

In the back of her mind, she remembered being young and afraid in her bedroom, a sketchbook full of girls. She remembered the fear that nestled beneath her ribcage, spreading and spreading until she felt sick from the fear.

Being here, she felt none of that. Meeting Minny and Kenzie had helped her move on, helped her heal, and now she had a purpose. She wasn't just some girl locked away in a gay imprisonment camp. She was real, she was strong, and she was going to take Minny's father down.

And it helped to have people she could go home to. Helped to have an aunt and uncle who cared about her wellbeing, like she was their own child. It made such a difference to have a support system instead of people tearing her down.

If only her cousin liked her.

"You are welcomed here for as long as you need, Polly. Your uncle and I love you very much. And so does your cousin. She needs to be taught a thing or two about respect, which is what I'm going to go do. She's young, but that doesn't mean she can get away with saying that."

Someone who protects me and doesn't make up exceptions for her daughter. This was what having true family felt like. Family that didn't run at the first sign of an issue, and family that loved you no matter what.

Polly wiped away her tears. When she first entered this home, she was not herself. She was afraid, abused, and alone. But now, she was stronger than ever, just because of the support she had from her family and her friends.

When she retreated back into her room, she opened up her sketchbook and flipped through. The book held the first drawings of Kenzie, of Minny. And now she was going to draw all of them. She was going to draw everyone like they should be depicted: strong, capable, and powerful. And she was going to do it proudly.

* * *

This story is almost over... and it's strange to think that way!

It's been a long ride, and we're almost finished.

Today is the first day of summer for me as well! To celebrate the end of the school year, I'm following back everyone who follows me on my twitter in the next 24 hours!

My twitter is: @ UWBooks

Love you all! XOXO