(A/N/ and this is the moment when I realized this is gonna be a long book)

Virgil's POV

I got a ride to school again, this time with more argument and my dad who seemed slightly less caffeinated than normal did have to force me but I still got a ride.

I was halfway out the door when dad called me back in. I leaned my head into the door and hoped this wouldn't take long, I don't wanna make the people behind us upset.

"I just wanted to say that your dad and I were talking earlier and were thinking about getting you a car, I thought I should warn you so you could mentally prepare yourself for that conversation." Dad said.

I had a feeling this dreaded conversation would be coming soon.

"Oh, okay I guess that had to happen at some point..." I said looking out the windshield, not wanting to make indirect eye contact anymore.

Dad seemed a bit surprised at my reaction but he didn't say anything about it.

Once I walked into the building and got to my locker I was approached by two people.

One of them had Multi colored hair and the other wore an orange beanie and was carrying a rainbow plastic clipboard that I could see the back of whatever paper was attached to it. Well technically it's clipped to it.

"Hey, I'm Joan and this is Talyn, it's against the dress code here for boys to wear makeup and nail polish so we talked to the principal and he said if we got a certain number of signatures they would change it so, uh this the awkward part..." the one wearing the beanie, Joan, said before trailing off.

Like the dumbass I am it took a minute for me to realize what they meant, but once I got it I knew what to do.

"Oh, you want me to sign the thing?" I asked leaning up against my locker because I'm lazy.

"Yeah actually." They said sharing a look with Talyn.

"Sure, I'd love to help out. Oh you know Roman right?" I asked getting a sudden idea.

"That one popular kid who's hella dramatic and likes the color red? Yeah I know that dude." Talyn said crossing their arms over their chest.

"Well, I happen to be on good terms with him and could definitely get a bunch of signatures from him and his friends." I said, quickly glancing around the hall to make sure Patton and Roman weren't around.

"Okay here, could you fill up this sheet?" Joan asked handing me a piece of paper with a three by what looked like eight grid on it.

"I could try." I said looking down at the sheet and adjusting the strap of my backpack.

"Okay find us after school to give us the sheet." Joan said before they walked away.

After I opened my locker and grabbed everything I didn't want or need to take home when Patton came up to me.

Today's been very social so far.

"Hello Virgil! How are you doing on this fabulous day?" He asked after leaving a big group of people that I've definitely seen blocking the halls before.

"Well I get to be sorta helpful for once in my life so that's cool I guess." I said shrugging.

"How dare you insult my child like that! I will physically fight you!" Patton said in a stage whisper.

I was about to object to Patton's statement because well, we're not really related but before I could Roman appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

I really should pay more attention to things.

"Hello Patton and Dr. gloom, what a fine morning it is isn't it!" Roman announced with a Disney worthy smile.

"Hey Princey, could you do me a favor today?" I asked ignoring the nickname while he rolled his eyes at mine.

"I would love to help! Well it depends on what you want but as long as it's not like murder or something emo or freaky, I'll probably help!" Roman said way to enthusiastically.

"Who do you think I am first of all, second, I just need to use your popularity for personal gain." I said not even trying to match his generous usage of whatever chemicals in our brains that causes happiness.

I'll look that up later. Probably.

Roman scoffed.

"What do you want Hot Topic?" He asked rolling his eyes again.

"Aw you think I'm hot." I said almost immediately, he looked thoroughly surprised.

"I want you to take this and get a bunch of your friends to sign it." I continued, shoving the paper into his face.

Roman slowly pushed my hand out of his general direction and gave me a look.

"What's it for?" He asked.

"It's a thing for changing the dress code, ya know the whole boys can't wear makeup thing."

That seemed to catch his attention.

"Okay I'll help, but I don't know if they'll sign it." Roman said taking the paper from me.

"Just do what J.D. did when he tricked the whole school into signing... well you know." I said, deciding it was probably best to speak his language.

He didn't seem to notice I made a Heathers reference, just when I thought I could get away with it he suddenly looked up.

"That's a great plan actually! I think I could do this! Also I'm extremely proud of you for that reference and we have to talk about that more some time!"

So close.

"Don't make a big deal about it, just do the thing." I said looking over at Patton who'd been oddly quiet.

"Whatever, hey aren't you gonna sign?" My eccentric classmate asked.

"Oh right do you have a pencil?" I asked suddenly aware of my lack of basiclly any writing utensil.

"No, I have a pen though!" Roman said handing me a red ballpoint pen.

I wrote down my name in the first box. Getting slightly anxious about somehow managing to mess up writing my name then being forced to cross it out my name and bring attention to it or just have everyone think my name is spelled in a way it's not (once someone called me virgin, that stung). This is why I don't use pen.

I handed Roman back his pen, silently cursing myself for the slight shaking in my hands.

Roman wrote his name neatly. In cursive.

I could feel the anxiety rising again in my chest.

I spent a lot of time memorizing the name on my wrist. The pen was almost exactly the same color.

Well. Now I know for sure.

"Uh Virge, you alright..?" Roman asked slowly, like talking to a scared animal.I snapped out of it and started trying to come up with some kind of excuse.

"Oh yeah I'm fine, you just have like really great handwriting."

I wanted to retreat into my hoodie and never be seen again.

And yes, that was the best thing I could come up with.