Oliver knew that his wife was in a mood. She had been, ever since he’d allowed their daughter to go to the party (though Oliver knew that if he and Molly had been in Kit’s position, they would have been at the party no matter what, even if he didn’t want to go), and Oliver knew how to handle that. A night out, and removed from Kit. Their daughter was their daughter, and of course Oliver loved her more than anything, and he knew that Molly felt the same way, but the simple fact of the matter was Kit had… an overbearing personality. Living with her? Even as her parents — who Kit typically listened to — it was sometimes exhausting.

So, after Kit had arranged to have a friend over, Oliver had done what he felt was the right thing to do, and made reservations at Molly’s favorite place to eat (some four star Italian restaurant that Oliver couldn’t pronounce the name of), put himself in a suit, and put Molly in a little red dress he liked, and kissed Kit goodbye for the evening. Oliver, being the super dad that he was, had also baked Kit and her friend a little dessert, based on what Kathryn had picked out.

Their night had been fine so far. They’d went to see a movie — some bullshit romantic movie that Molly mentioned — and were now sitting at their private table in the exclusive, expensive restaurant that was sure to cost him eight hundred or more dollars a plate… but it didn’t matter. Molly was calming down, and he was fairly sure that Kit was okay. Everything was fine, he was handling things. Oliver took a sip from the glass of water that the waiter had poured him to start, and asked a simple question. “What did you order to drink again?”

The Professor was indeed a happy wife as she held her fine glass close to her lips. She was already on her second. In eloquent Italian, she first said the producer’s name, “Tenuta dell’Ornellaia…” and then she answered his question and disclosed the wine’s name, “Masseo Toscana, the best merlot I ever did taste. Straight from Tuscany!” She was buzzed, actually past that, because she hadn’t had any food all day and the first thing she wanted immediately was alcohol. Nice, delicious, wine at L'ultima Cena. Of course, she planned to order something with meat. Eventually.

“Sounds… great.” Oliver didn’t know what any of that meant, but as long as he could relax and not worry about her being stressed and angry… the Doctor was a happy boy. “I’m glad you’re able to let your hair down and breathe tonight… you were getting a little wound up there for a bit, lover.” Oliver said, reaching underneath their table to squeeze her knee. Was she drunk? Yeah, she was drunk. Nothing new for him, though! “Plus, KitKat is having a nice night with her friend, we’re here… everything is going well, Mols.”

Her dark gaze peered from her glass to her husband’s eyes. If she were sober, she would’ve found something to bitch about, twisting his words and finding the problems. But! She was totally drunk, so he was safe. For now. “I know, I know. But I love her hair so much and it’s all gone! And she’s kissing everybody. I don’t know what I did!” Where did she go wrong as a parent? It was times like these, she needed a drink. And hey, she had one. Or several. “She’s my baby but she is so…. is sooooooo…” Molly couldn’t think of the best word to describe Kit.

“...different? She’s not like me, and she’s not like you.” Oliver offered. It was true. Kit was a combination of the two of them… and it was sometimes bad. She was explosive, independent, loud, and a bit of a fool sometimes. Plus, she liked pizza. “Don’t worry, the hair will grow back. It was time for a change, and she’ll feel better now — it’s important we help her feel better you know? You didn’t do anything wrong. She loves you.” Oliver said, squeezing her knee again as he watched her start to freak out a little bit. “You should get another glass.”

“You are absolutely right!” Molly looked around for the waiter, realizing she was feeling the motions of her unhealthy drinking, her words turning into slurs the more their date went on, “Where is Gino?” That was their waiter. If Molly didn’t have Gino, she didn’t want to eat here. “Oh, that reminds me! Bellie is goin' to have her annual Candy reunion soon, I think you should keep Alex company because I’m stealing Summer. No deets, yet. But it’s goin-to happen, and I gotta’ make sure I look hot.”

What the Professor said? “You should keep Alex company.” What did the Doc hear? “Get together with your best friend and get high and play Call of Duty zombies with your wife’s permission.” As such, Oliver nodded his head enthusiastically, “That sounds great! Why don’t you and Summer take a spa weekend? Me, Alex, and Kit can handle the twins for a bit, and you guys can get ready for the get together.” If Kit came, then Oliver could delegate all of the babysitting to her — she likes the kids anyway. “You need a break anyway.” And some asshole had knocked Alex and Oliver off of the leaderboards. It was enough of a pain in the fucking ass to scrounge for the bottom of the boards at their age.

“You’re absolutely right!” A break was needed indeed. Oliver was a wonderful husband and always kept her and their child in his best interest. The waiter approached but rather than say anything, he simply poured the stressed mother more wine causing her to childishly cheese in excitement.

“The usual, Mr. Thomas?” Gino, with his deep, husky voice, spoke to the more sober one. The Professor was in heaven with her buzz and the only thing that could bring her down was a disaster, which couldn’t possibly happen right now! It was date night. Date night was rarely interrupted.

“Gino, do you think I deserve a break? Lover thinks I do. How ‘bout you?” Molly leaned forward, eyeing the Italiano and brawny lady killer.

“Of course. Every mother deserves a break, and I’m sure you’re no exception.” The charmer nodded at the madame, before bringing his attention back to the Doc.

Oliver had been subtly nodding his head when Molly had asked the question, hoping that the waiter would catch onto the hint, and when he did? Oliver relaxed somewhat in the chair. He didn’t much care about Molly eyefucking the waiter — she was drunk and that didn’t really matter to him anyway. She gave him her heart, not her eyes. “See? He agrees. Yeah, the usual is fine.” Why change from something that worked? Pasta ruled, anyway. “See, Mols? I told you everything would be fine.” Hey, so far? So good. Kit wasn’t calling, or texting, and she was probably happily eating that delicious dessert he’d made with her new friend. Everything was great.

“Right away. I’ll leave the bottle with you two.” Gino gave one last smile to Molly before taking his leave.

“So far, so good. How could I have possibly doubted you?” Bringing the glass to her lips, her eyes preyed on her husband. She took her time gulping her wine. The true savior of her day was this fermented grape juice. “Tonight’s going to be even better, don’t you think?” With her heel off, her left foot explored under the table to its… destination.

All those years ago, Oliver had made a mental note. Nothing got Molly’s panties in a mess like Italian food and wine. That was paying off, even to this day, and he had words to say to respond to her. Answers to give her, innuendo to say, even a little bit of flirting. He had all that stuff locked and loaded… But that stopped when his phone began to ring with a very… distinct ringtone. Molly and Ollie both knew who it belonged to, but even so, Oliver had to stare at his phone for a few seconds before he answered it.

Maybe he liked the song. Maybe the contact showing was the problem.


“Hold that thought?” Ollie asked, letting the ring hold as he looked across the way.

“The princess awaits.” The mother shrugged, holding her glass delicately in her fingers, as she stared back at the hubby. She was at peace. There was no way in hell her daughter could ruin that.

False.

Kathryn always found a way to change the course of her day. For better, or for worse. The unfortunate side effect of being a parent. For now, Molly would assume this was simply a phone call giving them an update of the happenings of her night. Nothing more, nothing less. “...So?” Glaring at Oliver, Molly waited expectantly for the deets.

“Uh… we should probably catch the check and take off. I couldn’t really understand what she was saying, between the crying and the music playing in the background, but from what I understand there’s been an accident… she broke her bong. The one I gave her? She’s freaking out, Mols.”

Well, he almost got laid.

“Fucking hell.” She gave up! There was no winning for the Professor.

There were some days, Evelyn left without telling anyone the reason why. All she would say was she was ‘going out’. Then she would drive almost two hours to visit Santa Barbara Cemetery Association and two hours back. This was the place where two of the most important people were buried. Right near her vineyard and a vacation home. A place her children can escape to if they needed to. Her mother, Cyndi Harding, who had been gone since she was twelve, having died from a drug overdose, and her manager, Silván Pearce, who passed away shortly after her youngest child’s baby shower. None of her fathers, who both were still alive, could compare to Silván. He was always there for her, even before grandfather Bellerose accepted her. His bastard child . He was always there during her rough times with the father that raised her. Van Harding. The man that treated her like a money making machine and not a child. A man sentenced behind bars until the day he dies for manslaughter. None of her children knew about Grandfather Harding and she would keep it that way.

Silván protected her and for that she would be forever grateful for him. Returning home, after being gone for hours now, Eve silently creaked the door open and glided into her humble abode, wondering what her family was up to. The family she was able to have, thanks to those two very important people in her life. Forever grateful, she was.

Emanating from the standard meeting room of the Green family — that is to say, the kitchen — Evelyn Green wasn’t greeted by the sound of her children being merry, nor the sounds of Henry and Min-seo swapping saliva, or even Parker playing with Jasmine the cat; all of which were becoming increasingly common noises in her home. Instead, Mrs. Green was met with a sound she’d heard far more often when she was younger.

“You need to fix this!”

“Me!? You jumped her ass! The fuck did I do, Lyssy!?”

“Do not call me that, under any circumstances!”

Evelyn was greeted to the noise of her wife and her baby daddy arguing in the kitchen. Just like old times.

Of course. Sighing deeply to herself, she dropped her purse on the chair in the lobby and made her way to the meeting room. On the trim of the door, the Mrs. of the Green household gently knocked, loud enough so both of her lovers could hear it. She stood under the archway, surveying the situation, before firmly speaking,
“What happened.” Not much of a question, more of a demand for someone to give her an explanation.

“This stupid idiot upset your daughter.” Alyssa said simply, pointing at Ty, who huffed and shot a look at Alyssa.

“It isn’t my fault! You said you wanted me to talk to her! I didn’t even know she was doing that stuff. I thought she just sort of… was normal at school.” Ty said defensively, folding his arms off of his chest, before Alyssa huffed. Alyssa, for her part, looked like she was two inches away from gouging Ty’s eyes out.

“Please tell your man that he’s a fool.” Alyssa hissed in response, turning her glare onto Evelyn.

Stepping in the room and crossing her arms, Eve hissed back, “You two need to stop. Now, explain. What ‘stuff’? Ty, since you brought it up, you tell me.”

Alyssa threw her hands up in the air, but she ultimately did allow Ty to speak. “Alyssa called me earlier, because she wanted me to talk to one of the kids, because I get along pretty well with the kids —” Ty was cut off by Alyssa tersely adding. “Except for Henry.” To which Ty conceded, “— Except for Henry. But anyway, I came to do that, and while I was trying to handle things, Alyssa got involved and it didn’t end pretty. So we’ve been arguing for the last like fifteen minutes about it… poor form. We haven’t argued in a while.”

“This doesn’t answer my question! What were you talking to Cyndi about?!” Oh my god. Could they get to the point? By process of elimination, the most sensitive child was Cyndi so it only made sense this was about her. “Is it about her birthday? Do I need to make changes? Is she getting bullied already? Do I need to get Xander to kill somebody?”

At this, both Ty and Alyssa furrowed their brow, taken somewhat off balance by what Evelyn had said. “What? Cyndi? No…” Alyssa didn’t get to say who it was, because Ty spoke up. “Hailey.” As if it was on cue, footsteps could be heard in the room, before they were joined by James, Hailey’s Butler.

“Well done. She’s damn near crying, which I’ve never seen before.”

“Okay. I’m done with you two. I’ll just find out from her.” Evelyn had to digest that the child who was crying wasn’t Cyndi. Rarely did Hailey need comfort. Not like when she was little. It seemed like the past was definitely creeping up with the mother of three today. Not listening to anything more her lovers had to say, she looked at James, “Bedroom?”

“Yes. But I’d personally just leave her be. She’s upset.” Butler gave his advice, but ultimately knew that he couldn’t stop Evelyn from doing what she wanted to. The three people standing there signed the checks, after all.

“Well… I can at least arm you with some good news before you go?” Eve was upset, but it made sense — she wasn’t getting a straight answer. The option of Eve being the one to talk to Hailey was a good one… it meant that Hailey wouldn’t be talking to himself and Alyssa, the two people who upset her.

“What is it, Ty?” Evelyn’s face was visibly fed up, as she looked over her shoulder to glare at the father of her children. Her child was crying and she wasn’t there yet to make her feel better. What was this good news he had to tell her? Was it that important?

“Hailey’s kind of having a breakdown. She’s just overwhelmed. She likes structure, you know that about as well as I do. The video store she and I have been renting movies from for movie night since she was a baby is closing down. So she was a little stressed when she rolled in. ...well, that’s downplaying it… she was freaking out. But like the way Alyssa does. Coldly.” Ty offered a… slightly more detailed explanation, before giving her the good news. “Anyway… the point is, Alyssa bought the store. So it isn’t going out of business anytime soon.”

“Well, I’m in the process.”

“Duly noted. Thank you.” If all else fails, Eve had that to fall on, but first she needed to see if it was just that or if there was more to the issue. Henry got punished at school — who’s to think Hailey didn’t have something else going on too? Not her. She was positive her children were having their own adventures, but she also knew Hailey was good at taking care of herself, so perhaps it was only about the movie store.

Well, she wasn’t going to find out anything by staying here with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Silently, Evelyn made her leave, with no dismissal. Gracefully, she made her way to her daughter’s room. Eve had a way when she walked through the halls. She was the type of person who could go unnoticed in plain sight. Too quiet for anyone to hear. With the knuckles of her right hand, she tapped on the door, “Hailey.” and waited for her eldest child’s to respond.

At first, there was no response. Another mystery, and another oddity for the night; Hailey was never slow to respond, but it was nonetheless delayed. “What. Do you want?” The reply came through the door, and it certainly wasn’t an invitation for Evelyn to step inside, and the venom hanging off of each word showed the story clear enough. Hailey Green-Locke was in a mood.

“To talk to you. Please, can I come in? If not, we can talk like this. I don’t mind.” Motherly Eve was vastly different than her teen self, years ago. She was much more warmer, softer, and kinder. Someone had to be, with a family like her’s. “I just want to make things better. I know how your other parents can be and honestly if you weren’t angry at your father, he’d probably make you feel better faster than I could, but you know they mean well.” Evelyn was talking to a door. Quite literally.

Truth be told, Hailey was still furious. She was furious with all of her parents, and though Evelyn hadn’t been there for the fireworks, Hailey was mad at her all the same. Still, she couldn’t deny Evelyn most likely wanted to help. There was the sound of a lock twisting and turning, before the door came open, and Hailey stood before her Mom. Hailey’s eyes were puffy and red, and as she spoke slowly and carefully — with much less venom than when she’d initially spoken to Evelyn, her voice cracked ever so slightly, revealing how closely on the edge of crying she was teetering.

“Do you… think… Daddy hates me?”

“W-what?” Evelyn was legitimately confused at this question. “Your father doesn’t hate, especially not you.” First child. First daughter. Hailey had a lot of boxes checked off to be in Ty’s favor. He could get upset, sure, mostly disappointed, but he couldn’t hate. Not even a fly. Even if he tried. Brushing her eldest child’s cheek gently, feeling how wet it was, Eve shook her head, “Why do you think he hates you?” The most ill informed parent’s reward goes to Evelyn Green! She knew more about Henry’s rep at school than any of her other children’s.

“I yelled at him. And Mother, too. A lot. They’re upset at me, because of what happened at school. I got angry.” Hailey admittedly, numbly knocking Evelyn’s hand away from her face as she stepped into the bedroom, sitting down on the bed. On the TV, an anime opening was playing, and Hailey snapped her fingers to mute the TV, “they’re upset about something that happened at school. I was — am — upset about all the pressure on my shoulders. I cracked. I snapped. I’m not good enough to be a Locke, let alone a Green.”

Cautiously, Evelyn stepped into the bedroom and tilted her head, “What happened at school? I only get calls for your brother, not you.” At this news, the bafflement on the mother’s face was clearly visible, “Do you need a tutor? That can be easily arranged.”

“Of course not. Are you joking? I’m one of the smartest people there. I mean emotional, Mom.” Hailey scoffed after Evelyn’s words, a brief show that the normal Hailey was still there. As she sighed and prepared to talk about the problems she was having, her mask shattered again. “I made Ophelia break Trixie and Owen up, following some unimportant ‘politics’ at the school. Daddy thinks that I’m not living up to his teachings, so to speak.”

Ah. So that’s what it was. Not responding immediately, Evelyn made her way to the bed and took a seat next to Hailey. “It seems…” How should she word this? For once, Eve felt like she was walking on eggshells with Hails. “...like you’re acting more like me, and your mother, than your father. Ty… he was, still is, very loving, but extremely misunderstood. May it be because of his accent or because of his brashness. As for Alyssa? She ran the place, still does, with total disregard for anyone that was no one to her, and me? I could care less. I pushed people away. I was cold. Your father, though? He somehow was able to unite very unlikely individuals together. Without him, your aunt, Amie, would’ve never gotten with your uncle. It's the little things like that… that really make your father a remarkable man. I think, he’s just…” She paused, trying to think of the word that best fits what her baby’s daddy was going through, “Disappointed. But, he could never hate you. I can promise you, when you walk for graduation, he’ll be crying like a baby.”

“That’s worse! Don’t you understand!? I have lived my whole life trying to never disappoint any of you. I live for my parents — especially Daddy! My disappointing him makes me sick.” Hailey snatched the remote off of her bedside table, and hurled it across the room like a spear, toward the wall. Rather than shatter, it stuck in the wall with a huge hole and Hailey rolled over, burying her face in a tear stained pillow and screaming. Lifting her head up, she spun back around to look at Eve. “I can’t disappoint him. I’m supposed to be his favorite.” She was close to blubbering again.

“It happens, Hailey. I’ve even disappointed your father and I can agree when you disappoint Ty it really messes you up.” Turning her body, Eve decided to lay beside her child. Instead of addressing how to fix it, she simply said, “Come here.” A gesture for her daughter to go into her arms.

Hailey let out a noise that was certainly negative to say the least. She grumbled and moved closer to Evelyn and shook her head, “Yes, yes it does. I don’t even know what to do… what if he never forgives me? I’m scared, I’m not sure I’m going to do, I have to go and deal with Trixie and Ophelia and Owen and all of that mess, and I just want to sit in my room and watch anime and pout in my bed!”

“If he was that upset with you, he wouldn’t have went out of his way to convince your mother to buy Vidiots.” Smiling to herself, loving the small gestures her daughter gave her, even if reluctantly, Evelyn comfortingly cooed, “It’ll all fall into place. It’s a mess. Yes. But nothing that can’t mend over time. You’re stronger than I ever was your age. And I promise you, your father will love you forever.”

“You don’t know that. No one knows anything.” Hailey said in a voice so bitter it might as well have punched Evelyn in the face. She was upset, she was tilted. She was a million and one emotions at once, she didn’t even know what to do, let alone what to say. “Me, Ophelia, and Trixie were supposed to be forever, and now that’s gone because of me, so what’s next? Daddy? You? Mother? Auntie Amie?”

Sighing heavily, feeling Hailey’s words go straight to the heart, Eve kept a cool head on her shoulders. She would play her piano later, to ease the pain. It wasn’t easy being a mother. “I do know things blow over. Why do you think we don’t know anything? I almost lost both your father and mother, at one point in time. It’s hard to say how anyone will react or feel, but you shouldn’t assume how they feel. That isn’t right on them. If you want to know how your father feels, find time to talk to him alone. Same goes for everyone else. Trixie. Ophelia. Your mother. I don’t know what issues you have with my sister, but her too.” Eve wanted to kiss her daughter’s forehead, but she refrained from being affectionate. It didn’t seem right. Her daughter didn’t want to be touched. “Right now, no words I will say will make you feel better. So, tell me whatever. Yell at me. Cry. Scream. That’s what I’m here for.”

Hailey’s response didn’t come in words. Instead, she let out a long breath, and moved closer to Evelyn, placing her face in Eve’s chest. Without another word, Hailey let the angry tears begin to flow.

Their food had just arrived, but Damian never wanted to leave a place more than he wanted to leave this one, right now. He had never found himself made more uncomfortable, more embarrassed, than he was right then and there. For fuck’s sake, his dad had just revealed that he carried Plan B around in his backpack, like he was some kind of trogoldyte. He wanted to eat though, and there was still delicious milkshake! He eyed the table, watching as Ender picked up the cream soda and finally took his first, drawn out, delicious sip.

Damian needed an out, and luckily he had one. He just needed Joy’s help. He glanced at his girlfriend, and then at his watch. Would it work? He hoped it would. He wanted out, he wanted to go anywhere else on the planet. Anywhere else in this, or any other galaxy! He realized they only had one good weapon against their parents: stealth. Pulling his phone out and glancing at it under the table, Damian quickly typed out a message to his girlfriend:

To: Joy
hey… wanna go somewhere else??
jk i know u do
follow my lead

With that text sent, Damian looked up at the gathering of parents, and cleared his throat. “Hey, Joy and I should actually take off… she just got a text from Jericho. They need a babysitter, ASAP. Amie just got a call for some really important meeting, and they both need to be there. Tragic, I know, but we can do this some other time.” Lying came so easy to him. Oh man, was that a bad thing?

And as if on cue, Jude’s phone rang with Amity’s ringtone, which was her and JJ’s love song. Uptown Funk. They even performed it at their wedding. Joy wasn’t a simple thinker, she knew to get past her parents, especially the analyzer, her mother, she had to make the lie believable. She had signal words she could text her uncle and then it was only a matter of time. The word she sent was: Platypus, which meant call with a babysitting lie. Jude couldn’t help but narrow her eyes at the children. Digging in her purse, she grabbed her phone and answered it, placing it by her ear, “Amie… hello.”

“Hey is this a bad time?! Oh my god, I need to run out and there’s no one to watch my baby! Is Joy free? If not, I guess I can reach out to my sister and see if my nieces or nephew may want to. But no one knows Tyty like Joy does. All his allergies and his particular mood swings. Joy is absolutely the best. I’ll DO ANYTHING IF YOU LET HER BE MY SAVIOR!”

Amity was talking loud enough for the people around Jude to hear. There was a strained look on the Darling’s face. Oddly perfect timing. Suspicious. Her dark gaze went from Damian’s face then to Joy’s, before she simply responded, “It’s her choice.” which was a short version of ‘yes’.

“Thanks so much! We need to have a barbeque or something soon. I miss youuuu! Love you, Juju. I’m out. Byeeeeee.” Click.

“So yeah… we’re just gonna’ get going.” Joy hated to leave her food and milkshake behind, but they could pick something up on the way to wherever. It wasn’t a big deal. “Could you get this to go? I’d love to have it when I get back home!”

“You’re leaving already!?” Melody pouted. They didn’t even get to the juicy stories yet. How upsetting! Just when she felt like her and her son were making up for the past week. He already wants to LEAVE her!

Damian nodded his agreement and looked at his parents, gesturing for them to get out of the way. This was the perfect plot, there was no way this was going to backfire. He was going to have to give Joy his compliments later, and as Connor slid out of the way and pulled Melody out after him so that Damian and Joy could escape, Damian looked at his girlfriend and shook his head, “it’s fine, we can just box it up ourselves. I’m sure the little guy would love some snacks.” He explained grabbing her plate and his and balancing them in his hands as he gestured for her to follow.

Connor looked at his son and shook his head. Damian really was a chip off the old block, wasn’t he? Damian had never thought much of the ‘apple never falls far from the tree’ saying before, but Connor had run all these tricks himself when he was younger. He knew what Damian was doing, but he was honorbound by an agreement he had with his son to not say a word. Better that Damian keep calling when he’s drunk, rather than suddenly not trust his father anymore and get a DUI like that Henry kid. “Have fun babysitting, my bro.” He said in a sarcastic voice, prompting Damian to nod.

“Oh yeah, totally. Hey, baby, can you grab our drinks?” Damian was already headed toward the counter where they had the little boxes. Mentally, Damian O’Connor was checked out of this ‘lunch date’ with their parents.

“Yeah, sure.” With ease, Joy grabbed their mostly drank milkshake and the second one that Mandy brought out because Joy didn’t get any of the first one. Her eyes rested on her father, as she gave him a loving, cheesy grin, “Let’s go paintball soon. Parents versus kids. Doesn’t the sound awesome?” She was standing now and looking at the group that she considered her everything. Her parents and her godparents. She didn’t like telling white lies, but they were necessary for her to have a good time. Plus, her father and mother could use a night with Connor and Melody. They could use a drink and time to relax. “I love you guys.” As if a newfound confidence washed over her, she beamed at all of them before walking away, going to her boyfriend’s side.

They were almost home free, Damian was stuffing their food into the to go boxes, when he heard his godfather’s voice and he turned around to look back at Ender. “Be.” Ender was speaking through gritted teeth, with all the teeth grinding he was doing since those two got together, he was going to need braces in no time. “Careful. Just. Be careful.” He said, picking up his cream soda with a white knuckle grip, which Damian eyed with some degree of concern — was he going to shatter the glass? — before he lifted it up to his mouth and drank from it. Damian nodded slowly.

“Uh, yeah, of course…” He said, closing up the boxes and leading Joy outside. While they exited, Melody took charge and happily laughed, “Sooooo we have so much we need to catch up on! MANDY CAN WE HAVE ALCOHOL IN OUR SHAKES?!” Once they were safely locked into his car, he looked at her and grinned. “Smooth! Good job, I couldn’t handle another ‘story’ from them… I would have lost my goddamn mind.” He started the car and they pulled away from the Sunshine Diner and their parents, and toward freedom.

Wide-eyed, finally with space to breathe, Joy stared ahead, with a large styrofoam cup that held their combined milkshakes. Everything that was discussed was finally hitting her. There was no more embarrassment to distract her. “My mother… lost her virginity… three hours after she met dad.” Her life was turning out to be a big ass LIE! Everything she painted of her mother being such a clean cut, polished woman who rarely entertained topics for degenerates: A FUCKING LIE. “I DON’T KNOW MY MOTHER!” Yeah, Joy wasn’t pleased by this information because she thought she knew everything. She thought she was top shit and could pick up on all the signs. But she had one big oversight with the woman that gave birth to her!

Damian shrugged his shoulders, taking a left. He knew where he was going now, but he had to listen to Joy yell first. That was just part of spending time with women, he knew that already. Damian had spent time with a few women in his lifetime, and one way or another, they all got loud. This was just par for the course! “Well, I mean… our parents were kind of degenerates, did you know that? It’s crazy. And don’t think about it like you don’t know her, just think that you don’t know parts of her, because you still know some things! Just not like, all of them. And that’s cool, you know.” Damian explained, reaching into his box for a french fry and throwing it into his mouth. Besides, from his perspective, it seemed like Joy was missing the important part, “the good news is we’re finally going to get some freakin’ alone time, Joy!”

Yeah, that’s true. Joy shouldn’t worry about not knowing everything, even if she liked knowing everything. She should focus on being grateful, in this moment, that she and Damian could be alone together. The big talk with their parents was over and behind them. It was time to move forward. It was a good thing she had a boyfriend that knew how to handle the worst kind of women — his mother — because someone like Joy in comparison was easy to handle. “Where are we heading to anyways?” She grabbed the plastic spoon and scooped some of the ice cream out of the shake and put it in her mouth. God, this was so good and weirdly enough, a peace was washing over her the further they got away from the diner. She was content.

“I have an idea.” Was all Damian would say in that respect, shrugging his shoulders mysteriously. Life was better with a dash of mystery wasn’t it? That sounded like something his dad would say, and his dad was usually right about a good portion of things. He kept driving, and popped another fry into his mouth. He glanced over at Joy and put his hand on her leg, giving it a little squeeze. They drove in silence for a minute or two, with Damian’s warm hand resting on her thigh, before the car came to a stop, and Damian opened his door, “hey, follow me.” He suggested, leading her out of the car (Dames opened her door, of course).

Damian led her around the buildings, and to their destination, a bench at Venice Beach. Once they sat down, Damian popped open his box of food, draped one arm around her shoulder, and looked out at the ocean. “This is where we’re heading. I figure we can eat, talk, and creepily watch people on the beach.”

Joy couldn’t help but be surprised by him, time and time again. Knowing his reputation, it made this side of him news to her. The romantic side. Up until the New Years Party, they rarely talked, at least not since they were kids. He was the star jock and she was an underrated genius. She carefully and thoughtfully eyed him, as he stared off at the blue azure. With their drink on the ground between them, she grabbed her fork and sliced a piece of pancake with it. Before putting the piece in her mouth, she used this opportunity to apologize for her parents’ overprotectiveness, especially her father’s, “I’m sorry things have been rough for you. My dad still cares. I know he does. You’re just… my first.” And hopefully only.

“Aw, no worries. Sometimes dads get like that, and I’m… you know, used to it.” Damian tore a piece of chicken strip with his mouth, and just shook his head. He knew what Joy was getting at, but he’d dealt with this a bunch of times before. He’d been around girls before, and that meant he’d been around dads before. And dads were predictable, he really should have seen an upset Ender coming from a million miles away — he knew the dude after all. “Trust me, he’ll relax in a while. It might take a week, it might take a long time, it might take a short time… nobody knows, but I’ll deal with it until then, you know? That’s the plan, anyway.”

Slowly, she chewed her pancakes, giving ‘that’ look that her mother gave at the diner table. The one that tried to read behind the expression. The one that was overthinking. He was used to it, wasn’t he? Looking away from him, she focused on the sunsetting. It was weirdly timed, as if mother nature was trying to build an atmosphere she hoped was earnest. “You better be serious about me. I don’t forgive easily.” She ripped off a piece of bacon in her mouth. Love was stupid. It was like she had to trust someone else that wasn’t herself. She knew exactly how she worked. She knew what she liked and how to make herself happy. Now here she was trying to open up her heart to one of the most popular boys at her damn school. Basically begging to be a red target for all the other girls that have fucked him or want to fuck him. How do couples just ‘let go’ and live in the moment? How do they just naturally trust that the other won’t deliberately hurt you? Why the hell was she such a skeptic when it came to love when she had no idea what love was? The questions were driving her insane.

“I’d be surprised if you did forgive easily! Your mom still hasn’t forgiven my dad for something he did like 20 years ago, so… yeah. Don’t worry so much, I’m not un-serious about you. Now, I’m not thinking about marriage or anything, but we’re not even 20! It’d be wild to think about stuff like that already, so just… relax. Eat your pancakes, enjoy the ocean breeze, and look… see that guy? He just dropped his ice cream cone in the sand. Poor fucker.” Damian said, pointing with his chicken strip at a large man out in the sand, who was staring sadly at a lump on the ground. Damian took another bite, and squished Joy closer to him, shaking his head, “remember. No pressure.” While Joy was worried about all of the things she was worried about… Damian was remarkably calm, relaxed, and… well, enjoying the lack of pressure. They were just kids, after all. “We’re gonna go to a hotel room tomorrow, we’re gonna make out, we’re gonna fool around, maybe we’ll have sex, maybe we won’t… Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you talking about that time when your dad sexualized my grandma because of her ‘past’ job?” Joy knew that detail, at least, from her mother’s past. The fact that her grandmother started off as a stripper to take care and raise her. Of course her mother wouldn’t take kindly to one of her friends glorifying that and thinking her grammy Nana would be easy. Her eyes fell on the ice cream on the floor. “Poor dude, for sure.”

“Yeah, that sounds accurate. Truth is, I never got the gory details. I just know that Dad is ‘in trouble’ and has been ‘in trouble’ for a long time. I dunno what that means. Are parents are scuffed as hell, that could be a sex thing for all I know! It’s not important, it’s not. What is important is that you need to make sure you have a nice outfit for our trip. We’ll probably be going to a fancy hotel, which means there will be a fancy dinner place, which means we’ll have to be, temporarily, fancy.” Damian figured he’d ticked off all the boxes, all the important things they needed to worry about for tomorrow. How Joy would take it, he hadn’t considered — but if he had, he would have figured that Joy was probably going to overthink and stress. Damian of course, wasn’t going to do that at all; this was far from his first rodeo. “Good move on getting your aunt to call, by the way. That’s why you’re in AP classes, and I’m not.”

Joy smiled at her boyfriend and nodded, “Admittedly, I never thought I’d use it for sex or any of that. I’ve built a system with them a long time ago so I could be out longer and see my uncle contend. Just a safety thing, y’know? Since my mom worries a lot. Hell, I’ve even used this system to have little adventures with Katie without stressing about what my mom was thinking, which, I’ll need her help if you want me to go all out. She’s better at this kind of stuff. I’d ask my mom, but she has to go on this business trip for this classified prototype. JJ’s too lazy to show his face, so she’s going instead.” Now that she thought about it, this could’ve been another reason why her mother was stressing. She always had to mentally prepare herself for presentations, since she was more ‘approachable’ and ‘welcoming’ than her uncle. Truthfully? This dinner was a tremendously good thing for her and her mother. Joy felt like she was starting to understand her mother better, thanks to Damian.

“With what kind of stuff? Being pretty? That’s up to you, babe.” Damian thought she was already pretty pretty, she didn’t need to go all out, but hey. He wasn’t about to complain. Finishing up the rest of his meal, Damian leaned against the girl who was still eating her — very fucking large — meal, and focused on the ocean and horizon out in front. For the former football captain, the future seemed bright; a big difference from just a week ago.

“Yeah… I want to look nice.” Joy whisperingly replied, her cheeks peeking to a champagne pink. “Hey, Damian?”

“What’s up, buttercup?”

Nervously, she cleared her throat and softly muttered, “I love you.”

The familiar lights of Captain Cuddles greeted Wyatt as his board slowed to a halt in front of the pizzeria. His joint had been left on the side of the road a few minutes earlier, and as he strutted into Captain Cuddle his soft smile indicated a drug induced calm that any of his close friends would spot from a mile away.

Looking around the thriving establishment, Wyatt realized he had no clue who he was meeting. That was fine. It gave him time to get a root beer float. He left his board near the arcade, behind a trash can so no one tried to steal it, and took a seat at the bar, waving down Ty and ordering a root beer float. His messy suit drawing lingering, yet unnoticed, stares from his peers who were also there from movie night, Wyatt’s gaze floated around the pizzeria, waiting for his secret admirer to reveal herself.

Hiding under the ice hockey table, Truly Bliss O’Connor, with her nice, galaxy dress on, widely gazed upon her date. She tried to think of her mother’s words to muster the courage to go near him. He was kind of blurry, because she didn’t have her glasses, but she knew his figure all the same. That was her Wyatt’s lanky body! "I’m the best girl.” She told herself reassuringly, while giving a mental reminder of her three objectives: Date Husband, get a skateboard from Husband, invite Husband over. Okay. Maybe, she was ready. Maybe, she can finally and properly give him a confession and then they can have a grand time! She was the embodiment of confidence. An O’Connor! A GODDESS. She can have whatever she wanted! Spitters aren’t quitters!

Sliding the root beer float down to Wyatt, Ty looked around and surveyed his kingdom… and laid eyes on the girl hidden under the hockey table. Shaking his head, Ty called out. “True… what the hell are you doin’? Get out from under there.” With that, Captain Cuddles himself walked back to the kitchen.

"I, uh—” Before she could give a proper fib, Ty was gone! So, she played it off like she lost a quarter before crawling out from under the table, standing up and brushing off her dress. Her cheeks for flaming in embarrassment, and although she didn’t think blushing was cute, when she did, her soul was visible and out in the open. It complimented her blue eyes and displayed how delicate her sweetness was. A shy smile, full of deep emotion. A real, genuine girl. Awkwardly clearing her throat, she tiptoed her way to Wyatt and with the courage of ‘you just got caught’ she owned up, and sat next to him: "—Hellooooo…”

Wyatt turned to face the owner of the voice, his mug of rootbeer and icecream raised to his lips. He recognized the girl next to him, from the party at the Helmsley’s. What was she doing here? “Hey, uh, I’d love to chat but I’ve got a date who’s meeting me here,” he said. He studied her for a moment longer, noting her sick dress and the look on her face, and finally, put two and two together. “HOLY SHIT! You are her!”

Wyatt waved for Ty and ordered another rootbeer float, for his not so secret admirer, before returning his attention to her. “So, uh, I’m Wyatt,” he said, sticking his hand out to shake. He was beginning to realize he had absolutely no idea what he was doing…

"Yeah, I know…” Very well, actually. She reached for his hand, with both hands and grasped it gently, giving it a timid shake. She was doing it, mommy! Look at her now! "I’m sorry about the, um, boat. This is… new.” She looked at him, as she referred to her feelings and coming out with them. His hands were so soft! BUT she shouldn’t make this awkward. She wanted to hold his hands FOREVER.

Wyatt grinned, sheepishly. “It’s chill, it’s chill. To be honest, this is kinda new for me too.”

Quickly, she released them and immediately went to push strands of red hair behind her left ear. The side closest to him. She stared forward at the massive chalkboard with video game characters drawn on it and today’s specials. While she did so, she faintly swayed her feet, waiting eagerly for his response. The party cruise was super exposing for her. It was the first time he started connecting the dots that he had her! And then the whole red room… was… weird. She discovered a side that she didn’t even know she had. "Truly. My name is Truly.” She couldn’t remember if they exchanged names before, like when he gave her first lesson in skateboarding. Yet, she didn’t mind. She liked when he talked.

“Truly. Truly.” Wyatt let the name roll off his tongue, appreciating the uniqueness of it. “It’s a nice name,” he said, running his hand through his curly mop of dark hair. “So, uh, do you like pizza? The buffet is really good, but you probably already know that.” Wyatt punctuated his response with a nervous laugh, his eyes studying his Converse before returning to her face. It was a nice face.

"Pizza and doritos!” She not so subtly dropped that last part, knowing well enough that Wyatt loved, loved, loved Doritos! She’s taken a huge liking to that chip brand since she got to Beverly Hills High. "Yes! Let’s eat then we can play games! I want to do the go karts and laser tag and DDR!” The nerves seemed to have left True as quick as the came and maybe it’s because she found his shyness adorable and wanted to show him why he was worth loving. After taking a quick slurp of her float, delicious, she spun her bar stool around and hopped off. "You stay RIGHT there. I’ll get us all the pizza!” Her mother’s domestic side was coming in use. True always saw her mommy make daddy’s plate. Actually, her mother made everyone’s plates. Her mommy was GOALS, honestly. She made everyone feel special and True wanted to make Wyatt feel special, loved, and appreciated. Tonight was the night! Go all in or nothing. No more stalker! CLAIM WHAT WAS HER’S.

As she walked away, she chirped back, "Pep and sausage, right? Of course, I’m right.” That wasn’t really asking him or confirming if her research was wrong. She knew she wasn’t wrong, she just wanted to show him how attentive she was, even if he probably had no idea how she knew that.

How had she known? Pepperoni and sausage was his FAVORITE pizza! Was she a mind reader? That would be cool. Wyatt had always thought mind reading was hot. Emma Frost could read minds, and she was most definitely hot. Maybe he’d landed his very own Emma Frost. That would be, beyond cool!

Sipping his float, Wyatt watched as True returned with two plates, stacked with slices of deliciously greasy pizza. Wyatt’s face broke into a grin as True sat down and slid his plate to him. “Thanks! Y’know, if you can read minds, you can tell me. I won’t tell anyone, except for like, A Double because he’d think that’s super cool,” Wyatt said, taking a bite out of one his slices.

Deciding to go with it, she laughed out loud, "Reading minds, good intuition, they’re basically the same thing.” And spending most of her freshman year watching, studying, and grabbing any information she could too. That absolutely helped. "I mean, you’re not so bad at noticing things yourself. You caught me red handed, with the letter.” She took a massive chomp out of her pizza, which was an all meat pizza, disregarding the teachings of being a ‘lady’. She believed if she wanted Wyatt to think about her, a lot, she had to present him with her most casual self. Not a fake True trying too hard to be pretty. Though, she did hope he’d watch one of the cheer practices to see her shaking… her pom poms. Yes, her pom poms.

Wyatt shrugged. “If we’re being honest, my friend Q is the one who clued me in to you. I probably wouldn’t have figured it out on my own,” he said, taking another bite of pizza, and washing it down with his float. “So, what’s your deal? At school I mean? Like, I smoke weed in the janitor’s closet and generally just wreak havoc in class, but what about you?” he asked, smiling as she took another chunk out of her slice. This girl knew the proper way to eat pizza. Quickly.

That was a very interesting question, which had a one word answer. Him. He was her deal. Unfortunately, she felt like that was too forward for their first date. "Haven’t you heard? I’m Damian’s kid sister.” That’s as far as anyone knew her, who weren’t her brother and Kit. "Aside from that, I guess I’m a cheerleader? I rock at DDR. I’m a bit accident prone when I do ordinary tasks. And... I’m good at doing stuff with wood!” What she meant was she had a knack for woodshop. True had no idea wood could also mean dick. Hard dick. That was one thing she knew NOTHING about.

Wyatt cocked his head. This girl was as far from Damian O’Connor as you could get, but now that he’d heard her say it, the resemblance in their faces jumped out at him. Nodding along as she spoke, he smirked as she mentioned her skills with wood. “That’s good to know,” he said, his voice tinged with amusement. “Is it kinda weird, being Damian’s sister? He’s kinda the talk of the town most days,” Wyatt said, in an attempt to find some more common ground. If there was something Wyatt could relate to, it was life in your older siblings’ shadow.

"I mean…” True took a deep swallow of pizza before clearing her throat, "It goes without saying. He’s a god, who handles pressure better than anyone I know. I’m just… me? I’m like so insignificant standing next to my family. They glow and I’m just there. I’ve gotten used to it. So I focus on one thing to keep me happy!” Really, the only goal she needed to reach for was being with him. She could care less about being a star in the night sky. She’d rather be on the ground reaching for her moon. Her Wyatt! Nodding to herself, proud of how eloquent she sounded, she went for some more root beer float.

“I get that. My sister is like this big hot shot surgical resident who’s probably gonna cure cancer, and my brother is a starter for UCLA, and I’m just kind of always in their shadow. I kinda feel like there’s always some bar that I’m not reaching. Well, not kinda. I know I’m not reaching it,” he said. He realized after a moment, how depressing he sounded, and tried his best to redirect the situation. “Why don’t we go play DDR? I want to see your moves,” he said, plastering a smile onto his face.

Taking note of how quickly he diverted from the topic, the little redhead didn’t press on. Instead, she grabbed a napkin to wipe the grease off her hand and obediently nodded, "Sure, let’s dance.” After hopping off the barstool once more, like the light at the end of a dark tunnel, she offered her hand for him to grab. "Ready to get your butt kicked?!”

Wyatt smiled and took her hand. “I can think of worse people to lose to,” he said. He followed her through the maze of arcade games, before they came to a stop in front of the two player Dance Dance Revolution! 4 machine. Stepping on, Wyatt fed quarters into the machine, and used his foot to select the competition mode. He chose Centerfold as the song, because it was truly the best song DDR had to offer. Everyone knew that. “I’ll try to go easy on you, but no promises. These feet have a mind of their own,” he joked.

"Whatever you say, hu--” Oops. She stopped herself from saying hubby. That would’ve surely scared him off. Without True’s glasses, this could’ve been a daunting task but she’s played this game so much at this point that she’s memorized all the songs and every level’s moves. She was getting kind of kiddy, to be honest. This was something she’s only dreamt about and now it was actually happening. There was no doubt she was on cloud nine.


The track began. Her body was ready! While they danced, her breathing was steady even for their fast steps and like no big deal while she got Marvelous, Perfect, and Great, she chatted away, "Hey. So I’ve been meaning to ask you. I really like skateboarding and I think we should continue lessons. Problem is I need a skateboard. Ma supports my endeavors and I think that’ll give us another reason to spend time together, since like… I like this.”

This girl was a god. Her feet moved so fast, it was like she wasn’t even thinking about it. As Wyatt did his best to keep up, he inevitably began to fall behind as conversation picked up. He didn’t care though. Like he’d said, there were worse people to lose to. “That can totally be arranged! I work at Wheelz N’ Dealz, so I can hook you up,” he said, making a desperate lunge to place his foot on the forward arrow. “And, uh, for what it’s worth, I like this too. You’re like, super chill.”

"Awesome!” True widely grinned, while quickly bringing her eyes down to check the butt, before looking back at Wyatt’s face. He had such a nice butt. Man, she loved his butt. Bringing her attention back to winning him over, she went on to flex some of her best friend’s knowledge. Thank god she had a video gamer for a friend. “Did you know that Halo was originally developed for macintosh, but after Microsoft saw the trailer and gameplay reveal, they bought bungie, which as you should know is the company that developed Halo.” She paused for a second, her feet still moving at an incredibly fast speed. Her gaze never looked away from him, “You look like you play Halo! Anyways, they did that to make the game as a release title for their upcoming console, the WEP - windows entertainment project - which was later named the Xbox. Isn’t that neat?” She’d have to thank Kit later.

Wyatt was ecstatic. He was pretty sure this girl had sprung from his head, because she was literally the girl of his dreams. She knew his favorite pizza, she played video games, and she was also probably a mind reader. “I love Halo! That’s like, the most classic game in the world! I play like, a fuckton of Overwatch now, but I was raised on Halo,” he said.

“Oh you play Overwatch? I love that game too!” She lied. What the fuck was an Overwatch?! Mayday. Mayday. She’d need Kit to teach her asap! Let’s hope her video game slang doesn’t fail her now, “Like, maybe sometime this weekend we should party up?

“Dude! Let’s do it! I’m a Genji main, but like, I’m pretty good with Moira too, and Orisa. Fuck Soldier though!” Wyatt said, losing himself in the video game lingo.

The DDR game came to an end, as Wyatt missed the last step, and True was declared the winner, her score far surpassing Wyatt’s. “You’re hella good. I’m kinda jealous. Maybe you can teach me how to move like that,” the dark haired boy said, stepping off of the platform and offering his hand to the redhead.

OooooOOoooOooooh! This time he offered! And if she was smart enough, she’d leave the Overwatch topic far, far behind and distract him with something else. He was speaking sorcery! She couldn’t bullshit that hard. If only she had Kit in an earpiece, just telling her what to say. Then she could keep impressing him like it was nothing.

Excitedly, she reached for his hand and held it tightly. This time she wasn’t nervous, like she was when he was teaching her how to skate. True felt like she could grab his hand whenever she wanted and that was a fantastic feeling. “We have all the time in the world for me to teach you moves like Jagger! Here or at my place if you want to come over, y’know… we have options.” BOOM. MOMMY. SHE DID IT!

As Wyatt began to lead True through the arcade, he spotted two familiar faces. The beanie clad Q, and the relaxed face of one A Double Bishop were floating between games, and Wyatt wasted no time getting their attention. “Qster! A Double! Come meet my date!” he shouted, drawing easily ignored stares from the other attendees.

A Double was a little preoccupied. After all, he and Q had to plan a video game tournament now, all so she could pull the person that beat her high scores out of the wood works and try and get her to play arcade games with her. To A Double, it seemed like he was going to do a lot of work for something that was really miniscule, but he didn’t care that much… the important part was that it was making Q happy!

When Wyatt spoke up, A Double looked a little confused when he responded, but when didn’t he look like that? When his mind and eyes refocused, he smiled. Friend! “Yeah, sure thing, man. Where is she? C’mon.” He tugged at Q. Regardless of what they were doing then and there, A Double had to support his friend in every endeavor, this one included.

“Y’all, this is True! She’s hella chill, so like, you’ll like her,” he said grinning.

Q smiled, the easy smile that came when she was stoned. “Sup, True,” Quincy said, offering with her left hand, her other one wrapped tightly around A Double’s waist.

With her free hand, which was also her left, True twisted her hand a little to give the pretty girl an awkward handshake. “It’s nice to meet you… Qster? And A Double! Um, if you don’t mind me asking, what are your actual names? My name is Truly Bliss O’Connor and I was named after my mom’s best ‘orgasm’!”

A Double stared at her.

A Double looked at Q, he looked at Wyatt… he looked back at True and cleared his throat. “My name is A Double. This is Q.” He reiterated, glancing at Wyatt and Q after speaking. Did Wyatt get with one of the ‘special’ kids? Like, special-er than A Double himself?

“Really? I was named after the doctor at the fertility clinic who was in charge of artificially inseminating the egg I came from. Pretty dope, not gonna lie,” Wyatt said, grinning at True. Q shot A Double a look, but kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t sure if this was a match made in heaven, or a pair of complete crazies. Probably both.

“Y’know, since you guys are here, we should play a game of laser tag. I love laser tag!” Wyatt said, leaping off the ground with excitement, and looking towards the alcove where kids were already lining up to get inside the blacklight arena. His best friends, and the girl of his dreams playing laser tag together was easily the best idea ever. It was truly the best of both worlds.

True’s cheeks flushed when the boy named A Double said that their names were literally what it sounded like. Maybe she shouldn’t have answered that question. There was a moment where her anxiety and sadness crept in, but she shook it off when Wyatt mentioned laser tag. “Yes, lets! I love a good ol’ game of laser tag. Though I’ll never beat my bestie. She’s like the best at every game she touches. She rocks at all these machines.” True’s expression was completely serious and determined to one day be in the league of Kit. It would be hard, but since her lover liked games, she had to! He can only have the best and Kit was the best at one thing he loved. “Also, I really like your name Wyatt.” She simpered.

“Oh, uh, I don’t know if we got time for laser tag. See, we got here, and this new person had wiped out all of the high scores, and Q wants to find them? You can see it if you go check all the machines… the high scores as all ‘A, S, S,’ and ‘H, O, L.’ Which is pretty funny, but uh, Q’s plan is to bring her to play Tekken in a Tekken tournament at Burntown and then meet her? I dunno. Ty said we’d like her because she smelled like weed.” Well, they did have a type.

At the mention of beating ‘A, S, S’ and ‘H, O, L’ at Tekken, True couldn’t help but burst out in laughter. To the point of tears. Did they seriously think they were going to beat Kit at her best game? Oh god. This was priceless. She had to see this. This was going to be a must watch. Kit was going to make them kiss the very dirt they walked on. Wiping the tears out of her eyes with her freehand, she apologized, “Oh I’m sorry. I just thought of something really funny… and like… I know the person you want to battle. Like I said not moments ago, my best friend is a beast at games, meaning she’s the person that wiped out all the high scores.”

Q stared in amazement at True, as if she’d just admitted to being on a first name basis with Jesus Christ himself. She knew Kit. The heathen who’d taken her top score, the unbeatable video game god. “Well, your friend is a fucking god. Assuming it’s really her. If she shows up for the tournament, we’ll see her skills I guess.” She crossed her arms and turned to look at A Double. “Comeon babe, a round won’t hurt.”

“A Dubs, you know you can’t resist! A lil laser tag, and hey, first hits go to the couple who wins!” Wyatt said, pulling a tightly rolled, heavily packed joint from his pocket.

“Uh, okay. I can play a round I guess.” A Double said, relenting. Not that it was very hard to get him to agree to, well, anything. He was very much a reactive person, rather than a proactive one. “Let’s get that bread.”

Blaring out of the surround sound stereo in the Lyons’ living room, and ultimately throughout the whole house, was Girlfight Remix by Brooke Valentine, featuring Lil Jon, Da Brat, Remy Ma, & Miss B. Kylie Lyon, mother lion of Owen and Ruby, wasn’t even listening to the song because she had nose cancelling black and red gaming headphones on. The bodacious mother was too busy listening to DEATH and DESPAIR to care about whatever was on her daughter’s playlist.

Kylie still couldn’t believe her daughter was taking a semester off to ‘do what she wants’. Why were they paying for her to go to college anyways? It was only her freshman year! And why did TROY act like it was no big deal?! Like Ruby convinced him without much effort at all… what the fuck was that talent? He didn’t even put up a fight! It’s like… Ruby was just like her. God it was annoying. Why couldn’t she be more like her father! Scratch that. There was enough anger in this household. She didn’t need another Troy or Owen.

Oh-my-god! Don’t even get her started with HER SON and that, that.. that thing! She couldn’t believe he was doing this to himself again! She couldn’t believe he’d allow someone that literally crushed his soul back into his life. Ky was honestly fucking grateful she was home-schooled for most of her life. She didn’t have anyone ‘make’ her break up with Troy. If anything, he found her and from that point on they were inseparable. Sure, they had some hiccups that are unimportant and he almost was going to leave her but now they’re married and happy. And THAT’S HOW THINGS SHOULD BE.

Her PC was connected to the massive flat screen TV while she played DOOM, ignoring everyone that could be in her house. This was her time. Those who knew better, knew Kylie rarely had opportunities to be in her element because she was too busy being a nosey housewife, meddling in her neighbors’ affairs. She was in the zone and wreaking havoc in Kadingir Sanctum. It was obvious why she was here. Kylie, gamer girl since forever, was here to kill, murder, and destroy the forces of hell because fuck them. Fuck ALL of them. She needed something violent to let out all this tension and later she’d fuck her husband to sleep. This week had been unreasonably stressful. She wore a black shirt and Troy’s plain navy blue boxers. On the desk in front of her were edible brownies, fried oreos, and a nice, hard bourbon drink cocktail called The Vow of Silence that paired nicely with the chocolate. Yeah, she’d cheat on her diet. What was the worst her husband would do to her? Besides SPANK her. And maybe, she needed it.

Ophelia knew they were making a mistake before they’d even entered the house. She could smell it in the air when they stepped up to the Lyon’s den, and she looked over at Trixie with a raised eyebrow before holding up a finger. She reached into her purse, digging around for a second, before withdrawing a bag, of Sour Patch Watermelon, which she shoved into Trixie’s hand. “Here. I’m gonna do you a solid, I’m gonna take all the initial heat. These are her favorite candies, just give them to her to ease the blow, okay? This is dangerous. I can hear it from here, she’s playing games. We’re walking into the pit of anger right now, the stomach of despair. We’re not going to get out of there safely, okay? Don’t expect to walk out of here without a few hits. This isn’t going to be like with me, or with Owen. There’s no guaranteed happy ending…”

Ophelia grabbed both of Trixie’s hands, and squeezed them tight. “Just remember this, and keep it close to your heart. Use it on her if you need to: I fucked you. Me, Ophelia. You didn’t burn Owen on purpose, I made you burn him. We can make this work! But it’s hard, she’s a mother. And you never, ever tell your mother something bad about your S.O., because they’ll never forget! You gotta put all the pressure on me, and I’ll take it. I deserve it, it’s fine. You have candy.” Ophelia gave Trixie a quick kiss on either cheek, and looked toward the door.

“Ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Trixie responded with exasperation. She knew she shouldn’t be annoyed, irritated, and pissed, but it was hard not to! She was facing the consequences and she hated it. In order to handle Kylie, she’d have to simmer her fire but right now it was her fire that got her this far. Was she scared? Not really. She wanted to be with Owen and nothing was going to stop her anymore. Not even his mother. She’d own up to her mistakes, but she wasn’t going to retreat and break up with him if Kylie demanded her to. Fuck that shit. Her brown gaze rested on her gorgeous blonde friend who was visibly scared for her and wanted to take all the hits. Shaking her head, Trixie added, “If you’re going down, I’m coming with you. I’m the one that wrote Cowardly Lyon. Not you. I’m the one that gave Jamie permission to air out our baggage. Not you. Ultimately, I’m the one that broke her son’s heart. Not you.”

“Yeah, sure, but I’m the one that did what that crazy ass bitch Hailey told me to do, so that one’s on me. Don’t worry about it, we got this.” Ophelia explained, patting Trixie on the shoulder, before she turned and opened the door. She wasn’t about to knock, because she knew how loud it was in there — there wasn’t a chance in hell that any of them would hear her. With any luck, Troy would be sitting in the kitchen, drinking something heavy, and they’d have a chance at getting him to defuse the situation… but that was shot when Ophelia saw no one sitting there. “Great, well… to the living room, my dear.”

From behind them, a curious minx with a dress on that showed more skin than not, approached the guests with a martini in hand. There was no sound of footsteps because she was barefoot and there was loud music playing throughout the household, “I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.” The college redhead suggested, with her ‘sounds like a stripper’ voice. “If you do, at least have a martini with me.” She gestured toward the kitchen bar. Trixie turned to see Owen’s sister and mentally thought: oh great. Ophelia knew that Trixie wasn’t fond of Ruby, for reasons being she liked toying with everyone, including her brother, which she had a weird, intimate relationship with.

“Hello, Ruby.” Trixie snarled, trying to hide her disdain.

“Hey Trixie-poo. You look good. You lose like ten pounds since I last saw you?” The lioness playfully teased, while making a jab at Trixie’s weight.

“I didn’t know you were back, Ruby, did hell freeze over?” Ophelia and Ruby were… at odds, to say the least, but it was basically par for the course for them. They were friends! In fact, in some ways, Ruby was her mentor — but they were that kind of friends, which meant that they were just… not nice to each other. “Is your mother that bad, right now? This is kind of important. We’re already doing the exact opposite of what Owen told us to do — which is leave my house and come here so we could argue and get Kylie to stop hating Trixie so that Owen can date her without Kylie whining in her ear. It’s gonna be a hard fought battle, but dammit it’s a battle we’re prepared to fight.”

“Wouldn’t it make sense for Trixie to do this on her own? Or does she really need you to hold her hand through this? I mean WHATEVER. You guys can do what you want, but this doesn’t seem like your battle, Fifi.” Ruby maliciously retorted, which was only making Trixie’s anger increase. Balling her hand into a fist, the latina held her tongue. She needed to calm down or this was going to blow way out of proportion. Was Ruby just here to be an instigator? Make things worse?

Taking a deep breath in and then out, Trixie looked at Lia and reluctantly agreed, “She has a point.”

“Even broken clocks are right twice a day, I suppose.” Ophelia admitted, eyeing Ruby. Ruby had a point, but Ophelia wasn’t sure about sending Trixie to battle the wolves on her own… She sighed and relented, looking at Ruby, and gesturing toward the kitchen. “Wanna have a drink?” She suggested, and without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Ruby by the arm and spun her round, leading her back to the kitchen. “Let’s catch up.”

While the two other teenagers walked the opposite direction, Beatrix turned her body to face the door. This was it. This was where she died. Knowing well enough Kylie wouldn’t hear her if she knocked, she cautiously opened the door, tiptoed inside, and closed the door behind her. Whatever happened after this point was all on her.

Ruby leaned on the counter, already with her martini in hand, and gave her dear friend an impish giggle, “So your life has gotten pretty damn interesting, huh? I’m curious. Why’d you do it? Why’d you listen to the great and almighty Hailey? When I found out the deets, I was like WOW that is extremely out of character for you.”

“Well, you know what they say about friends. Sometimes they make you do crazy shit — like fail zoology because you stopped going into class since the final was ‘so easy’ so you could party with them all night, and then you failed the final anyway… so you lie to Daddy and say you’re taking a semester to ‘find yourself,’ but really you failed out and you’re spending the tuition money on lingerie and alcohol…” Ophelia paused and frowned, pulling a banana off of the fruit basket, “oops, was that too real?”

This made Ruby’s full and painted red lips go into a wide grin. Still as smart as ever. This is why she adored Ophelia Brycen. Taking a long, leisure sip of her drink, the eldest Lyon listened to the music abruptly pause and her mother hiss, “What the fuck do you want? Can’t YOU see I’m KILLING SHIT!!?”

Ah. Her mother was in the best sexual moods. The kind where she just needed it rough to calm the fuck down. Where was daddy when mommy needed him? “That’s a bingo!” Ruby had no shame of her fuck ups. Honestly, she believed her father did know she was a wild card, but hey, she was her mother’s daughter and she got what she wanted. “At least I know where my priorities are. Do you?”

“Just please, can you HEAR ME OUT?! Shut the fuck up for one second! Sorry! But LISTEN for ONCE to someone that isn’t YOURSELF.”

“Trix is gonna’ die.” Ruby laughed to herself.

“We all die so we can live. Or something like that, I dunno. Plus, if there’s one thing I know about Trixie, it’s that she’s really good at yelling loud and forcing people to pay attention to her. Just give her a minute…” Ophelia said, nodding her head matter of factly as she peeled the banana, and chomped off the first bite. Then, she rolled her eyes and went back in on the important part of the conversation: talking to Ruby. “Yes, I know where my priorities are. Graduating high school unscathed, duh.”

“How’s that panning out for you? Aren’t you like a huge disappointment to Auntie Belle now?” Ruby grabbed the stick with the olives on them and slid one off with her tongue and straight into her mouth. “Looks like you won one battle.” She gestured toward the door where Trixie was, “But have you talked to the other sweet, ‘all-for-love’ Candies?”

“You have a solid MINUTE or I’m calling the cops!”

“Wow that’s a bit irrational but okay.”

“I mean ‘huge?’ Huge is a strong word if you ask me. I talked with Cassie, and that’s the important one. Plus, there’s this new little girl we’ve been hanging out with, so I think the Candies are still sickly sweet, don’t you worry.” Another bite of the banana. Ophelia wasn’t sure how they always got to this point, but here they were. Ruby was like a 14 year old in an almost 20 year old body… So frustrating. “Have you told your mom you’re most likely not going back to college? That sounds like a fun conversation, doesn’t it?”

Leaning up, eating the last olive on her stick, Ruby shrugged, “She’ll be fine. I know my mother better than anyone besides daddy. She doesn’t really have the right to talk because she rides the coattails of him, anyways. I have better things to do than waste my youth and my parents’ money at such an elitist school.” Tossing the stick on the counter, the dynamite made her way to Ophelia and brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face, “Hm, is Cassie your eye candy?” This would be news to her if Ophelia actually found someone, but then again, this was a time of love. Both Hailey and Henry were pretty whipped themselves.

“Your son is punishing me enough… yet you KNOW I make him happy. Why isn’t that enough for you? You should know better than anyone that Owen IS Troy’s son and regardless of what YOU say, he’s going to do what HE wants. And come on, Kylie. I shouldn’t have taken my insecurities out on anyone, but I’m just a kid. And I know I fucked up. I did the worst thing to your son. But even fuck ups deserve a second chance. I just. I don’t know. I was so afraid of being in someone’s shadow and when Hailey and Ophelia took me in their wing, I felt like I could conquer the world. Didn’t Belle make you feel that way? Mrs. O’Connor too? I had not only the pressure of living up to my mom and dad’s legacies, but the pressure of walking the halls like you did! And I guess, I forgot what really mattered in the process. I know now, Kylie. I know that the most important person to me is Owen and I promise you I will never hurt him like I did.”

“That’s a hard promise to keep.”

“So you’re gonna come here and fuck high school kids, dads you babysit for, and old divorced men? I know your play Ruby. I don’t agree with it, but I respect it. And for Cassie… I dunno. I’m not sure. Maybe she is.” Ophelia took a step back from Ruby, shaking her head, and pointing at her hair. “Don’t touch the hair. It takes time to look this good, and you should know that you thot.” She said, somewhat defensively — what, it was a big deal!

“I’m a whore and proud of it. And of course I’m going to fuck and gold dig. God didn’t give me this body for no reason. Maybe I’ll get back into dramatic soap operas like when I was small. The world is my oyster and as long as I have other people’s money, I can do what I want. Travel. Star in movies. Or simply just have sex. That sounds like a perfect life to me!” With no shame, Ruby admitted, guzzling down the rest of her drink, before snickering and adding, “Oh? I’d love to meet her. Maybe I will. I’m sure I will.” She teased and winked, already setting a goal for herself to infiltrate her old highschool.

“Uh- I’m sorry. Don’t cry. Hey you want a hug?”

“Yeah, this is what BHHS needed. The real shot in the arm… Do you really think that there’s someone who’s, you know of age that’ll hook up with you? Almost everyone is shipped! You’ve seen the wall!” She’d worked hard on that wall for just this sort of situation, and now Ruby was just… being herself. “Don’t even think about getting in there and trying to ruin some of my carefully curated ships! I worked hard on these things.” Ophelia barked, waving a finger in Ruby’s face. The girl may have been graduated, but Ophelia wasn’t about to let her actively ruin what she’d worked to create! “Henry is taken now, and he was your best bet.”

“You make me sound ancient and I'm just TWO years older than you." Ruby glowered, hating the idea of losing her charm and beauty. Hating the idea of being old. “If your ships are so ‘solid’ let’s put them to the test. Do you really believe young love will last forever? Hell, I still feel like Owen and Trixie have trials ahead, even if they’ve gotten over their biggest one yet.” Fifi was so boring now. How was she going to confirm love was true if there wasn’t anything to make love strong? These poor high school students were caught up in fantasy land. They truly believed in happily ever after. Ha! It was laughable honestly.

“Okay… I’m better… do you want a brownie?”

“It has weed in it, doesn’t it?”

“JUST TAKE IT.”

“Okay, okay fine.”

The redhead chortled, hearing where the conversation had gone, “Looks like my brother will have a girlfriend HIGH on life.”

“I mean, PRETTY MUCH, yeah. My parents, your parents, Joy’s parents, Scott’s parents, AJ’s parents… all those parents met in high school. Young love is the truest of loves, after all.” Ophelia said with a wistful sigh, before she looked toward the living room with an exasperated glance. Looking back at Ruby, she shook her head, “it’s not my fault your sugar daddy broke your heart, don’t take it out on me! Just find another one. There’s a website for that, did you know that?”

“Yes, actually. But what I do with my life is none of your concern and you might have a skewed perception of love because of our relatives, but our family is only a small piece of the real world. You can believe in your disney story, and I’ll believe in myself.”

Before anyone could continue, the door opened and Kylie was holding the plate of brownies with one hand and her other hand was around Trixie’s waist. “What are you girls talking about? Here have a brownie.” The mother of the house put the plate on the kitchen island and wrapped her arms around Trixie in a loving embrace.

“Just catching up, mommy dearest.” That fake smile was plastered on Ruby’s beautiful face. There was a fire in her eyes. Ophelia had hit a cord. Trixie glanced from her friend to her maybe-sister-in-law and felt the tension near immediately. Pushing the plate closer to the girls, Trixie added to Kylie’s offer, “It’s pretty damn good.”

Ophelia took one of the brownies and shook her head. This was a bad plan, but whatever — it couldn’t get worse, could it? She grabbed it, and took a bite, before looking at Trixie. “Let’s get back to my house before Owen gets home.”

In The Secret Tea Garden, which was right behind Heartfelt Bites Bakery, both owned by his mother, Miles Michaelson laid his head on the table in absolute depression. He couldn’t believe he lost a whole volume. He hadn’t even scanned it to his computer yet. Why live honestly? At least he helped Nero out with his whole new band expedition. That gave him a little bliss, but, man, that doesn’t change the daunting fact that he had to draw 150 pages all over again, assuming he could even remember everything! This was the worst. The absolute worst. How did he lose it anyways?!

Across from him, with his laptop open and the school newspaper beside it, Riley went to grab a hand sandwich on the top tier platter between him and his friend. They both were here to study together, while Miles’ mother, Chrissa, who was a good friend to Riley’s father, Remy, hosted Afternoon Tea, which was a British tradition. It’s a mini-meal composed of sandwiches, delicately cut into fingers, scones with clotted cream and jam, sweet pastries and cake. It was midday on a Friday and Riley had a lot to consider.

Brian Helmsley had given him homework so that they could make The Morning Show polished, focused, and worth the legacy. Something that will live on forever even after Riley graduates. The Morning Show has always been a place for announcements and news, first the short-version going live in the morning, and then the full-length show being put on the school’s youtube channel later. Brian said he’d take care of the weekly special guests, since now the dude was the unofficial-official producer, but Riley had to give him a list of segments and ideas that he thought would benefit the school, while still keeping it thematic per week. So far, his biggest focus was being inclusive and getting another partner to stand beside him and Brynn. Plus, if one of them were sick, the other could pick up where they left off. This was Brian’s way of saying: you need help, don’t put all the pressure on yourself. On the doc, he quietly typed ‘Gwen?’ with his free hand, before his dark gaze went to the Newspaper that showcased Jamie’s article. They had a lot to clean up — especially if they didn’t want their school to get even worse.

That, of course, wasn’t all that was on Riley’s mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about the interaction with Hailey and her girlfriend, Hana. After the conversation they shared, he’d have to admit he actually liked her. It doesn’t excuse her for the fucked up shit she did because she disliked people telling her what to do and how to do it, which was not Jamie’s place to air out, but… he could see why Trixie and Ophelia like her, or well liked her. Like she wasn’t completely hellbent in making the school her’s. Like she was more down to Earth than people gave her credit for. Like she didn’t choose being ‘Queen’ it chose her. Now that he thought about it, the only reason why she took the crown was simply because people gave it to her. She was a Green. Only a fool would not take the opportunity to build their own legacy in this school full of legends. He knew for a fact, people will be talking about Hailey even after she graduates. She made her mark. For better or for worse. She did. So, does that really make her a bad person if everyone’s perception of her from the get-go was royalty? She was. And she knew it.

Taking a bite of his sandwich, Riley glanced up from his laptop and set his sights on his ridiculously talented artist friend, “You haven’t touched anything. Not even the cake. And you love cake.”

With a baby whine, Miles pouted, “I KNOWWWW. I DOOOO.” But he didn’t have an appetite, which was odd for him. “I just feel like this is the end. I put so much effort into my stories and then like the idiot I am, I lose my work!”

“I’m sure it’ll come around. You put your name on the binder right?”

“No… just my initials.” Miles banged his head on the table. He was defeated. Absolutely ruined.

Riley shaking his head at his friend, simply shrugged, and offered, “I can make an announcement all next week, if that’ll make you feel better.”

Suddenly, like a puppy, Miles perked up and his eyes widened, “You’d do that for me?!” Maybe his life wasn’t all over! Riley did have an amazing platform, after all. This could be the solution to all his problems! Even though he only had one!

“Yeah, of course. Now eat some of this food. I can’t do it by myself.” As if Riley had just given Miles the medicine he needed to feel temporarily better, the blonde dug in, immediately going for the last tier which had the sweeter things on it.

Elliott had decided on the drive over to The Secret Tea Garden that he desperately needed his own friends. Ivy had been talking for a solid fifteen minutes about Becca Helmsley and her date with Lawrence Townsend, which he had absolutely zero interest in. Of course, when he’d tried to mention that to Ivy, she’d hushed him, and continued on. It wasn’t like he needed a whole squad, just, people who were not his sister.

Tea had been Ivy’s idea, and while he’d done his best to refuse, preferring the comfort of his bed, she’d dragged him along anyway. Something about him being a homebody, and how tea was good for the imagination. He’d admit, he’d hit a wall on his novel, and he could use something to clear his head. Thus, he was standing at the counter with Ivy, waiting for a cup of green tea.

“So, don’t look now, but I think I see one Miles Michaelson out there,” she said, a playful smirk spreading across her face. Elliot flushed a deep shade of crimson, peeking out the glass door into the garden seating area, confirming his sister’s observation. He stared at his sister, scowling.

“You meddle. You’re a meddler, you know that?” he said as the woman behind the counter slid his and Ivy’s cups out.

“Oh my god, what, you think I planned this? You think I overheard Riley and Miles talking about meeting here after school and so I pretended to want tea to force you into interacting with Miles? Really?”

“That’s exactly what I think,”

“Well, you’re wrong about one thing. I really did want tea,” she said, laughing her mirthful cackle, and dragging Elliott outside. She skipped up to Riley and Miles’ table and pulled up two seats, grinning the entire time, while a mortified Elliott begrudgingly followed along. This was happening one way or the other.

“Hey Miles, Riley! Fancy seeing you guys here,” she said, taking a sip from her cup. Elliott gave a silent wave and a nod to the both of them, his face still flushed red. How could this get worse? “Whatcha doing?”

Oh great. Riley closed his laptop, not one to share his plans openly with others, and blankly stared at the Nichols. Both in his year. Both with vastly different reputations. The youngest one at this table now was the artist that only moments ago had a breakdown but found himself happily chomping at pastries. Or sad eating. Riley had yet to determine which one yet. The Wells boy took it upon himself to know as many faces as he could at their school and network with some of the more talented people, like Miles, because their talents might come in use in the future.

He didn’t find use in a party girl, who was in the shadows of Shauna and Not-Shauna in the theater club, and Cassie in the Fashion club. She was the token raver, but at a school like this… being someone that ‘partied hard’ didn’t really make you special. As for her brother, he was incredibly smart, matched Joy Darling in GPA, and if Riley wasn’t mistaken, he was in the Photography club with Rose Powers. Throughout the year, he did recall catching sight of Elliot writing in random places, privately. A loner that wanted to stay that way. Still, he seemed like an okay dude with skills that could come in handy for Riley, eventually. And, well, the moment Miles saw the boy with the beanie, he lit up even more. Miles was a good judge of character.

“Elliot! Ivy! Please help yourselves.” The sophomore offered the food at the center of the table to his juniors. “If we finish it all, we can get more! My mum works here.”

“I was going to help him with his term paper on how pop culture trends influence youth but he’s been kind of too busy thinking about—”

“This paper is boring. I just want to draw, which reminds me why I’m sad.” He stuffed his face with a macaron. Okay, he was sad eating.

Ivy grinned. “Elliott, didn’t you do your term paper on that last year? Or was that mine? Either way, Elliott wrote it. He’s a great writer!” she said, playfully nudging her brother.

Elliott sighed, and leaned forward to grab a sandwich finger. “That was Victoria’s paper, which I also wrote. Honestly, Mrs. Hatchet needs to start offering new prompts, they’re always way too easy. But yeah, I got an A. I focused a lot on social media, and how distorted it makes our lives seem, and then tied that into some research I did on mental health in teens. Wasn’t too hard,” Elliott said, shrugging. School came easy to him, so much so that he often forgot that others didn’t feel the same.

“What’s got you down Miles?” she asked. Half of her wanted to mention how good Elliott was at making boys happy, but even she knew that was pushing it.

With that confidence, maybe Elliot should help Miles instead of Riley. Riley had enough going on and here he was worrying about the school image thanks to HOT, the Elite, Candyland, and fuck, just everyone at this stupid ass school. Finishing his sandwich, Riley wiped his fingers on his napkin and grabbed the school newspaper while all attention was on Miles. He scanned the article and thought back at the New Years party, the moment he shared with Marshall in the closet and then Jamie awkwardly witnessing it. It’s not what it looks like

“I misplaced my binder. With my most recent volume, for my pride and joy. Dread. I don’t know what happened to it. But it’s really the only thing I care about that isn’t my friends. School is boring so I have C’s in every class. Ma says if I don’t bring up my grades she’s going to take away my tablet. What’s the point if she takes away another thing from me!? First my binder goes missing. Next my mom gets all strict. What’s next?! My hands breaking????!”

Not looking away from the newspaper, Riley reached for his hibiscus tea and sighed, “Stop being dramatic. Your mother is too sweet. She probably just cried while looking at your grades and you felt bad.”

“Well yeah! Okay. She didn’t actually tell me to study harder… but I want to. I don’t like making her sad.” Miles frowned, as he looked to the Nichols with earnest desperation.

“Elliott could tutor you? Right El?” she said, looking over at her brother, a self-impressed look in her eye. God, she was smug.

“Uh, yeah, I could, if you wanted,” he said. His gaze drifted over to Riley and the paper, and he moved to bring up something that Ivy had made him all too familiar with, despite his disinterest. “That’s Jamie’s article? Talk about a shakeup, right?” he said, chuckling. He could talk schoolyard gossip with the best of them thanks to Ivy and Vic, and if they could go on for hours about it, it must be interesting to some people. He had been saying how he needed new friends.

Unfortunately for Elliot, Riley was far from the gossiper and he placed the newspaper down on his closed laptop, “Yeah, a shake up in poor taste.” With a distant expression, Riley scrutinized the bookworm with his dark, void-filled gaze, “I thought Jamie was better than this, but I guess we all get caught up with other people’s business.” Instead of making things right, the Newsie threw gasoline on the fire. A fire that Riley wanted to simmer down with his show.

While Riley wasn’t playing along with whatever Elliot’s goal was, Miles was oblivious and in his own world, “We should all study together! I know Riley could boost up his grades in math!”

“...you didn’t have to disclose that. Don’t worry. I can ask my brother.”

“But come onnnnn Riley, I just want a reason to go to your house and eat your dad’s food! Elliot would love your house! Please, pleaseeeeee, pleaseeeeeeeee.” Was Miles being serious right now? Openly inviting the Nichols to his house? Sure, his Dad would love it and cook for an army, but it wasn’t HIS place to do so.

“I don’t care.”

“I’ve had less enthusiastic invites,” Ivy said. The party girl smirked, and reached for a napkin. “Pen please,” she said, holding her hand out. She knew her brother carried a pen on him pretty much all the time, one of the quirks that made him so him. Elliott gawked at her, but Ivy pressed on, “Pen!” Elliott fished a pen out of his pocket, and placed it in Ivy’s hand, and she scribbled two numbers on the napkin. Ripping it in half she handed one side to Miles. “That’s El’s number,” she said, and passed the other piece to Riley, “and that’s mine.” She winked at Riley, as Elliott’s blush made a return. He’d thank her later. “Let us know when you guys want to get this little study group together again. Like I said, Elliott’s a genius.”

Taking the napkin from her, Riley gave her a half-hearted smile, not really knowing why she felt it was necessary to give him her number when it was Miles who needed the study help. Apathetically, he responded, “... thanks.”

“This is so exciting!” Miles gleamed, as he looked from Riley then to Ivy then to Elliot, “Maybe I can share with you my comics too! And Riley has a lot of Gundam and action figures!”

_{“Thank you, Miles…”}

“Oh and if you’re dope at puzzles, so is my boyyyyyyy. I can never finish a puzzle. It’s sad really.”

“Can you stop?!” Riley hated having friends. What was the point when they shared too much?! Miles’ eyes widened and he gave a cutesy whimper, “I just thought it would be nice for you to have more friends.”

“I’d, uh, really like to see those comics. And, I’m not bad at puzzles. Actually, I’m like, really good,” Elliott said, looking between Miles and Riley. Ivy, soon to be known as the worst wingwoman ever, of course had to butt in.

“And I’m, really, really friendly,” she said. She wasn’t entirely sure what Gundam was and she didn’t play with action figures, but she liked boys, and Riley was a boy. She could pretend that she had a thing for edgy guys who wore leather, but the fact of the matter was, she’d swing for just about anyone once they’d piqued her interest. Riley’s general disinterest in her, and his apathy towards the entirety of the conversation was like it’s own sort of puzzle. There was nothing like taking a guy who seemed so aloof, and bringing him down to earth with her “skills”.

This was… exhausting. Riley felt so uncomfortable sitting at this table right now, and he was just about ready to leave, “Great, awesome. Yeah. I’m sure Miles will pick a date. Now.” He started packing up his things and putting it in his backpack, “I’m actually going to get going. Don’t want to miss dinner.” Even if his father was helping with the Captain Cuddles event.

“But.. we just ate?”

“And it was delicious. Here’s my portion of the bill.” Riley slapped a twenty on the table, stood up, threw his backpack over his shoulder, and then gave them a dismissive nod, “If you’ll excuse me.” And the Morning Show host was out of this place like a bat out of hell.

Miles would’ve waved but he received a text from Nero, “Oh snap! Neo got a band! I’m so proud of him!” And for a moment, Miles had the most earnest, and sweetest smile on, as he spoke about his best friend, Nero Frost. The kind that showed possible signs of admiration. A crush.

Ivy perked up at that. “Nero? As in, the drummer?” Nero was hot, and just because she had just been coming on to Riley like a dog in heat, didn’t mean she couldn’t double dip. “I play keyboard, if he needs some more members. I sing too. I’m great with my mouth, honestly,” she said.

At that comment, Elliott nearly jumped out of his seat, his knees banging against the table, nearly spilling everything onto the floor. Jesus Christ she was vulgar. “Wow, so yeah. Ivy has an urgent therapy appointment to attend, like now, so we better go,” he said, quickly standing up, and practically dragging Ivy to her feet. “This was fun, and I’m still, like, down to tutor you. Y’know, if you’d want that.” Based on the smile that had broken out on Miles’ face at the mention of Nero, and the sinking sense of disappointment that had taken root in the pit of his stomach, he was thinking that maybe he’d rather be tutored by the drummer. Somehow, Elliott was not surprised. After this trainwreck that Ivy had caused, why wouldn’t he?

Sitting not too far from the table that now had a loney artist, who was still staring at his phone, and had absentmindedly waved goodbye to his new friends, Mina Bellerose held a plate of cake in her hand, as she sat on the lap of her forever man. She cut a piece of it and brought it to his mouth, her eyes still heavily fixated on the scene. “Yooooohooooooo.” The Fashion princess called out to the sophomore.

Snapping back to the present, looking away from his phone, Miles turned his head to see two familiar faces, and loyal customers at his mom’s tea house, “Hey Mina, Christopher, what’s up?”

Christopher knew what Mina wanted, because why wouldn’t he? It was almost in his job description to know what she wanted, when she wanted it. He gave Miles a smile when he spoke to the pair of them, and gestured toward the newspaper left abandoned. “Miles, be a doll and grab that newspaper for us, please.” He suggested; though he knew that Miles was going to do what he said. Miles was a good boy, and incredibly docile — it helped. “The cake is delicious, by the way.”

“Ah, that's right. You two haven’t been at school for a bit because of that… movie, right? What’s it called?” Miles got up, swiped the newspaper, and made his way to the super couple.

Mina swiftly answered, as she swiped the paper from the naive boy, “Years of Fire.”

Woah. That sounded dope. Maybe he and his parents can watch it some time. Maybe he’ll invite Nero over. Mina placed the plate down and focused in on the headliner article. Sheepishly, Miles scratched his head, “Yeah… things are kind of wild at school. It all started falling apart after New Years.”

“Is that right.”

“Thank you. I’m sure we’ll catch up some other time, run along now.” Christopher said, gesturing with his hand to wave Miles away. He and his better half had business to discuss, and it was very possible that they’d have to go… it didn’t seem like tea party business. Not a squabble between stuffed animals, but… something at the school. He was almost certain it was going to set Mina off. Better for the soft boy to not be caught in the crossfire.

“Sure thing! Catch ya guys later.” Miles gleefully gave his regards before prancing back to the table, grabbing his things, the twenty Riley left behind, and paying at the counter. It was time for him to see what Nero was up to anyways. As the artist walked out the door, Mina started aggressively and angrily shredding the paper.

“It might be time for me to give Emmy-Lou a call.”