When Ethan Green found out that both Sully and Decky were not heading to his house but instead at Dom’s Garage, one working and one doing homework, probably, the leader of the Elite adjusted his plans, once again, to get things moving for his party. There wouldn’t be any party if there was no vineyard and the only one who would be allowed to use it was not the Green driving but the one home likely laying on his bed staring up at his ceiling, thinking about a Tigress. “Text Agent Coffee: Hey, I’m heading there now. Prepare Decky for me. Send.”

Pulling the turn signal lever, Ethan shifted to the right lane and prepared to get off the next exit. “Text Babe: not going to the game. Busy night but I can’t wait to see you in your sexy dress tomorrow. Sorry about today. Just… been a day. Thinking of you.” He wasn’t completely lying. Today had been a day and his brother needed him. Still he knew it didn’t excuse his behavior of ignoring his three girlfriends. “Send.” The text had gone to the ether and straight to Stella.

He glanced at the digital clock on the dashboard, knowing time was of the essence. The last thing he needed was his brother sleeping for the rest of the day because he just wanted to dream of a girl climbing on top of him. “Text Baby: hey sweetheart, I’m shopping for my party. Let me know if you want anything. I hope you have someone to keep you company during the game. Kisses. See you tomorrow.” When he reached a stoplight, Ethan quickly glanced at his speech to text before saying, “Send.” He only talked that sweet to one person and that was Emilia.

One last girl and then he would have done his duty of the day and could focus on making sure his party was guaranteed one of the best, scenic spots his family owned at a reasonable driving distance. “Text Bae: Okay, please don’t kill me but my brother has not been doing okay. I know I should’ve told you but I’ve been busy keeping him afloat and planning an epic party. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow, promise. Talk when we can.” Having already left the stoplight, Ethan was going down one last street when he finally began approaching the Garage. “Send.” Piper would be receiving a text soon enough and now he felt accomplished, finally able to relax and worry about his boyfriend duties another day. He was free and had party planning to focus on. He pulled into the garage and parked his Mercedes-Maybach in the spot right by the entrance. He honked fast to make his presence known but not be too obnoxious. He was here and he was ready to get two boys into gear.

Decky slammed his head into the bottom of the car he was working under at the sudden honk, cursing vividly as he pushed himself out from beneath and sat up on his creeper, a hand to his throbbing skull. Hirsch didn’t even look up from his spot in the chair sat just a bit away from the car, having spent the time during Decky’s shift handing the boy the necessary objects with one hand and rifling through shop files with the other. Honestly, despite the few years spent with him in the shop now, Decky still wasn’t quite sure what his second youngest uncle did here. Hirsch raised a judgmental eyebrow Decky’s way but said nothing as the younger grumbled his expletives and stood up, wiping his hands with a greasy rag that barely helped clean them. Decky tossed the dirty cloth at his uncle and, much to his chagrin, the man who looked younger than both Decky and Jonah caught it before it hit his face. The look he got once the rag was lowered was enough to light a fire under his ass and send him quickly trudging towards the entrance of the shop.

From the break room came Sully, who left behind little Danny to continue his own studies, and the Boaz brothers’ anxious uncle Zo, who was tearing through the box of donuts as a way to cope with his nerves over his wife Pepper, who would be having their baby any day now. Sully even left behind some lollipops for Danny, who already had one in his mouth. Before the door swung closed behind the internet eye-catcher, Decky saw Danny hesitantly reach out and pat their uncle’s arm in comfort, not looking up from his textbooks, journal, and paperwork. He couldn’t help but smile for a brief moment before it dropped back into his usual scowl as Sully reached his side.

“Ethan is here. I was supposed to tell you he was comin’,” The boy in the baseball cap said simply.

“No shit. Ya didn’t fuckin’ tell me though.”

“I was studyin’ with Danny.”

“You’r-” Decky stopped himself with a sigh, knowing that anything he said to the other boy would go in one ear and right out the other. To Sully it was really that simple, he was studying and didn’t want to break concentration, maybe even couldn’t without losing it completely. He’d probably barely even glanced at Ethan’s text and, given his poor short term memory, it had likely immediately left his mind until the rich boy had rolled up. Plus, Danny liked his study buddy, and he’d be upset if Decky scolded him for focusing over telling him what a text said. “It’s fine.”

They walked up to the car and Decky glared into the driver’s seat at the brunette that sat there. “What?”

“I will pay you double your shift if you take today off to hang with my bro,” Ethan casually commanded, cutting to the chase. Taking out his wallet and pulling out hard cash, he asked, “How much do you get paid an hour? 20?” It was obvious that Ethan Green didn’t want to waste time. He had shit to do and if it meant throwing cash in his boy’s face, he would. For his party, he would. “Tell me your price because my party won’t be a thing without Andy asking my dad permission and Andy already said he’d tell dad that: he has friends. My bro does not have friends, my guy,” the Green explained, exasperated at how complicated his older twin brother made this for him. “No joke. Name your price and I’ll give you the money. You and Sully need to get in the car before my brother falls the fuck to sleep. Without you, my party won’t happen and I need it to happen. It’s supposed to set the tone for the rest of the year. Seriously. If your boss needs me to explain why I need you, I will. Now what’s it going to be?”

“That was…a lot of words really fast,” Sully said with a frown to mirror the one on Decky’s face.

“I got the gist,” the mechanic grumbled with an irritated roll of his eyes. “The fuck is with ya rich people and thinkin’ ya can throw money at everythin’? This is my fuckin’ job-”

“Just go.”

“Fuck!” Decky flinched violently, almost cartoonishly, away from his uncle's sudden presence next to him, the shorter man's shoes surprisingly silent on the typically squeaky floor. Hirsch gave him an unimpressed look that covered the concern to those that weren't family and didn't know what to look for. The baby faced man took the wad of money from Ethan's grasp and shoved it in the front pocket of Decky's greasy work shirt. “Uncle Hirsch I got-”

“Compensated for a day's work,” he cut in, easily taking off the suit jacket he tended to walk around in and leaving him in a basic white tee. Without the slimming design and with his arms and muscles exposed, Hirsch was a little closer to actually looking the 21 he was instead of the teenager people often mistook him for. He held his jacket loosely at his side and cracked his neck before staring blandly at Decky. “I'll finish your workload here today, just get him out of here,” he glanced at the Green boy and his disheveled state. “Your brother is comforting your uncle in the break room, but I can only handle so many unhinged energies in this place without Jonah or Eiran around. Please get out.”

“Uncle Eir-”

“I can handle my brother. Go.”

Decky stood there for another moment, staring at his uncle's unyielding gaze while trying to contain the major bitchface that wanted to take over his normal scowl. Decky didn't want to go, but Hirsch was making it very clear that he didn't have a choice. He looked over to Sully for support, but was left to sigh dejectedly at the glazed over look in the other's eyes as he stared at nothing against the far wall. Looks like studying had taken a lot out of him today, and Sully.exe would not be functional until he got some rest.

“Fine,” Decky spat, knowing he'd lost on all sides already. “But drive safe and keep the fuckin’ music down so Sully can sleep on the way,” said boy didn't respond beyond tilting his head when he heard his own name, and his fellow gearhead released a desperate sigh as his uncle turned away and disappeared to go work on the car that had previously been Decky’s job. He grabbed Sully roughly by the back of the collar and directed the lost boy towards the backseat. “This is gonna be a fuckin’ shitshow, Green, I hope ya know that.”

“That’s what makes this exciting, Boaz, don’t you think?” Ethan grinned at the two boys, primarily addressing the mechanic. He was ready to book it the moment their asses touched the car seats. “Now, this is what you need to know about my dad…”

This was going to be lit.

Some people used their time in homeroom to catch up on homework. Other’s, like Jamie and Decky, used it to catch up on old grudges. Before, Benji would’ve been one of the boys asking Ms. Belmonte about her plans for the weekend, in the vain hope that she might realize her life and career weren’t worth missing out on the charms of a seventeen year old. Now, he used it to listen to music, and text Athena Helmsley. Somehow, that felt like an even less realistic use of his time.

He’d known of Athena for years now, it was difficult not to. For the majority of their relationship however, their text thread had mostly consisted of Benji asking if she knew where Calli was. The switch happened in the early weeks of summer, while he wallowed in a miasma of self-pity, anger, and embarrassment. He was mad at his father for ruining his life. He was mad at his mother for retreating into herself, and he was mad at Aunt Gina for seeming completely unaffected by the whole thing. His phone was full of ignored texts from the Elite groupchat (affectionately named The Bois) and individual messages from Ethan and Mikey and Jack and everyone else in the world who wanted to make sure he hadn’t driven his car into the Pacific Ocean.

He still wasn’t sure why he’d responded to her more than her sister or any of his other friends. Maybe it was adolescent hormones or maybe it was just easier to talk to somebody who hadn’t really known him. Strangers were a lot harder to disappoint.

Whatever his reasons, he and the heiress had gotten close. Despite what people might’ve thought, they definitely weren’t sleeping together. He had assured Calli as much after he received an icy text, shortly before the school year started.“Scout’s honor, I will not bone your sister,” was the exact phrasing. He’d made a promise, and he was trying to keep those. They were friends, which is why he had edited the text he was drafting harder than Trixie peer reviewed English papers.

Finally, after an embarrassing amount of time spent staring at his phone, he pressed send.

To:Athena 👑
you coming to the game?

Benji tapped his fingers against his desk, staring down at the blue bubble on his screen. Was that stupid? Of course she was coming to the game. He should’ve just said he’d see her there. Opted for confidence. Or he could’ve said nothing, like someone who had promised not to fuck his friends sister might do.

“Big weekend ahead, Benj. You ready?”

Jack’s voice cut through his music, startling him. He turned his phone over, hiding the screen, and looked over at Jack, his free hand coming up for the customary Elite handshake. “As I’ll ever be,” he said, dry and tired.“You know Ethan’s parents are gonna murder him if we fuck that place up tomorrow? They like, love that vineyard dude.”

Jack dapped up his bro before resting his feet on the back of the chair in front of him, receiving a dirty look from the person sitting there. “Pshh it’ll be fine. They know how high schoolers rage,” He interlocked his fingers and rested them on the back of his neck, leaning into his seat casually. “They’re practically inviting chaos by letting us use it. Besides, I haven’t seen Ethan ever get anything more than a slap on the wrist, he’ll be fiiiine.” The blonde reassured his friend. He was about to say something else, but the sound of Benji’s phone buzzing became audible. Jack raised a brow, “Oh, so your phone does work.” He sarcastically commented, still giving Benji a hard time from when he went AWOL this summer.

“Shut up,” Benji said, struggling to suppress a grin conjured up by the phone’s vibration. He flipped the phone back over and scanned the new message.

From:Athena 👑
yesss I’ll be there !!
a little birdy told me you were in the starting line up! you’ll be great :)
and it definitely wasn’t george michael, just so we’re clear lol

To: Athena 👑
I hope not
If the birds start talking too, i might have to call it quits

Benji looked back up, mind clearly down the hall. “Sorry what?” He blinked. “Oh, yeah. Party.” He shrugged, as though whatever consequences the party might bring were beyond his purview. After months of Aunt Gina’s birds, honestly, it felt like they would be. “I mean, I’ll take free booze. I just want my concerns noted, y’know, for the record.”

The blonde gave his friend a knowing look, “A bit distracted there, Benj?” He probed, hoping to get something out of him, anything really. Benji had been, well, different since everything had gone down with his family. Jack wanted his buddy back, the guy who was always up for anything, his partner-in-crime who would always be willing to make crazy mistakes with him. Maybe this weekend would be the return of some normalcy. “Consider them registered. But I’m telling you man, it’ll be smooth sailing.”

It most certainly would not be, but neither of them had any way of knowing that.

They got through homeroom thanks to discussions of hockey plays, and a lively debate about whether one great white could win against a troop of fifty bears. Benji argued for the shark. “Bro, the shark would never even come onto the bears’ turf, I don’t care how many of them there are–YO MIKEY!” Their conversation had pulled Benji from his shell, so much so that he didn’t even think twice about projecting his voice down the hall as Michael O’Connor turned a corner.

Mikey was in the zone. In his opinion, he had made what was essentially the deal of the century. And part of it was already done! Mikey even reckoned finding Nicky a date was going to be the hard part of the whole deal, so he was really chilling with that out of the way. Sara was perfect, they were going to be the cutest couple ever and MIkey was going to be sure they had a most excellent time at the party. Probably. He wasn’t like, one hundred percent positive they could hang with him and the lads, but he’d cross that bridge when he came to it.

Benji yelling quickly snapped him out of the zone. There was confusion on his face; he hadn’t spent time with Benji in a while, since Benji had opted to go the way of Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises and disappear into the sunset. “Dude, Benny what’s up! Man, I would have thought you were dead if it weren’t for you leaving me on read.” He quickly closed the gap between himself and his two friends, and couldn’t help himself. Once he was close enough, he wrapped Benji up in a tight bear hug. “I knew you’d come if I lit the beacon!” He beamed widely as he broke away from the embrace and looked over at Jack.

“There’s not a single other motherfucker in the whole student body who I could see being the distraction other than Benji here. We are locked the fuck in.” This was like the Beatles getting back together, or when Iron Man decided he would break the law of time. Michael, of course, was just assuming that Benji had read the text message he’d sent The Bois earlier, detailing his ‘plan.’ The plan basically consisted of Benji distracting the administration while Mikey, Jack, and Ethan broke into the principal’s office and acquired a long-since confiscated megaphone. Easy money.

Jack extended his arm, fist bumping his buddy, “Let’s fucking gooo,” He responded excitedly, looking from Mikey to Benji with a mischievous grin. When Mikey had texted the group his idea, Jack was immediately invested, ready to bend the rules to get shit done for his friend. Although the boy had been reminded excessively by his coaches to stay out of trouble for the next few months, this was harmless fun. Plus, with such an elaborate scheme, there was no way they’d get caught! “This is gonna be great, Benj you’ve got this bro.”

The football player screwed up his face, confused. He’d just been trying to say hi. “Bro what the fu–” his voice trailed off as he read the text from Mikey, requesting their help. Damn, he really needed to pay better attention to messages not from Athena. “Why the hell do we need to steal a megaphone anyways?” Benji asked, suddenly skeptical. “And why do I have to be the distraction?”

“Well, the thing is… I told this kid if he got me a win in Fortnite, I’d get him a date and let him and the date chill with us at the party. I did that already, but I also told him we’d steal his buddy’s megaphone back. Apparently, it’s a pretty big deal that they don’t have it. It’s important, dude.” Michael shrugged, not thinking he needed to explain his reasoning much further than that. He needed the megaphone, and his best bros were honor bound to help him get it. The distraction part? Oh, that was easy. He beamed a wide toothy grin as he boasted his explanation, “Dude you may have been a lil quiet lately, but that doesn’t change nothing. Nobody is more distracting than Big fuckin’ Ben! We just need you to be like, Benji our loudest friend again and not Benjamin the guy who mopes in the fuckin’ corner. Think you can handle that, for like 20 minutes?”

Benji sighed, but the smile creeping up his face betrayed some genuine amusement. It was surprisingly easy to fall back into the Benji of yesteryear when he was surrounded by his friends. Perhaps that’s why he’d avoided them for so long. “Okay, fine, but we’re gonna need some walkie talkies. They set the tone.” He furrowed his brow as he began churning through possible ways to divert attention from the principal’s office, and her assortment of confiscated materials. “How big of a distraction are we talking here? Great Food Fight of 2021? Also, where are you gonna get a key?”

“Oh, he’s back alright. This is going to be epic.”

Kisho worked his jaw repeatedly on the near silent walk from math class to the baseball shed, teeth grinding harshly as he drowned anything other than Álvaro’s presence out with the music blasting from his headphones. His fellow soccer player was not one of his favorite people, and while that was normally fine outside of the soccer field, they didn’t often have to be completely alone together. Yet, here the two were, making their way from class to rendezvous point with the rest of the Elite, and it’s taking everything in him not to race ahead in the small hope that he and the other accented Elite weren’t the first to make it. Unfortunately for the slighter boy, he could see the shed in the distance and there was no one there waving enthusiastically towards them, no other friends in their group as punctual as the oil and royal heirs. Kisho’s already short patience wavered at the empty sight, and his blank face finally fell into a frown as his disappointment showed.

“Damn it all,” He grumbled, not as quiet as he believed it to be because of how loud his music was in his ears. He checked his phone impatiently as they pulled up to the shed and sighed at the lack of activity in the groupchat. It must mean everyone’s on their way, at least. I’m not alone with Theo, at least, he thought in a vain attempt to boost his spirits. Small mercies, lesser evils.

“Ay Dios mío _{(Oh my God)}, quit it with the teeth grinding.” Hate. There were no bounds to the level of hate Álvaro held within his morsel of a heart. Across the three languages he spoke, none of the words could quite describe the hate he felt towards Kisho. Around the group, he could keep it contained, like a shaken soda bottle, sealed but ready to blow. But now, alone? He didn’t need to pull his punches.

It was as if the little common boy knew exactly how to make him tick; there was yet another offensive to Álvaro, he couldn’t respect the tranquility of silence. Álvaro leaned his back against the shed, softly tapping his boots onto the dirt below. Álvaro wasn’t one unfamiliar with patience, although he held none for the black hair prole that lay before him. He must have been too caught up in whatever abomination of sounds Álvaro could hear spilling out from the oddly constructed headphones he wore, the only thing that could explain such a blatant display of disrespect to some as regal as himself. As Álvaro approached the boy from the side the size difference between the two became apparent. Álvaro stood about a foot taller than the boy built with a more stocky frame, while on the soccer field, they serve as two sides of the same coin, but off they couldn’t be more different. He gripped the band of Kisho’s headphones and pulled them from his ears, “You aren’t the only one here, cabrón. Quit grinding your teeth, and turn down the fuckin’ noise.”

“Do not touch my shit,” Kisho snapped before he even registered what Álvaro had said to him, unwilling to snatch the item back lest the taller boy hold them too tightly and they break. He couldn’t handle that and being stuck with the prince of pissing him off. Álvaro thought so highly of his standing, but Kisho just saw someone who couldn’t handle being second place in anything. Someone who didn’t know the meaning of being a step below anyone and thus couldn’t put themself in someone else’s shoes. The type of person that would do anything he could to stay on top. A liar, and a bully. Kisho hated bullies. Fists clenched at his sides, he glared at the taller boy, Álvaro’s words finally filtering past the irritation clouding his mind. “You ask too much, ass, I will stop grinding my teeth when I am no longer stuck with you. I will turn my volume down when I no longer have to hear you breathing near me.”

“And I’ll stop ‘touching your shit’ when I no longer have to deal with un desperdicio de espacio _{(a waste of space)} such as yourself.” Álvaro tightened his grip around the band of Kisho’s dear old headphones, almost amused at his riled-up frustration; the best way to get to someone is through something they hold dear. “I ask of you one simple thing even a child can comply with and you are over here throwing a hissy fit like a little ass girl, you really must not want your headphones back.” It was a stand-off between a chihuahua and a pitbull, both unrelenting in their resolve. Álvaro would never back down from a fight, especially one he’s been resisting since the start of the soccer season.

Kisho recoiled immediately at Álvaro’s words, the offhand comment hitting him like a slap to the face. He made an aborted motion to cross his arms over his bound chest before thinking better of the tell. Because Álvaro may be a part of the Elite now, he may have infiltrated Kisho’s friends, but, He doesn’t know, he doesn’t know. Calm down, deep breaths. Don’t back down. Kisho’s mantra ran over and over in his head as he squared his shoulders and looked up, and up and up, to where Álvaro held his headphones well out of his grasp. He could hear the expensive material creaking under the boy’s vindictive grip, over the beats still pouring from the speakers, and his heart leapt into his throat. If he came home with broken headphones, his family would know something was going on more than Samyan’s knowledge on the matter. If these headphones broke, in particular the outer casing of them that’s really the only remaining original part of the device, then he’d lose the last thing his mother ever gave him before she died. He’s had everything inside the casing updated over the years for the best sound quality and noise canceling that money could buy, but he refused to change the outside at all, the parts that she had held as she handed them over to him from her hospital bed.

“Relax your grip,” Kisho demanded, voice low to avoid any tremor that was threatening to surface. His nails were close to cutting into his palms with how tightly his fists were held at his sides. He stepped up to Álvaro and stared directly into his eyes from his spot so far beneath him, letting the boy know he was serious. “And hand me my headphones, or I will kick you in the balls so hard that there will be no chance for you to create someone worse than yourself.”

“Aww, that one really got you riled up huh? I’m sure you can replace this cheap discount tech section dollar store pair of headphones in no time.” Álvaro stifled his laughter, God, there were few things that brought him more joy than this. “You are going to have to get more creative with your threats, pendejo. I’ve heard the same thing from men way bigger than yourself, women too.” Álvaro eyes glared into Kisho’s, a grin spreading across his face. “I’ll give you one last chance to just turn down the music, or who knows maybe I’ll have to mess around with whatever buttons are on the side, and I don’t think you would like that alternative.” Álvaro squeezed his hand applying pressure to the plastic shell of the headphones. Creaks from the hard plastic begging to be released could be heard from within his hand, anyone could tell that it was on the verge of cracking if not already there. He wasn’t going to surrender to a no-good tryhard whom he held less respect for than a rabies-infected street mongrel. Álvaro lamented the fact that their practice was canceled today because of the game as he wanted more time to mess with the black-haired boy.

“Stop!!” Kisho panicked, voice coming out in an uncharacteristically high shriek as he heard the telltale signs of hard plastic giving way. His eyes were desperately latched onto his precious headphones and his heart was in his throat, cutting off all surface thoughts of propriety and appearance. He could yell and complain as much as he wanted, act like a child in a way unbecoming of him, but he couldn’t do much more. Where the Fujimori name is synonymous with Oil, as is the Borbón name with Coal, and those were two businesses too close together not to breed a deal between the two patriarchs. Anything that happens between the heirs of the two companies could become front page news, and even if their parents covered it up, it would affect inter-business relations. It was just another reason that Kisho had to put up with the royal remnants bullshit and entitlement most times, because the boy was a vindictive fuck and would do anything to mess with Kisho’s life, just typically more behind the scenes than the blatant goading and tormenting he’s doing now.

He also couldn’t jump for it, for completely unrelated reasons. First of all, it was completely undignified and would only make the taller boy laugh and sneer at him more, but that was also not the reason. The real reason was that he was not wearing his sports binder or compressive bra, it wasn’t even a racerback for better movement, just a basic, everyday type. And because of the hot day, it was one of his half tanks instead of the full ones with fabric all the way down his torso. If he were to go jumping and flailing for his headphones, it would only serve to entertain the sneering boy even more, and risk exposing Kisho’s one big secret to the second to last person he ever wanted to know. Unfortunately, the last person he wanted to know already did, and that was a major part of his problem and his distrust and hate.

It was different on the field, especially during practice when they were actually playing against each other. They rammed into each other, tumbled to grass in a flail of limbs and harsh words- both English and their native tongues- before they got back up and went at it again, desperately hoping the other would break a limb or make a mistake they could take advantage of. Álvaro has hit or grazed his chest plenty of times during these spats, but in the heat of the moment on the field with a pissed off rival, no one is thinking about a little extra cushion when they fall on top of you after you sweep their leg trying to get the ball. Whether either of them wanted to admit it or not, the two of them were fairly equal on the field, and given the other boy’s royal superiority complex and need to call Kisho as many degrading terms as he can when they were forced to interact, he was sure that Álvaro would not take the news of Kisho not even being born as male lightly. He could already hear the disparaging ‘like a girl’ comments taking on a whole new meaning if he found out, and it made him sick.

“Kutabare_{(Fuck you)}!” The smaller boy cursed harshly at the taller when another creaking from his headphone broke his restraint, rearing his foot back with every intention of delivering his striker’s kick to his fellow striker’s groin. He hadn’t even had a chance to put any forward swing on his leg when he heard the telltale raucous noise of an Elite conversation. He froze in his position for a moment as he calculated the amount of time they had before the boys rounded the corner of the shed and he and Álvaro glared at each other in contempt when they both came to the same conclusion.

Not enough time.

Kisho lowered his foot back to the ground and calmly fixed his oversized black and red tshirt like he hadn’t been reared back to assault the boy in front of him. Emotionless resting face now back in place with the assurance that his boys would be there in moments, the now recollected Kisho held an expectant hand out to Álvaro, well aware that the manipulative bastard had far more appearance to maintain with the people rounding the corner than he himself did.

“Headphones.” It was a monotone prompt, one the bully likely didn’t even need. Álvaro had no time to break them and make it look like an accident, so both boys knew that it was time to bury the hostility and make face for the friend group.

“Here comes your fucking cavalry brigade.” Álvaro reluctantly dropped the pair of shabby-looking headphones back into the hands of the disparaging sight of the boy before him, sighing at the lack of damage that adorned the glossy surface. “Count your blessings, boy. Lord knows the rest won’t be around to save you next time.” Their eyes held in a standstill, Álvaro could read the boy like a picture book. His shrill outcries of terror and his almost impulsive mistake gave away all he needed to know; the boy was scared. Over a pair of poverty headphones? No, there was more to it. And to Álvaro? He basking in the thrill of making this boy tick more than he usually would be able to. He just needed to know why, and for that he knew the exact person to ask.

As the volume of the typical Elite frivolity increased, Álvaro broke the silence one more time before the group fully arrived, “Oh yeah, one last thing.” Álvaro placed his hand on Kisho’s shoulder and leaned into his ear so that only he would hear. “I promise you, if you ever raise that weak little shooting leg at me again I will make sure that the only thing both legs will be useful for is sitting in a wheelchair.” His tone was harsh, and his grip was harsher. If you knew Álvaro, you knew that he kept his fucking promises. And he wasn’t one usually to get his own hands dirty, there were lesser, more expendable types to handle such activities, although at a worse quality than if he would simply undertake it himself. Álvaro only ever fought to prove a point, and goddamn did he believe Kisho need to learn a few despite his father’s direct orders to spare the boy. It was one of the few things that kept Álvaro limited in his actions toward the boy, his aggressive playing style wasn’t the only reason he held the unofficial record for red cards in the school’s history. On the field Álvaro was unstoppable, and he would be damned to let Kisho stand in the way of his god-given glory, I mean the man was baptized by the pope himself. The tension between the two often has the rest of their teammates ready to jump in at a moment’s notice, but Álvaro restrains himself as a good son must.

Álvaro released the black haired boy from his grasp, taking a step to expand the distance between them. He took a breath, plastering the same fake smile he wore undetected (for the most part) for these four he’s run with the Elite; if this school was a movie, he would win the Academy Award for best actor.

He shot a quick wave over to the rest of the boys as they rounded closer, “It took you all long enough!”

“Sorry for the delay, Your Highness,” Benji called back, oblivious to whatever tension remained in the air. He waved his newly acquired set of walkie talkies (courtesy of Dash Day, thank God for kids with ADHD) over his head like some sort of trophy, before explaining, “We had to stock up.” While he had spent the morning securing communications, Mikey and Jack had secured their entry: the master key. “I just hope everyone knows that if they get detention today, it’s because Mikey sucks at Fortnite.”

“Dude, I’m not even that bad! It’s hard! I can’t crank 90s like those goddamn Fortnite zoomers.” As the saying went, Benji spoke of the devil and Michael appeared on the scene, shaking his head. He wasn’t even present and he was getting dunked on by his friends over the video games! Mikey chose to believe it was becuase there was simply nothing else to make fun of him for. And besides, Mikey had to let Benji get his licks in. The dude went ghost for like an entire summer, which was practically a lifetime. Easing him back into society was the right thing to do, even if that meant taking the hits on the chin.

Mikey held up his hand, a golden brass key glinting in the light. “And just like that, O’Connor seals the deal again. One master key, locked, loaded, and ready to get down to business.” He beamed around at the group, pausing only briefly on Kisho to furrow his brow at the uncharacteristically disheveled look the other boy held. Michael made a mental note about that, reminding himself that he would have to check on it later. That was the older brother in him. But the Elite in him couldn’t help but brag, “until they re-key the school, we’re the kings, boys.”

Jack materialized beside Mikey, a dumb and goofy grin plastered onto his face. He patted his friend reassuringly on the shoulder, leaning in towards Álvaro and Kisho with his other hand cupping the side of his mouth, like he was telling a secret. “Duuuude, Mikey is that bad. I’m not even a decent Fortnite player and I can beat him. He needs all the help he can get.” He laughed, moving back and sniping the keys from his friend’s grasp. The blonde pulled a rolled up piece of paper from his back pocket and unfurled it, revealing a diagram. Blueprints to the administration wing of the building, which included the Principal’s Office. “That Janitor came in clutch, we’re not even going in blind. Feast your eyes, boys, because this is how we’re getting the job done.”

“This is about…Fortnite,” Kisho reiterated blandly to his far more energetic friends, unsure if he'd heard correctly as he had been returning his headphones to their resting place around his neck after a subtle check for damages. Coming out of this, his shoulder is likely to show more injury from the royal pain’s grip than his headphone’s sturdy plastic. He'd noticed Mikey's glance though, and did his best to fix both the wrinkled fabric near his shoulder and his face, and counted his blessings once more that Álvaro was more interested in fucking with him than actually paying attention to him, because the boy almost had another clue to Kisho's life via his grip on the smaller's binder strap. Props to blind anger. As Jack pulled out the blueprints, Kisho also registered Benji's walkie talkies and Mikey’s key, then did his best not to openly stare at the large paper in resignation. “I am risking getting punished by my father for Fortnite? Boys, how did you even get all of this?”

Jack exhaled audibly, feigning fatigue. “Bro, it was not fucking easy, let me tell you.”

Hours Earlier...



The blonde blew a raspberry. “That guy drove a hard bargain.” He nudged Mikey giddily, “But the dream team made it happen.”

“Dude, seriously. We’d better get some use out of this thing. Where’s El Capitan?”

As if a choir of angels were singing his name, Ethan Green, with his arm over his brother’s shoulders, strolled down the gravel, high as a kite. He could see his brothers-in-arms at a distance, minus Theo who didn’t want to partake in such tomfoolery (lame excuse, but whatever). He locked eyes with Jack and gave a nod, before continuing his spiel with his older brother. “Now if you want to win Amy over, you need to get out of your comfort zone, my dude. What better way than stealing something from the principal’s office?” Ethan pressed on, wanting Andy to join in on the fun. The younger Green twin could smell success in the air with his brother at his side. This gave them a higher chance of succeeding in their heist, and aiding Mikey at his horrible gameplay in Fortnite. Success was all that Ethan wanted (and to watch good films). A new era for his twin and he was going to be part of the ride, from start to finish. Till death do they part. Green brothers FOR LIFE. “Like check it, what if we find something that belongs to dad’s in there? Do you know how happy dad would be if we found his old phone or game boy or whatever? Bruh, this could guarantee the vineyard, I’m sure of it.”

Out of his comfort zone. Easier said than done, but Andy was pretty confident he could do it. He was also pretty confident he needed a nap, and some Cheetos. As Ethan mentioned finding something of their father’s to guarantee the vineyard for their personal use, Andy looked over at him and tilted his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard dad say no. To anything. Have you?” Andy asked the question genuinely, but as he thought about it… he shrugged. While he had never heard his dad say no… Ethan probably had. “Yeah, I mean he’d probably be more up for it if we find a GameBoy! Maybe he’s missing a beloved Pokémon or something.” Andy beamed at his older brother and gave him a thumbs up. He’d have to figure this out, since it was clearly a pretty big deal to his older brother that they secure the deal for the vineyard party. Andy didn’t get it, but high school politics were more complex than they seemed! Besides. He had a girl… friend now?

Yes he was ignoring her texts, but he’d get there eventually. “Do you guys actually have a plan?”

While Henry Green did not say no often, if at all, the vineyard was a different story. For some reason or another, Eden Springs was a forbidden jewel in their family. Off limits to outsiders. Strictly family. No one told him why. Not even his dad and his dad told him everything! Ethan was flabbergasted that not even his father threw a party there which only made him want to throw a party there even more. This is why the golden boy absolutely needed this mission to go off without a hitch. “Of course we have a plan!” If they did have a plan, Ethan did not know of it, he was only assuming, out of the faith he had in his band of brothers. “Starting with our crew. As Reuben Tishkoff said in Ocean’s Eleven: ‘Ya gotta be NUTS. And you’re gonna need a crew as nuts as you are!’ I think we’re off to a fiiiiine start, right boys?”

With her legs crossed, her lithe form upright, and her electric orange eyes covered by her Balmain sunglasses, Celeste sat rather impatiently on a towel that her Butler laid out for her, on the bleachers in her own reserved section. Her peers knew better than to sit right next to her. It was common courtesy to keep all seats around her open so that a square was created around her and no one’s obnoxious breathing would get on her nerves. Plus, the seats right next to her were reserved for her best friends. This wasn’t the first time the only child of Cyndi and Justin Green did this and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Celeste’s entire existence commanded her wants and needs and most people either obeyed or got out of her face, not wanting to deal with her. She’d take either option so long as the end result made her happy. Her happiness mattered above everything else.

Butler stood at the end of the bleachers, keeping an eye on his charge from a distance since he knew at events like this Celeste needed her space. She hated feeling claustrophobic and she didn’t like people that she saw as dog poop sitting right next to her. She had standards, okay? And most of this school didn’t reach them. It was so hard to find anyone worth her time anymore. But that’s okay. Celeste didn’t need many people in her life. As long as she had Piper and Athena, Celeste was happy. They were all she needed.

And yet they weren’t here. Happiness was fleeting and she could feel irritation festering inside of her. What was taking them so long? She had been waiting for five minutes and she was already ready to leave. The only reason why she came to this dreadful game is because Athena wanted to but if she had it her way she would’ve done some retail therapy, because she deserved it, and ended her night with a nice bath, while watching rom-com movies. She couldn’t believe she came to this game because her friend asked. Why was she such a good person?

Looking around, still not seeing the two girls that meant the world to her, especially annoyed that Piper kept her waiting, Celeste changed positions. Uncrossing her legs and pressing her knees together, she patted down her skirt, making sure she was presentable and lady-like. Her mom didn’t raise a slob. Her heels didn’t touch the ground. Instead her toes connected to the floor. She moved them up and down, causing her legs to join the casual and leisure motion. It was something Celeste did absentmindedly when she didn’t know how to keep herself busy.

Nothing was of interest to her so she decided to focus on daydreaming. Her mind went from LA to Fiji. She closed her eyes and imagined herself sunbathing, drinking fresh sugarcane juice and listening to the waves of the ocean, the surrounding nature, and her own breathing. God, she wished she was there today. Why did she have to go to school and waste her life away surrounded by idiots? Life was rough for someone who knew what she deserved. It was okay though. Celeste Green was a survivor and would carry on. The world needed her too much for her to give up on her studies but that was neither here nor there. Fiji. All she wanted to think about was Fiji. That was where she was as she waited for her soul sisters. Beautiful Fiji.

Although, why seek the waves of the Pacific when the Mediterranean would treat you much, much better? Among the sea of scarlet and noir coated commoners he was forced to share the same oxygen with, Álvaro looked down at his watch once again hoping that the tiny metal hands within the intricate timepiece would be in a drastically different place than they were the past ten times he had checked it. To his avail, the only hand that seemed to work in the entirety of the piece was the seconds hand, which was too slow for his liking. He didn’t quite understand the concept of American football, despite the time he had spent in the States, and his friends' numerous explanations to him it was simply a bastardization of Rugby that stole the name of a better sport where you actually have to use your feet the majority of the time. And the only reason he was even cooped up in the bleachers with the boys was that he had an obligation to support his fellow members of the Elite, so that meant sitting through every dreadful second of this game.

The dullness of the game before Álvaro wasn’t the only factor of his inescapable miasma of boredom. The conversation among the boys beside him was centered around the sport at hand; a foreign cacophony of voices detailing a topic that held no interest nor use to the man, which grated away at his already short patience as he had to fain interest at times. His ears were filled with the frivolity of those lesser than himself from all angles, his foot tapped repeatedly concrete below, his mind lamenting the fact that gone were his days of using Naomi’s name as a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card to sit away from the boys or even skip the game in its entirety. His newfound bachelor life sure had its perks although the downsides reared their heads like a pack of hyenas, but his father taught him how to hunt for a fucking reason.

There wasn't much he couldn't see from the little slice of hell he occupied upon this fortress of concrete and metal. His eyes scoured the waves of students searching for something or someone who would be more worthy of his time. The poverty-stricken majority neighboring Álvaro and the rows beyond cursed his brown-eyed view, and his time would not be wasted on a charity case. His eyes finally fell upon the blond-haired girl that sat a few rows away from himself, like Moses she parted the red sea but not with the power of God but by the power of her own status. The cousin of his dear friend Ethan Green, Celeste Green wasn't unfamiliar to Álvaro’s purview. He had learned about the girl from the Greens he knew, and even interacted with her in the past, although she had never caught his attention until today. Observation is one of the most valuable skills to a hunter; you have to watch your prey, every move they make, and every breath they take has to be accounted for. As if he was scoping at a buck down range, Álvaro watched. She was away from the pack of three that usually accompanied her, separated from the general populace, and her formal stance faltered into one of less obvious impatience.

When the boys were too busy focusing on whatever they were doing, Álvaro snuck away from the group. He maneuvered through the sea of rowdy voices and school pride to Celeste’s own bubble of claimed regality. From the sidelines, he could see her idiosyncrasies more clearly than from afar. Her legs moved together in a rhythmic pattern, a possible distraction from the drag of the game and her isolation. There was no time better than now to strike; in the world of human psychology his rifle was his words, and he was a goddamn marksman. Álvaro inched his way closer to the edge of her bubble, he couldn't invade the sanctity of her space with her permission, lest her bodyguard disguised as a butler come manhandle him. “Hey, Celeste, any room for company?” Álvaro shot a warm smile across the gap to her, tilting his head slightly in the process. At this point, he was passing himself between so-called “queens” like a royal whore.

“No Naomi to stroke your ego? Or my idiot cousin to rub chests with? Or whatever you sweaty boys do,” Celeste dully asked, uninterested as ever. Truth be told, the Green who was the least informed about her classmates unless it was disclosed to her by her best friends was the princess basking in the sun, in front of the royal highness himself. She didn’t need to keep tabs on the nobodies of the Hills. She wasn’t Trixie or Jamie, who loved to stick their noses in everybody’s business, nor was everybody worth her time. If they were, she would know of them. She wasn’t Naomi and her bitchboy cousin, Levi, that pretended to care nor was she her cowardly cousin, Diana, who had her own reign over a make believe Candyland, choosing to force ‘love’ down other’s throats.

Gag me with a chainsaw, please.

Álvaro was one of the few people she did know plenty about because Ethan did not shut up about his boys and it was hard not to notice someone of Álvaro’s stature. He carried himself pompous, vainglorious, and cocksure, like most of the Elite did. They were disgusting and she would compare them to peacocks. Very unlike her other cousin, Andy, who lived in the shadow of his twin. He was more an ant, which was quite tragic for a Green. She supposed if she had to choose, her preference would lean toward peacocks over ants. Ants were easy to crush. Peacocks were pretty to look at. Some people were born to shine and others were born to be part of the backdrop. Álvaro clearly chose to be the sun since he was blocking it with his vexing, yet eye-catching smile.

Looking over her sunglasses, peering up at the prince-of-nothing-to-her, Celeste snapped her gum. She had been chewing it quietly, thinking of her dream escape, when he decided to rain on her parade. He might have descended from the old world of kings and peasants, but here, at this school, having a legacy was one thing but being able to put your money where your mouth is was an entirely different thing. All that mattered here was he was handsome, he had money, and he knew how to navigate the social scene, beyond that? She could care less. Rather than wait for a response, she simply pointed to the outskirts of her beach towel, two spots reserved next to her for Piper and Athena. “There and not an inch closer.”

“Thank you, thank you.” Álvaro shifted himself into Celeste's perimeter of purity, savoring for a moment the disconnect from himself and the lesser of the school’s ecosystem. Some say the first move a person makes is the hardest, but to Álvaro the whole process couldn’t be easier. Humans are predictable, every single one chalked full of their own uniquely eccentric mannerisms no matter how subtle or suppressed they may be. “To answer your first question, we both just outgrew each other.” Álvaro didn’t hang on the topic for too long, he could tell Celeste wasn’t the one to fain fake emotions to for sympathy. The indifference of her voice cut the air loud and clear, he was going to love to make her crack. The wall she erected around herself had already been breached, it was only a matter of time until he plundered his way to her heart.

“And I really couldn't tell you where Ethan is.” Unlike the other Greens Álvaro has fraternized with, Celeste seemed to stay solely within her own world. And from what he’s seen, sticking to the same two friends who were thankfully, but curiously absent. “Besides that, this game is utterly insufferable. It’s an undignified mess of people jumping on top of each other. If it weren’t for Theo and Benji, I would’ve never even came.” His eyes stayed locked on what he believed to be hers beneath the tinted glass of her sunglasses, he made his words flow through the air like a dove as soft as silk. Álvaro intensified the cadence of his accent ever so slightly to catch the attention of the small blonde to his side. “Truly a waste, Santa Monica Beach is always beautiful, the light from the pier, the sky, the water; everything. My father owns an island down the coast of Barcelona, it’s almost a replica; minus the pier of course. Honestly, they both remind me of you in a way.”

Celeste raised an eyebrow at his last comment. He was comparing her to a great escape. A tropical paradise. The beach. Cute. Such smooth words didn’t impress her. He needed to do better than that. Ignoring his mentions of his private island, not feeling the need to go on about her family’s assets, the pompous, petite and pretty blonde was certain he was in the same vein as her. The only difference was he had a title. Even so none of that mattered to her. That didn’t make him special. It was adorable that he thought it did. That just made him worthy enough to breathe the same air as her.

Choosing to disregard his clear attempts to make a move on her, brushing it away like she did when a waiter dared to serve her asparagus, Celeste acknowledged and agreed on his sentiments on the sport at hand, “Tell me about it. My father, Justin Quentin, or well Green since he took my mother’s name,” Celeste casually disclosed, pausing for a moment to relax her shoulders. Enjoying the temporary distraction as she waited for her friends, she snapped her gum once more and mused, “When he was in his prime, he was the best Quarterback the LA Rams ever had. Now he coaches at USC. It’s always been boring to me, though. No matter how much he wants me to love it, I just see idiot boys rough housing. American football in itself is focused way more on entertainment than the actual sporting contest. I hate the superbowl because of him…” She sighed to herself, taking a moment to glance over at her acquaintance as she reminisced over all the times her dad threw the biggest extravaganzas over a stupid game, “There is much more skill needed in Tennis, which is my preferred sport.”

For once, Celeste wasn’t being a merciless cunt. That was how people perceived her to be. She was being welcoming and reasonable, actually more informed in sports than most of her peers would realize. Her mother was a retired ballerina and her father was a retired football player; it came with the territory. She was a mythic bitch, don’t get her wrong, but she had no reason to grow defensive and fight her cousin’s friend. It wasn’t like Álvaro would get much out of this interaction. They were simply making idle chatter to kill time until her best friends appeared. Plus, he respected her boundaries and as a reward, she would give him some of her time.

Odd, Celeste was odd. Such sultry words spoken from a mouth as regal as his ought to be regarded with more than a simple perceptive gesture. There was vastitude of women meandering the halls of their school B.H.H.S. who would do anything to even receive a shred of Álvaro’s attention, to have it outright ignored was new, certainly unpleasant, but new. If she wanted to play hard to get, he was up to the challenge; they always capitulated in the end. “I would much rather watch a Tennis match than this any day. This is just… horrid. My mother taught me how to play a long time ago, I actually used to play for my little Spanish prep school before coming here. Ultimately, the real football was my calling.” Years of it having been forced unto him, Álvaro kept his posture straight. His hands lay idly within the pockets of the jacket he wore, in his peripheral view noticed the slight dip of her shoulders; a lowering of her guard, a growing comfortability. The cracks in her wall were growing, it was only a matter of time before they fell, crumbled into gravel at his feet. This comfortability came with news, a familial connection to the sporting industry, perhaps she will be more useful than a tool to upend his unending boredom after all, at least he wouldn't be challenged for only a few moments of fleeting entertainment. “It’s been more than a few years since I've played though, so I am destined to be out of practice.” A light laugh escaped Álvaro's lips in a pause between his speech. The little lies he spread only worked to benefit the teller, himself; there was no escape of the sport for the grandson of a former Olympian; especially for one who was still in good shape. “How about you, do you play?”

Álvaro had to pivot, his prior talk of wealth and status swayed the small girl less than a windless day swayed a wind chime. Álvaro looked solely for the sweet symphony of success, and his previous chatter led him nowhere but to lose the time he valued more than money itself. Álvaro swept his hand through his hair as he looked away from the blonde beside him for a moment. The scene of red and blue clashing in the vastness of the field was probably the only thing enjoyable about the game, a fleeting thrill of excitement that made the crowd go wild for some incoherent reason Álvaro didn't pick up on.

“I do, yes,” Celeste curtly answered, glancing past him to see if there were any familiar faces walking through the crowd and to the bleachers. Two girls, a blonde and brunette, searching for her. Alas, they were nowhere to be seen. How dreadful. “But you don’t care about that, now do you?” Taking off her sunglasses, the proud, classy and elegant Green revealed her striking, electric orange eyes and firmly grabbed his attention, with a commanding glare. Out of all the Elite boys, she knew Álvaro wasn’t an idiot, especially if he dated someone like Naomi Davis. He was educated and without a doubt, more informed than his ‘brothers’. There was no way he did not know that she was on the tennis team and that because of her, their school team was the G.O.A.T.

If it wasn’t for her parents being completely and utterly selfish, Celeste could’ve gone to a Tennis Academy but instead they bought a private coach and allowed her to join tournaments so long as it didn’t interfere with her ‘teen’ experience. She could’ve gone pro if it wasn’t for her parents being so absentminded, only caring about their own pursuits: ballet and American football. The Crown Jewel didn’t expect him to know any of that but she did expect him to know something as common as who was doing what sports in this school. She knew he was in the soccer team, or the ‘real football’ as he called it, she wasn’t that oblivious, but clearly she wasn’t interesting enough for him to know that she was in the tennis club, or there was another avenue. He was playing dumb to get her to react.

Either way, she wasn’t a fan of someone playing pretend. Silky, smooth words were nice when they weren’t so shallow. She would know; she was full of empty words. “What do you want? Aside from avoiding the general populace, why are you talking to me?” Mockingly, she leaned backward and dramatically pouted like she was some innocent, little lamb, “Is it because I’m not with my girls and you thought I could be your rebound? Or is it because you’re so lonely and desperate that you resorted to going to Ethan’s cousin for company?”

Christ, almighty. What. The. Fuck. Nobody was impossible to read, Álvaro held this true; even he begrudgingly acknowledged to himself that this applied to him as well. Álvaro kept it to a minimum, he buried his ques, managed his body language, censored his speech–he knew damn well that this woman, who didn’t even reach the height of his shoulders, was not reading him like a goddamn picture book; Celeste was either extremely lucky or a fucking telepath. Although he held the thought in the forefront of his mind it did not impede the rampant increase of his heart rate as the words were flung out of her mouth with the ferocity of a volatile hail storm. Álvaro’s heart beat out of his chest with a new invigoration. It had been a long while since Álvaro had felt the feeling of anxiety from some person other than his own father. His interest in the small blonde so obviously faking it beside him grew more in the small, fleeting moment, than it did throughout the rest of their conversation. But the problem at hand grew more precarious the longer he allowed it to simmer, Álvaro had been in more stressful situations than the one at hand. He was going to be the pied piper, leading her away with his orchestra of lies wherein only he was the wiser.

“Celeste, if I was ‘desperate and lonely’ or wanted a ‘rebound’ don’t you think I would’ve sat with any of the several other women who accost me on a daily basis? I am here, sitting with you, to get to know you better, this has nothing to do with anything else.” Álvaro’s tone remained calm, his voice never rising; the man was master at holding his composure, a stark contrast to the battlefield within his chest. His eyes fell back onto her now uncovered face, her eyes were a much better sight to look at than chaos on the field, although, it seemed the same energy had pervaded her bubble. His hands sat at his side now, body almost twisted completely to face Celeste with his full and utter glory. “And, yeah, I am sorry. I know you are on the tennis team, I’m not dumb; admittedly it wasn’t the best question to ask at all. You play amazingly. I am just trying to learn you, Celeste Green, and the best way to do that is to get you talking about yourself.” He couldn’t believe he would be as absentminded as he was when he asked her if she played, of course she fucking played, he knew this. It is in times like these where Álvaro truly thanked his father for how he has taught him; pressure makes diamonds and he shone the brightest of them all.

Diamonds were hard, but not unbreakable, and Álvaro chose the wrong person to try to understand. As he talked, Celeste didn’t hide her disgust, even adding emphasis on her eye roll so he knew exactly how she was feeling. Regardless if she was right or wrong with her blind accusations, there was a clear reaction. Hooking her glasses on her Hermès purse, his words falling on deaf ears, Celeste blew a small bubble with her gum. Sucking it in, she snapped it loudly. Chewing slowly, ever so slowly, she glowered at the pretty boy. She wasn’t buying any of his crap, not for one second. “Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?”

The princess was not backing down. His voice may be modulated, like gentle waves, but the words coming out of his mouth were not worth Celeste’s time. “I’m so glad I’m finally on your radar, as if you couldn’t have gotten to know me while you were in a relationship, or just in class. You can go to hell, Álvaro. I am NOT a second choice. I am NOT a second thought. I am NOT second ANYTHING! I am Celeste-fucking-Green and until you understand that, you can leave me alone.” She shooed him away with her hands, categorizing him in the ‘ick’ section of her brain. Looks were not what Celeste was after in a friendship or relationship and it seemed like his majesty thought that could be what carries him through this interaction. Hilarious. Laughable really.

“Now, my friends should be here soon and I’m getting awfully bored with this.” She gestured to him, her and the space between them. “You can leave now.” Celeste not so kindly demanded. To add extra measure, to protect her space, the blonde terror looked over her shoulder, smiled and waved at her Butler. Her Butler returned the smile with a smirk, enjoying the show, and nodded at his charge, understanding her instructions without her having to say a word. Ignoring Álvaro, Celeste rummaged through her purse to pull out her phone. Once her text thread was open with her two best friends, she started spamming them. Snap went her gum. How dare he act like he knew nothing about her.

An unstoppable force meets an immovable object; an impossibility, a paradox. Álvaro was the one who could not be stopped, enveloped in his never ending crusade for anything he wanted; Celeste was now one of the objectives of this battle. He didn't mind being hated, or disliked, or whatever Celeste thought of him in that moment as long as he was in her head. The conclusion may have not gone as he intended but he achieved his goal one way or another. And despite his efforts, the blind rage ever so reminiscent of a Chihuahua continued to spew forth, serving as Álvaro's que for a strategic retreat. “I’d gladly go to hell if you're there with me.” Álvaro stood up from the bleacher, until her eyes as beautiful as citrines gems viewed only his own he wouldn't relent. “But, you are right, I ought to make my exit. It was fun while it lasted.” If Celeste foolishly believed she had warded off the likes of Álvaro, she had another thing coming. He never accepted defeat, he never surrendered, and he never gave up. It was only a matter of time before he owned the rights to her heart alone, and there was nothing she could do to stop the impending storm about to rock her world.

“Toodles,” Celeste dismissed her unwanted companion, looking appalled at his audacity. The nerve of some people. He would take her to hell? Please. She was hell. The next time he came up to her, she wouldn’t be as nice. Álvaro had no idea who he was dealing with and she was adamant to never back down.

How dare he.

Outside the Callaghan house the rumble of Scott’s engine called Katie down the stairs. An hour ago, she was excited to see Kim, and spend time with the boyfriend she was beginning to think she didn’t deserve. The excitement hadn’t been replaced, but it had been overshadowed by an overwhelming need to scream at AJ Tyler. Jamie had swayed her away from murder, but he would not stop her from giving AJ a piece of her mind. If not for him, then for the next person unlucky enough to stumble into the Gearhead.

Katie had developed a number of coping mechanisms over the years. Meditation, overworking herself, and sex were all commonly used and abused, but her absolute favorite way to avoid her own issues, was to focus on someone else’s. It had simply been good luck that Jamie’s breakup came right in the middle of her own self-induced angst. She was more than happy to take it on, whether he wanted her to or not.

She sauntered out to Scott’s car, front door locking behind her with a mechanical whirr and click. She hadn’t given much thought to his conflict of interest, partly because she hadn’t made her way back to the land of clear thoughts. As she opened the car door and slipped inside, her mind was consumed by her own version of what had happened at the shed this morning, filled in by Jamie’s description and her own imagination. The vision made her angry. She leaned over to give Scott a kiss before pulling away. “We’ve gotta stop at AJ’s on the way.” She paused, before deciding there was no point in trying to hide her goal. “I have to scream at him.”

As Katie slid into the passenger seat, and loudly announced her goal, Scott couldn’t help but audibly sigh. “Gee honey, I’m so happy to see you too.” At least he got a kiss out of the deal before she announced she had every intention of ruining his best friend’s evening further. Scott had not yet heard from AJ, which was never a good sign. “Please don’t be harsh.” Scott made his plea, but he knew well enough that it was going to fall on deaf ears. Katie was pissed, and the righteous fury Scott had seen AJ inspire in Katie in the past was almost impressive.

He shifted the car into drive and rested a hand on his passenger princess’s thigh as he pulled away from her home. Keeping the volume on the radio low, Scott pursued the conversation. “Is there any particular reason why you want to scream at AJ? Also, ‘scream’ is pretty harsh. Can we go for a ‘yell’?” He asked, glancing at her with a pleading look in his eyes as he rolled up to a stop sign.

“No promises, but for you I’ll try,” she shot back, wry smile decorating her face. “He broke up with Jamie, which is not the issue. The issue is how he did it.” Once upon a time, Katie had tried very hard to stay out of the hurricane force winds that Jamie and AJ tended to kick up. It was only right that she and Scott remain Switzerland, especially if they wanted to avoid an argument. Those days were long gone, stamped out by one breakup too many, and she was dragging Scott with her. “Did you know he’s been getting high at school?” Her tone dropped, any traces of good humor suddenly replaced by an uncharacteristic sternness as she studied Scott’s profile. It wasn’t that she suspected he was caught up in whatever AJ was huffing, but still, years of warnings and educational videos about the dangers of drug use had suddenly made her worry, for Scott and AJ. Despite her bravado, there was a nagging voice in her head that was certain she was only at the beginning of a very long and tragic Lifetime movie.

“What, like smoking weed in the bathroom?” Scott asked, quickly attempting to bring back the light hearted mood in the car. When it didn’t work, he kept talking. “ I don’t know what AJ’s been up to. He’s been kinda distant with me ever since he got a new fuck buddy… and I don’t like to push him. He can lash out.” Scott’s voice was kind of hesitant, like he wasn’t sure if he should have been sharing that information with his girlfriend. Would Katie be more upset? Did she know about the new friend with benefits? Did Jamie? Scott was playing a dangerous game, but he had no choice. He turned the car, headed down AJ’s street. “Just don’t bite his head off. I know he broke up with Jamie, but you know as well as I do that they both hurt each other equal amounts.” It wasn’t fair that he and Katie were heading to AJ’s house to attempt to kick him while he was down, but Scott knew that if he tried to stop Katie, she’d go on her own. And then he wouldn’t be there to hold her back.

“No, Scott, like getting high enough that he freaked out and bit Jamie’s neck like some cracked out vampire,” she huffed, a storm of pent up emotions rushing out of her. “Somethings off with him. I thought it was just Jamie…but, I don’t know.” She paused and stared out the window as they turned into AJ’s neighborhood, then whipped her head back to face Scott. “Wait, what the fuck do you mean by ‘new fuck buddy’?”

He brought the car to a stop in front of AJ’s house and killed the engine. “Take it easy on him.” Scott said, but he didn’t stop Katie from approaching the door. He just followed along.

Inside, in his predictable yet impressive custom car-themed bedroom, AJ Tyler laid back in his bed, his head hanging over the edge. He stared at his tire shelves, with his toy cars displayed. Upside down, he counted them one by one and named each car out loud. He tried to focus on the one thing that made him happy, his cars, but when he stared at his toys, they all looked dull in comparison to anything else in his room. What was the point of having things to love if you didn’t have someone to share it with? Dramatic, as always, that was a trait he obtained from his broadway star mother, AJ found himself bored with his collection. Bored with his cars. Bored with life. That was not a good sign at all. What was AJ without his cars? What was AJ outside of his friends? What was AJ… in general? Dull. Boring. Unlovable. AJ Tyler was a nobody and now he was a nobody with a broken heart.

On the floor there was an open cardboard box and written on the side of it in black permanent marker was: Jamie’s shit.. He finally grabbed the courage to move the box out of his closet and out in the open. One step closer to finishing this chapter in his life. One step closer to forgetting. One step closer to moving on. Not wanting to cry, he did enough of that already, he laid there, still in his day clothes, listening to Thank You by Dido, out of his bluetooth speakers. He replayed his regretful morning and closed his eyes, remembering the final expression on his ex’s face. He replayed it over and over and over until that was all he could think about. His mistake and why Jamie clearly deserved better. He hated himself and he couldn’t believe he got in a position where he could have harmed the boy he loved. Why did he do that? All he wanted to do was ease the pain and get Jamie to see that he didn’t want to be just friends with benefits but in return, he pushed him away. For the best, he supposed.

Turning in his bed, he grabbed his pillow and buried his face in it. Instead of smelling Jamie, he could smell Gavriel’s hair products. The scent of hyacinths and sandalwood. In response, he sighed. It wasn’t an unpleasant smell but it also wasn’t what he wanted. Releasing the pillow, he turned on his back to stare at the ceiling. Chris said it would get better but right now he felt like an empty shell, with no purpose, no direction, and no love. His wallowing in sadness was disturbed by the banshee that was his younger sister and a loud knock, “AJ! KATIE IS HERE FOR SOME FUCKING REASON. SHE’S ON CAMERA.”

AJ sighed again.

“I SWEAR TO GOD IF SHE—”

“Molly. I can handle it. Go to your room, please.”

From the other side of the door came an incessant knocking, as Katie threw her closed fist against the Tyler’s door, unburdened by fear of consequences. “AJ! I swear on Meryl Fucking Streep, if you don’t open this–” her knocking and shouts were abruptly halted by the door swinging open, and the sight of AJ’s beleaguered expression. She stopped her fist just before it would’ve slammed into his chest, but resumed her shouting almost immediately. “Who the fuck do you think you are? Quickly,” she shouted, pushing a finger into his chest as she stepped across the threshold, five feet and six inches of righteous indignation.

Rather than give into the heat that was Katie Callaghan, AJ looked over her and gave his boy a salute with two fingers, acknowledging his presence. Then and only then, he allowed Katie to forcibly push him backwards and into the foyer. “The guy you really wanted to work out with your brother.” AJ scoffed, not appreciating the audacity of Katie coming into his home and sticking her nose in something she knew very little about. He sarcastically probed, already going on the defensive side, “Jokes on you, Katie. Experiment failed. Guess you need to find a new distraction for Jamie. Or are you here just to tell me how much of an asshole I am and that you hate me? News flash: I already fucking know. Tell me something I don’t know.”

Katie ground her teeth together. She was wholly unamused by AJ’s quips. “That’s exactly why I’m here you fuck, because I don’t know if you’ve heard it enough quite frankly.” Katie huffed, and took a moment to shake her head at AJ, a mixture of anger and disappointment coming off of her in waves. “Don’t stand there and set up your pity party for me, it’s beneath you. What the fuck did you do to my brother this morning? I want to hear it from you,” she said. She knew what she was doing, even if she wasn’t totally conscious of it. She was pushing, hoping to light AJ’s terribly short fuse, so she might distract herself with the explosion.

If looks could kill, AJ’s glazed eyes, mocking smile and lowered head would do just that. The more his ex’s twin spoke, the more he realized he made the right decision. Callaghans held no accountability for their actions, talked right out of their asses, and believed they could do no wrong. To think, he fell so stupidly hard for one. Katie felt entitled to his pain, just how Jamie felt entitled to his love. Neither of them deserved his time or energy. The only reason why he was giving Katie a chance to speak her mind was because she was, unfortunately, his best friend’s girlfriend. He would respect what Scott had with her but he didn’t have to be her friend. “Exactly what he wanted,” AJ retorted, crossing his arms and glaring at the unwelcome guest. “Next question.”

“God, you know, I thought you’d at least have the decency to show some fucking remorse,” Katie said, refusing to balk as AJ glared back at her. An ugly, juvenlie piece of her wanted to slap him, and she was trying very hard to keep that piece locked away. She focused her anger into her own withering stare, so similar to her brother’s, and restrained herself. Physically, at least. “No, instead you want to play the victim, to me of all people. You are fucking beyond,” Katie said, gearing up to lob another barrage of cutting words and spiteful glares. Later, she would not be particularly proud of the words that followed, but in the moment, she was past thinking. “Here’s another question for ya. Is it really Jamie you’re upset with? Or are you just mad that you were too fucking proud to have all these big feelings months ago? King of The Gearheads everybody, cockiest man alive until, God forbid, someone hurts his little feelings.” Her tone, harsh and sharp, suddenly jumped up in pitch, becoming something cruel and mocking. “Poor little AJ, can’t commit to Emilia, can’t have a single productive conversation with Jamie, tell me, what can you do, other than feel bad for yourself?”

Fuck this.

Why was he doing this to himself? Katie didn’t deserve an explanation, it was none of her business. Emilia was none of her business. He couldn’t commit to Emilia because he was falling stupid hard for her fucking brother and Emilia did not deserve that. Katie was all happy when he decided to chase Jamie and now, suddenly, she was a martyr, acting like she didn’t partake in their fall. She was the one in her brother’s ear! She could’ve told him to stop being a bitch and just love him. Just… love him. Giving himself a quiet moment to breathe, AJ cracked his knuckles before shaking his head, in disappointment. At Katie, at himself, and at the situation. “I’ll be right back.” Fuck him for being in love with a boy that was too scared to love and be vulnerable. Too scared to commit. Too scared to explore the unknown with someone that genuinely adored everything about him. The good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Fuck him, right? He should’ve known better. Leaving Katie with Scott, AJ walked away from the couple to retrieve the box and be done with this. Done with Katie, done with Jamie, and done with love. He was so over this Callaghan drama. He needed to move on.

Scott had had enough. He looked over at his girlfriend and took his hat off to run his fingers through his short hair. It was hard to see it any other way, Scott was glaring at her as he finally spoke and joined the conversation. “Katherine. That's enough.” He in a stern voice, before raising a hand and pointing toward the car. “Go wait in the car.”

As quickly as she had stormed into AJ’s house, Katie spun around, turning her glare onto Scott. He was supposed to be on her side. “Are you fucking kidding me? Katherine?” she hissed, unfazed by Scott’s sudden sternness. Orders in the bedroom were one thing. Orders while she was verbally eviscerating somebody were something else entirely. “I’m not a fucking dog Scott, you don’t get to muzzle me and send me outside because you don’t like what I’m saying.” She glared up at him, before shooting a look behind her at the space where AJ had been. Coward. “If you don’t like watching your boy get yelled at, why don’t you go tell him to act right? Remind him to keep his fucking hands off my brother.” She pushed past Scott, jaw clenched and eyes aflame. He’d have his own battle to fight when he got back to the car. “Go save AJ, he’s clearly in so much distress,” she said, and stormed back towards the car, petulantly kicking at AJ’s driveway as she went.

There was no time for Scott to respond back to Katie because AJ was making his way downstairs with a box he taped closed. When he only saw Scott, he gave a sigh of relief and offered the box, “Sorry… this will hopefully be the last time you ever have to deal with something like this. You don’t deserve that. My bad.” It was unfair that Scott got caught in the crossfire of his girlfriend and best friend. If AJ kept his emotions and temper checked, he wouldn’t have reacted. He shouldn’t have reacted. “Mind taking this and having her give this to her brother? When she’s in a better mood.”

When AJ returned and held out the box, Scott took it. There was a pregnant pause as his mind tried to decide what he wanted to say. There were so many things he wanted to say, he felt like he hadn’t talked to AJ in a long time. That made him a bad friend, and he knew that. Everyone had things going on in their lives, and Scott’s drama with his father, and then learning to live on his own had distracted him from his best friend. He took the box. Scott was struggling with emotions, and deciding what to say. That much was clear from the expression on his face. He sat the box down — carefully, of course.

Then, he stepped forward and wrapped AJ up into a hug that was almost too tight, and lasted longer than it should have. He released the embrace and put both of his hands on AJ’s shoulders. “People care about you. Seriously. Make good choices. I got Katie. Just… call me, okay?”

Taken aback, AJ stood there, lost and confused. He didn’t expect that. Not from Scott. They were brothers, and they hugged, but this hug was different. There was a lot of meaning behind it. He hadn’t hit him up in awhile because AJ knew what Scott was going through and he also knew that when Scott did have free time, he wanted to spend it with Katie. While Chris was the one that dropped the hard truths he needed to hear, Scott was the one that gave him the softer approach, showing he cared. That he wasn’t alone. He knew he wasn’t alone but sometimes he needed to feel he wasn’t alone and that hug caused AJ to tightly close his eyes, knowing he was about to cry like a bitch in front of his boy. He gave him a thumbs up, unable to respond with words right away.Turning away, he allowed the tears to run down his face. “Tomorrow, we’re going to have fun. That’s all I want right now. Okay? And yeah, I’ll call you. Tonight, if you’re free.”

Scott grimaced. He wasn’t free that evening, and up until that very moment he had completely forgotten. They were meant to go to movie night, weren’t they? With Katie’s best friend and… someone. Scott didn’t remember. “I can’t tonight. I have to go to a movie night with Katie, and before you suggest it, I don’t think we can cancel this one.” He kneeled down and picked up the box, adjusting it slightly against his chest. “I can call you though, when it’s over. Shouldn’t be more than a couple hours, maybe less if she’s really mad.” Scott still had the boss fight of his girlfriend to go through, something he never looked forward to. When was the last time they’d even had an actual fight? It had to have been a while ago now, maybe over something stupid, like chess. This was the real deal though.

“Does that sound good?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” AJ agreed, masking the sudden heart drop he felt. Once he gained control over his emotions, he turned back and waved at his friends, his eyes red from a long day of pain, “Enjoy your time. I’m not going anywhere today and don’t be surprised if I don’t pick up. I think I’m going to take a nap. But yeah, don’t worry about me. I’ll see you tomorrow regardless. Now go, before Katie screams your head off.”

Scott heard the hitch in AJ’s breath and knew that it was only going to get worse before it got better. That, Scott figured, couldn’t be much further from here. How much lower could it go? He knew he’d hurt AJ. Katie was waiting for him in the car, surely ready to blurt out a mouthful of angry words he didn’t deserve. He made eye contact with AJ and gave him a nod, trying to say as much with as few words as possible, and hoped the message was received loud and clear before he turned to walk away. Approaching the car, he took a big breath. What will my sentence be? He wondered.

He opened the backdoor to place the box of Jamie’s belongings safely beside his own and then closed the door carefully. He looked down at the driver’s seat, and pondered how much easier it would have been to go into the Tyler home, and watch America’s Funniest Home Videos with AJ until they fell asleep. Unfortunately, Scott had chosen the difficult road of falling in love with soon-to-be homecoming Queen Katie Callaghan.

He put his hand on the handle and the door unlocked, signaling his arrival to his girlfriend. He pulled the door open, slid into his chair and pulled the door closed behind himself. He gripped the steering wheel, and faced forward as he made his choice. “Can I talk first?” Head on into the abyss it was.

How is she gonna ask me to hang out, and be late?

The unfortunate sound of air passing through his straw in a vain attempt to get the rest of the milkshake he had paid an ungodly amount of money for rang through the boy's ears. Helen wasn’t late, it was more of the fact that Lucian was early. Another habit he had picked up during his younger years, the boy couldn’t stand to be late. He watched the clock tick past the meeting time she had thrust upon the boy without leaving him another moment to respond or even register within his thoughts. Lucian didn’t even know what the girl had invited him for, their brief interaction earlier in the day had culminated in Lucian sitting alone in a bougie ice cream parlor where he had felt like a fish out of water, but what was new in Beverly Hills for the rag-tag boy from Harlem?

Lucian’s mind hung on the unusuality of the hangout spot she chose, it was a far cry from the usual setting of his uncle’s shed, which was outfitted with everything one would need to rock out, but here he was sitting in a place for serving ice cream of all possible locations. Lucian tossed the remnants of a drink he would never buy again into the pastel-colored trashcan that neighbored his waiting spot. If Helen had prefaced what she had wanted from Lucian his life would have been nirvana instead of drowning in the stress of anticipation. Whatever it was Lucian knew it had to be something too special to tell him within the confines of his own home or school, he’d just have to wait and see.

The worn-looking pair of black headphones laid upon Lucian’s ears as a result of his boredom with the noise that poured from the parlor’s speakers, if he was going to continue to wait alone he might as well get the most out of it. Music had always been one of Lucian’s passions, he listened, he played, but he never created music; it lay just beyond his purview. Lucian never had the need to, music-wise, for the majority of his life it had always been him and his sticks against the world–Helen had changed that, she was the first person he had played with in a long while since even before he had left Harlem; she had an amazing voice, and he shredded any piece of sheet music presented to him on the drums.

As the jazz drumline reverberated throughout his brain it took his mind off the waiting, he could feel the soul poured into a rhythm, it melded with its fellow instruments like a lake flowing into a larger body of water, the syncopations in the beat were a pleasant disruption in his mind as they were throughout the rhythm which played; he would have to learn to play this rhythm himself, yet another song he would have to add to the backburner.

As the drummer boy waited in anticipation, Helen was taking her sweet time. She marched to the beat of her own drum. She wasn’t one for predictability and if there was anyone that chased a feeling, a whim, and did literally what they wanted, it was Helen Wells. Strange and unusual was Helen’s whole vibe. There was a big difference between those who got what they wanted and those who did what they wanted. Sure, Helen had aspirations and dreams. That just meant she wasn’t stagnant, always thinking about optimizing her potential, but that didn’t mean she was limited to wanting singular things. Materialistic things, like her cosplays and makeup, weren't needed. If she had to wear rags she would be okay. She knew how to be a person beyond her privileges. If she was stripped of everything, including her voice, which was her gift, she would be okay. Her fathers taught her how to overcome adversities, and that meant if she had to give up on her dreams, to walk a path less taken, she would be okay.

Yes, she wanted a band. She was young, energetic and hot. She knew she’d be a fucking phenomanal, heartstopping face for a band, just how her grandpa was for Deciduous Dreams. If it didn’t happen though? She’d be okay and try something new. That was just how Helen was. She didn’t want something so badly it completely consumed her. She never did. This made her dangerous to deal with because she was one of the people who didn’t have anything to lose, which made her fucks to give at ground zero. She had her family but she was at the age where she could rebel and test her parents’ patience. She was going to ride it until it became a problem. She had her friends, who she was passionate about, loving them for who they were as people and not liking the bad they had to face, especially what happened to Amy last year. Just another whim she was chasing. She knew Amy wouldn’t care if she chased leads or not to find out who ruined her. At this point? Amy ran with the story and gave the people what they wanted. If Amy told Helen to stop, she would, but she didn’t. So of course, Helen was going to do what she could to find out who was the little bitch that decided to be a coward and cause a fire with information they knew nothing about.

As much as Helen Wells wanted to believe she was invincible, no fucks to give, and full of rage, those who were in her inner circle knew she wasn’t bulletproof and this bad bitch vibe was a persona she picked up herself. A persona entangled with the little girl inside of her. The bitch she became was necessary. Her sword and shield. She couldn’t say that it wasn’t who she was, since now it’s simply second nature to act the way she does. There was a time she was less guarded and that was before the Winter formal freshmen year. The only person who knows what happened to Helen, who she found herself trusting and being vulnerable with, was Gavriel. Her little twink. Not even the cheerleaders and her best friends know what happened to her freshman year, and she’d like to keep it that way. She was a slut, just like Amy and just like Toury. Her story was hers to tell, when she was ready. For now? People can believe what they want to believe. They were going to, anyway.

Setting up a date at Creamistry was not as complicated as Luce was thinking it to be. This arrangement was a childish whim where Helen wanted the Halloween/October special. Might as well kill two birds with one stone. Ask Luce to join her band AND eat good ice cream. When Helen arrived, there was no way she’d go unseen. She was still in her Katerine cosplay from The Vampire Diaries. The bell rang, announcing her arrival, and with her almost supernatural entrance, as if she glided on the smooth, colorful tiled floor, Helen clocked Luce, who was surrounded by the symphony of his soul. She smiled, taking notice.

A smile only meant she acknowledged his presence. There was a matter of business she needed to attend to and that was to: buy ice cream. With no one in line holding her up, she went to the counter, only for the two girls there to gawk at her. Or well one was animatedly goggling at her and the other was looking at her with more subtle admiration and curiosity. She knew these girls. They were junior cheerleaders. Niles Sinclair’s little sisters, Autumn and Summer.

The bubbly one began first, “Oh my goooooodness! You look so good. You’re Katherine right? I love Vampires! You know I’m trying to convince my boyfriend to binge watch all the vampire stuff ever, including the Twilight series.” Summer was bouncing around in place, completely marking out at the appearance of her goth senior.

Autumn, the more down to earth one, even if a bit bitchy and sassy, rolled her eyes, “Our boyfriend.”

Helen raised an eyebrow at that comment. Niles had polyamorous sisters and they both were dating the same boy. Interesting. She wouldn’t have expected polyamory from the Sinclair family, who were rather influential in the medical industry, seeing how their father was the head of the surgical department at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. On the surface, they seemed traditional and more focused on their studies. Then again, they were the cousins of AJ Tyler and AJ was caught in the most entertaining, toxic love story of her year. Unfortunately, Rye was caught in the Gearhead’s mess, being used as a distraction, which Helen didn’t like but that was neither here nor there. She continued to listen, keeping her thoughts to herself, curious where these girls would take the conversation.

“Would it be cool if we took a picture of you, over there by our selfie wall?” Autumn asked, upfront with their intentions. “I think it would be good marketing since ‘tis the season to be spooky.”

Helen smirked. Of course they wanted a picture of her. Who wouldn’t? Still, aside from exposure, she wanted something more. The offer wasn’t intriguing enough. “Hm, I could but what’s in it for me?”

“We’ll tag you!” Summer offered, already with her phone out and searching for Helen’s socials.

Helen helped her since she wasn’t under her name. “Immortal.Hellcat.”

“There we go! We’re following you now and when we get the picture, we’ll post and tag you. People will get to see your hot fit.” Summer beamed, hoping this would get her senior to agree.

Helen crossed her arms, pretending to not be convinced. Honestly loving the attention. “I don’t know. I could easily post a picture of myself. A girl dressed in black surrounded by rainbow? That’s not hard of a prompt.”

“And free ice cream,” Autumn countered, bringing up the incentive. She only did this job because it helped build character, as her dad told her. This parlor made enough money to expand if they truly wanted to so it wasn’t like they would be hurting if she gave a customer a freebie. “I’m going to assume you’re here for our Boolicious Fright Night Sundae.”

“That’s so big! Can you eat it all by yourself?!” Summer gasped, surveying Helen’s figure and the obvious corset she was wearing.

Helen laughed.

Free stuff was always something she was up for. She might have money but if she didn’t need to spend it, why should she? “You got yourself a deal. Don’t worry about whether I can finish it or not. That’s a battle between me and Satan. Now, before more customers come in…” Helen directed the twins to follow her. Summer did so quickly, with her phone camera out, while Autumn began making the trick-or-treat special of the month with skilled precision and speed, having worked at this place for a little over a year. Once Helen was settled on the swing, Summer took a few photos without ice cream at hand. A natural and extremely photogenic, Helen didn’t need any direction, already knowing how to pose and what facial expressions to use. Helen knew her body. She knew her body better than anyone. In a matter of minutes, Autumn had joined her sister and the vampiress, handing her the halloween special. The photo op continued. When the Sinclair twins were satisfied with their selection, it didn’t take long, Helen was scarily good at this, they thanked her and went back to behind the counter. Summer proceeded to update the parlor’s socials and Autumn returned to work, assisting a family of four. The children, a little blonde boy and a dark haired girl, who reminded Helen of her and her brother, kept making glances at her. Playfully, Helen winked at them and revealed her fangs. The girl blushed and the boy buried his face on his mom’s leg.

Cute.

Pridefully, Helen sauntered to where Luce was and finally took a seat. It was twenty five minutes after her arrival. “Heyyyyyy, want some?” She offered a spoon to her peer. “This shit is good. It’s basically cookie dough dyed black.”

“Hmm?” The music which held control of Lucian’s brain lost it's grip with the advent of Helen’s arrival. His eyes peered up from the phone he held in his hand to the woman that sat before him. “Oh, look who finally arrived.” Lucian flashed a smile at Helen, shifting his headphones down to around his neck. Helen, who paraded around with her princess of darkness personality, was one of the few people Lucian had befriended during his short time within the halls of Beverly Hills High. A friendship spurred from a single, chance encounter from their junior year due to a locker mix-up of all possible catalysts; it took the two of them quite a bit to remove the ink from the surface of his locker in the aftermath. From that statistical improbability in the statistical world they lived to the present they have been friends ever since. Despite her outward demeanor to some, she was a person he could talk her ear off about music with, and one who would listen and empathize with him whenever something slipped through the wall he erected around his past. He didn't care for the reputation she held, or the way people saw her, Lucian saw it was a dumb preconception on a person of whom they truly knew anything about. He understood the implications of a bad stigma, he himself had been held to one in the past. At heart, Helen was a good person, and that is what he saw her for, and nothing less. Past the layers of black clothing and lipstick, that's what she was. His brother, Rocky, had always always told him he had a strange ability to really understand a person.

Lucian waved his hand at the offer of the spoon. “I think I've had enough bougie Beverly Hills ice cream for today, God knows much you paid for that monstrosity. I'm scared to even ask.” He sighed thinking about much money he begrudgingly paid for the milkshake he had earlier. His fingers softly tap on the glossy surface of the table to the rhyme of the low track that still secretly pervaded his ears. “So, are you gonna tell me whatcha called me here of all places for? My uncle’s gardenin’ facts finally get you?” His uncle was truly a great guy, he would give someone the shirt off his back if they needed it. He could still be a bit overwhelming at times, but he always meant well. Lucian wondered how Uncle Jason and his father could even be related at times. “Still confused on why ice cream, first time I even been of this place now that I think ‘bout it.”

Amused, noting how into his own world he had been to not realize the interaction she held with the ice cream girls, Helen scooped some of her black cookie dough and leisurely placed the spoon upside down in her mouth, sucking the sweet goodness right off. Childishly, she grinned and swayed in her seat, loving her monstrosity. When she went for another scoop, she chuckled, “I’m not that deep. I wanted ice cream and to prolong the wait even more, I got this for freeeeeeee. All you gotta’ do is offer your body and you’ll get what you want.” Helen crudely joked. “But seriously, I didn’t want to get the halloween special and eat it by myself. I also wanted to talk to you and here we are, achieving both.”

She allowed herself to devour more of the ice cream and add ons in it, bobbing her head, completely animated and showing her glee in the moment. If it wasn’t for their connection in music, and their fateful first encounter, Helen wondered if they would’ve ever crossed paths. Personality wise? They were two different people but because of their love for music and the stories around them that inspired songs, they found an unlikely bond. They weren’t polar opposites like her and her cousin Hope, but they still were from two different planets and it showed. That didn’t matter though. What mattered was their universal language: music. “You really think I’d go out of my way for gardening tips? Luce, the last time I tried to grow something with my dad — the sex therapist one — it died. It was helluva poetic. I kill the things I touch. So edgy. I’ll mark that as a success.”

Luce would have to try harder than that to get Helen “the killer of plants” Wells to focus and not distract herself, or him, from the point of this meeting. She continued to dance to the song in her soul, the music in her mind, and the beat in her heart, all the while indulging in the large sundae meant for four people. Not holding back on the lack of grace, Helen truly became a frenzied vampire sucking the life of its victim. She wasn’t trying to be a lady. Not in front of her friend. Having skipped lunch, solely to have ice cream, she gorged herself and it showed. Helen was starving and she had prepared for this moment all day. She truly was a child but that in itself was endearing and she was unashamed of who she was. Not many people of their year could say the same thing. At least Luce wasn’t one of those lost kids. He was just like her. He knew who he was and he wasn’t trying to be anyone other than himself. That’s what truly connected them. Their sense of self. That’s what made them friends.

“Blow works as a nice alternative too but I ain’t got no contacts for that anymore.” Lucian joked back at the black-haired girl before him, it was always nice to have someone around who you could chat to freely without the judgment that would accost him in a conversation with anyone else. “And, well, at least you got somethin’ out of the experience, gardenin’ isn’t that hard when you get into it.” Lucian cut his words short, he couldn’t allow himself to get too distracted by Helen’s child-like glee of their meeting. He watched Helen sway around in her seat as if the dark mess of ice cream in front of her was her next fix. He couldn’t help but smile. Helen was herself through and through, he admired her unchanging presentation to everyone she encountered. In a way, Helen was like his friend Rocky; utterly herself, and unnecessarily difficult to make pay attention to the topic at hand.

Distraction, like all weeds, must be snipped from the root. Having raised his sister for almost her entire life, Lucian knew this like the back of his hand. He reached his hand out across the table as if he was reaching for the spoon she had previously offered like he was relenting to her request to share. In a swift motion, Lucian treacherously swiped the bowl to his side of the table. He didn’t desire to violate the bliss Helen received from the free sweet treat she was devouring but it was an action that needed to be done. “Helen, this hurts me more than it hurts you, but you have to focus.” Lucian held the bowl before him, just out of Helen’s black thumb reach, it was the only way. “Your ice cream will be returned when you tell me why I am here.”

An audible gasp escaped Helen’s lips. Did he? He totally did just take her ice cream away from her. All to what? To get her to FOCUS? There was absolute shock written all over the gothic beauty’s face. How could she let this happen? He stole her treasure right from under her, using a ploy that he would have some of the sweet spooktacular goodness and she believed it. How foolish of her. The TREACHERY! The BETRAYAL! The SIN! This was a trick but there was no treat. Not anymore. How devastating. Her life was ruined and it was all because Lucian took her ice cream away from her like they were preschool kids. She wanted to cry.

Kidding.

She wasn’t actually upset but she enjoyed playing along, it wasn’t often she could be the baby in the dynamic and with Luce she didn’t have to be strong all the time. She could relax and enjoy his company. Once she placed her spoon on a napkin, she crossed her arms, leaning back in faux defeat. She pouted, wanting to protest. Helen knew that her friend waited long enough and yielded. If she kept prolonging the inevitable his patience would be tested and we couldn’t have that. She did this more to get her ice cream back than anything. “You’re tying my hands but fine.” She unlatched her arms and raised her hands up, surrendering and ready to reveal the truth of why she needed him to meet her, at Creamistry. Why meeting each other was more important out of school than in. Why of all times she chose 4:20 PM on the dot and how necessary it was for him to be there, on time, like she asked. This would be the moment of truth. The moment he had been waiting for. The moment he was so badly anticipating, that put him on the edge of his seat.

But first, she took out her phone and prefaced, “So you know my grandpa is kind of tight with the Greens’ grandmother right? Not the scary blonde one. The dark goddess that rocks black and purple. Same though.” Helen had tabs already open in her phone browser, to showcase exactly who she was talking about and switching over to different tabs as fast as lightning, whenever she mentioned someone new. She had full faith Luce knew all these names, he knew his shit, but she wanted to be extra and act like she was giving a presentation. “She was the lead vocalist of East of Eden. Huge symphonic metal band. Legends. Just how my grandpa, Jareth, was, and still is, the frontman of the big time emo revival band, Deciduous Dreams. He’s an old man now but he can still rock out with his cock out. They don’t perform as much, since he’s enjoying eating his husband’s goooooood food but if he has the urge, he sure as hell will give into it.” She was way off track from her point but it was fine. Luce was going to get what he wanted sooner or later, he just needed to let her cook and toy with his feelings for a little while longer. “Well her best friend, Bex Crosby, co-leader of the band who rocked the guitars with Shepard Fraiser? Yeah, well she’s the owner of Poison Apple Recording Studio.”

Was that unnecessary information? Right now, maybe, but down the road? Absolutely not. This was her way of showing Luce that she was connected and that meant if they really wanted to succeed, she knew the people they could show their musical talent off to. Helen was purposely being long winded because she could. It wasn’t like either of them had somewhere to be. If Luce did? Oops. This was far more important. Plus, he took her ice cream. She could be petty too.

“So check it,” Helen placed her phone face down on the table. “On Monday I decided you know what, we have so many fucking talented people at our school, why haven’t we all worked together, you know? I hit up Yani first because they're genius and having them on a project means less work for me. I considered all my other options and you, of course, were next on my list. I have other people in mind but I only have one drummer I want.”

Was he getting it now?

Yeah, so Helen did bring Luce here for ice cream not only because she wanted ice cream but because she needed to ask a simple question she could’ve written in text or asked at school. Helen, however, was not a predictable girl. She did what she wanted. A girl and her whims. “What I’m saying is why don’t you, me, and Yani start a band? They’d manage and produce, you’d drum, I’d sing and do the keys, all we’d really need is strings and then bam. We got ourselves a band and we can head on over to Poison Apple to record and jam.” Leaning forward, her arms on the table and her hands clasped, Helen smirked. Finally, the business proposal was out in the open.

“Pretty cool, huh? I thought long and hard about this.” Helen said rather proudly before pressing on, “All that music we talk about, since last year, we can finally put it in motion. Find people like us and leave this school on a badass note. I know how much you want to put your drums to work and I mean TO WORK. Not just in a room alone rocking your socks off. With some of our peers, with me, we could do just that because Luce, I think you’re cool and I like you a lot. In the most platonic of ways. So,” the songstress paused, catching his eyes. She grabbed her spoon off the napkin and glanced down at her ice cream, before going back to meet his sharp yet kind gaze, “Whaddya say?” She offered one last time,“Wanna be in a band together?”

Lucian was blindsided, well, he was most times by the desultory whims of one Helen Wells, but this occasion was different. The concept of a band had been foreign to Lucian’s ears for as long as he could remember. Helen has only been the only true person who he had rocked with in a long while. It had always been him and her, locked away in the fortress of solitude that was his uncle’s shed for hours on end after school playing whatever random song they had desired in the moment. Although within these sessions of being the bane of Uncle Jason’s neighbors, the idea of grouping up with others and forming a band had only been mentioned a single transient time from Lucian’s mouth; a short, cursory lamentation of never having played in a band. Helen was right about Lucian wanting to put his drums to work, it was his passion, it was his escape. An escape from the struggles of the day, an escape from the unwanted thoughts, it was the home he never had, it took him away from this plane if only for a few fleeting hours. It made him feel as normal as normal could be, removed from everything. The pain from his batter and bloodied hands at the end was yet but a sacrifice for the salvation he obtained. He poured his love, his hate, his anger, his regret, his sorrow, his everything into each and every beat upon the surface of his drum; no matter if it was the bucket drums he played in the Harlem subway with the homeless, or the DW set he played in the shed to an audience of few, he put his passion into every strike. He longed to put his music into the world for ears beyond simply those whom he kept in his circle to hear, to understand. The means to had finally been placed just within his reach, a tale that if told to Lucian not even two years prior he would believe to be naught but a fallacy, like the tales he and Rocky spun to each other on the street corner of foretold fame and fortune that would be promised to the two in their fantastical view of the future, but to which they knew was a lie as good as any.

“First off, that was one helluva presentation, props where they’re due, but I been knew most of these cats for a while. I get it though, exposition or whatever” Lucian’s hands gripped the side of ice cream bowl once more “Now, I mean it all sounds good on paper, but it aint gonna be easy y’know…”

Lucian slid the black, cold mess of ice cream back over to Helen’s side of the table to end the childish encounter.

“But, count me the fuck in.”

“Okay,” Rye sighed dramatically at JJ before pulling the straw into his mouth and taking a big gulp of his rootbeer in order to fortify himself. After his little breakdown in the library, Rye had woken up and pulled himself together in the presence of JJ and Helen before continuing on with the rest of his day like he always did. He and JJ agreed to go to the mall after school and catch up then, as they’d been forced their separate ways for class. They’d had their small talk and general catch up while they were actually shopping, and now that they had their bags of clothes and impulse buys, the two best friends were refueling at a food court table, their takeout boxes spread haphazardly all over the small surface. Before he could continue, his phone screen lit up from the table and he glanced down disgustedly at the unknown number before locking his screen again to ignore it. Rye, who already despised trying to decipher audio over phone calls in the first place, barely ever answered calls from his friends, let alone unknown numbers. He much preferred to text, or to video chat so he could watch the other person’s lips for any words he missed audibly. “Jesus, the scam calls are just horrible around election time, I swear I get one like every hour. JJ, I’m not even legal to vote yet, what could they possibly be needing to tell me?”

Okay, stop it, Rye thought to himself, well aware of his own habit of using any little distraction as, well, distraction. “Sorry, nevermind. You wanted to talk about Jamie and Decky? Or just Decky?”

“Where did we leave off?” Jordyn said absentmindedly, having eaten most of her chicken teriyaki and going straight to her salted pretzel. Tearing a piece off, she thought long and hard before winging it. Hopefully she wasn’t repeating herself from earlier, “So. As you already know, I like Decky and I think today is the day he noticed me. Or well, I hope he noticed me…” Briefly, JJ stumbled over her words, doubting herself and wondering if this was a chase worth pursuing. She was quick to bury the doubt to focus on the conversation at hand. “But before I get lost in talking about him, I should bring up the incident between Jamie and Decky from this morning.” JJ chomped at the piece of pretzel she tore off and chewed for a bit. Chewed in silence. Chewed in thought. Chewed in happiness from the salty goodness.

Once she swallowed, JJ continued, while her eyes were on Rye, her mind was elsewhere, on the events from this morning, “In homeroom, Jamie and Decky were going at it. Throwing shots at each other. I don’t remember who started it, if I’m going to be honest. Jamie was in a mood already. My guess is maybe an argument with AJ? I don’t know who else would give him such a big hickey. But I was able to bring him back and I think I’m going to try to be his friend. That’s beside the point, though. Decky is… AJ’s best friend?” The curly haired girl asked, trying to explain herself as clearly as possible at the same time but her mind was going every which way. “Is that why he doesn’t like Jamie? Is it bad that I want to be friends with someone my crush hates?” She didn’t know if she was giving a report or seeking advice but here she was, lost in translation, hoping Rye understood the scrambled pieces of information in her brain. She was doing her best. It wasn’t usual that JJ was caught up in drama like this but because it involved two people she liked, she wanted to help.

“Decky isn't the type to care who you talk to so long as they don't pose a physical danger to yourself or someone else he cares about. He may not like it, especially with it being Jamie, but he's not the controlling type that would try and tell you you weren't allowed or some shit,” Rye replied honestly to his friend, following her broken flow with the practiced ease only a sibling or best friend could. He popped a fry in his mouth after dragging it through some barbecue sauce and chewed slowly, trying just as hard to piece together a response as she did to get her thoughts out. “But yeah, AJ is one of his best friends so he's super protective of him, as he is with anyone he cares about, but AJ was like…the first person from Beverly Hills to take Decky in and call him friend. So it's more personal and that means Decky like…he kind of fucking hates Jamie, to be honest. It's not my business to tell, but in the vaguest wording let's just say that AJ changed a lot while dating Jamie, and Decky wasn't a fan. Pretty sure most of AJ's closer friends weren't fans but don't take my word for it,” Rye ventured, not wanting to talk on anyone else's thoughts or feelings that he didn't know for sure. His fingers tapped rapidly against the condensation coated cup in between his hands and he looked away from his friend, not really feeling shame but not feeling great when he admitted the next bit. “Decky and I stopped hooking up because he got AJ and I together for a no-strings situation after he and Jamie broke up, since neither of us were doing great and Decky thought we could help each other out more, y'know? We just keep each other from falling off of our prospective edges, and we know there's no romance past friendship and physical intimacy in it, but it's been working well enough. Or I guess it was before AJ and Jamie decided to try hooking up again, but obviously something went down this morning from what you're saying.”

And that was worrying, because AJ had been radio silent all day, meaning whatever happened was bad enough to get the other boy in his own head and stuck there, likely until one of his three best friends pulled him out of it. Jamie having a harsh hickey? Not the weirdest thing out there, especially with AJ, but from what JJ had said of the way the other media-based boy had acted and the fact that AJ ditched school, things hadn't gone well, so Jamie walking away with a physical reminder of whatever went down between them made something sit heavy in Rye's stomach, the small boy forcing himself not to think of any possibilities or spin himself out on self-created stories fabricated from his own past experiences in place of whatever the truth was.

He shook his head, ignoring the phantom fingers of anxiety creeping up on him while dispelling any thoughts of Ronnie and that end of summer party, deciding to focus instead on his friend and the progress of her incredibly slow burned love story. “But what about Decky noticing you, huh? How'd that feel? The moment we've all been waiting for,” he got a little more nervous energy out as he drumrolled on the edge of the table and smiled at JJ. “What actually happened?”

What happened that changed things?

JJ tilted her head when she processed a silent message from Rye, noticing his fingers tap, tap, tappin’. Respectfully she didn’t probe, willing to wait until he was ready to talk about whatever internal battle he was facing that made him anxious. Breaking another piece of pretzel off, she went in a daze, trying to register when exactly the tension started to show. “I had Addie’s lipstick on, he noticed,” JJ started, nibbling on her pretzel piece, stuck in a memory. “I checked up on him and called him Chai, which seemed to get a subtle reaction. Maybe I embarrassed him? But I don’t think it was a bad embarrassment. I would know if he disliked it, so I think he liked it. Iunno… I hope he liked it.” She talked to herself out loud, trying to understand what happened and if it was a good thing or bad thing. “And then Jamie came into the picture.”

There was a pause as her attention went to her tote where Biggie squeaked, demanding some pretzel. She slipped the tiniest of crumbs in the bag and then it hit her and her eyes widened and there was sudden terror in her stomach, as she began to assume the worst. Her own anxiety got the better of her. Her heart raced, sending warm blood to her soft, brown cheeks and she could feel the butterflies fluttering all around inside her. “OH-MY-GOSH-DARN-IT.” Dropping the pretzel from her hand, it falling from her lap to the floor, she started biting her nails. “Biggie… went to the windowsill and…” JJ nervously laughed and continued to nip at her nails. “He’s going to think I’m a HOE, Rye. Why didn’t I think about what I was doing? Why did I do THAT?!”

“Well, he's an actual hoe so I don't think there'd really be anything negative behind that if he did think it. And trust me, you calling him Chai probably made him blush like a schoolgirl inside,” Rye assured almost dismissively as he watched his best friend squirm, attempting to squint past the obstacles now blocking her lips, leaning in both to sip more of his drink through his straw and to hear her better. Tilting his head at JJ once he'd finished, he complained softly, “Jay, dude, the fingers. I’m sorry but I can’t read your lips like that and this food court’s hella loud,” He’d only been able to hear the part of her story that he’d replied to before her fingers had blocked half of his understanding and her words became a garbled, unprocessed mess to his ears. It was like the subtitles suddenly being removed from a foreign movie and you realize you never actually understood the characters’ words at all, and it was frustrating. He liked to lie when asked and say that the tinnitus was just the ringing in his ears and pretend like he didn’t have any actual hearing loss from it yet, but he hadn’t exactly learned ASL super young or joined the ASL club at BHHS out of passion for another language. It was just good planning for his future. “Please choose another anxious fidget for this conversation. And repeat your last sentence after ‘hoe, Rye’.”

JJ was quick to put her palm on her lap, clasping her fingers together. Swaying her feet, heel toe, left to right, right to left, the inexperienced teen, having never dated and only having a feeling of what her sexual orientation was, decided to not repeat the same words but to explain what exactly happened. “I just panicked… sorry.” Not looking Rye in the eyes, flustered and shy, she remembered out loud, “I climbed over his desk to get to Biggie and he might’ve had a nice… scenic… view.”

“Oh!” Rye giggled like an idiot, almost spitting out his latest sip of soda in the process. “He saw your ass! JJ oh my god,” Rye dissolved into a fit of laughter, his previous anxieties dissolving along with it as he held his stomach and shook. “I’m sor-” More laughter, barely contained to be publicly acceptable, and then a deep, steadying breath as he held up his hand, asking his friend for patience as he pulled himself together. When he was ready, he grinned at JJ and held his hand to his chest in apology. “Sorry, seriously. It’s just that I told you like first thing back in sophomore year that he was an ass man and you waited almost two years, until Biggie was pulling a houdini, to finally give him a glance? Dude, JJ, that is the least hoe behavior I’ve ever heard.”

“Oh,” JJ giggled, realizing how silly she was being. A simple misunderstanding in the brain. Classic JJ. Grateful and appreciative for her friend who never failed at discerning her words, the dorky girl gleamed. With a wide kind of smile that showed she was relieved and delighted, she confessed and asked, “Tell me straight, Rye. How out of my element am I? I have never been in a relationship, sexual or romantic. I’d like to think I would love all kinds of people and have room for more than one partner but that’s just because I believe it to be true. I will it into existence. I know my heart and that’s all I have to go off of. Right now? I want Decky. I’ve wanted him for TWO YEARS. Just like you said.”

Sighing and taking a breath, JJ grabbed her cup of water and took a sip. “I worry though,” She admitted. “How would Decky feel when he finds out… I’ve never been with anyone? What if that discredits my understanding of him being polyamorous and what if his partner, Sonny, feels some type of way? I don’t want to replace him. I can never replace him. I am me and I want to add to their love story, while finding my own, maybe with Decky, you know? I think I can make it work I just, don’t know what I’m doing.” She shouldn’t use the love word. They were teens. How did they know what love was? JJ knew, however, if she took a leap of faith, she wouldn’t have the ability to do a one night stand. She could try. Anyone could try. Something told her, in the pit of her stomach, that doing something just for sex wasn’t for her. She needed something more than that. Sex wasn’t needed. When you loved somebody, she’d like to think sex felt good. When you desired someone, the feelings came naturally. Inside and out. When they wanted you back? That was pure magic. Oh man, was she already thinking of having sex with Decky?! She hadn’t even told him her feelings. The fire of passion, coming from a blushing, new bride appeared on JJ’s cheeks as her mind thought of her next interaction with her crush. Not so pure thoughts. Naughty, actually. Embarrassing. Shaking her head, dirty thoughts begone, she pouted, “I want him to like me, Rye.”

The smirk Rye leveled his best friend with was all knowing, telling her that he saw exactly what was going on in that chaotic little brain of hers and that it amused him greatly. He ate another fry as he thought about her words, doing his best to actually think on them first and not just run off at the mouth like he usually does. This was an important conversation. He decided to start with the easiest part.

“So, first off, I know for a fact that Decky does not care how long, short, or nonexistent your list of sexual experiences and partners is. Sex is that dude’s first form of communication and as long as he and the other person or people are all consenting, then fucking will happen. It’s just fact with Decky, he throws himself in physically first because he’s afraid of letting people see his feelings before they’ve seen his body,” Because his body can take hits that his heart can’t. Rye thought back to the difference in the way Decky acted around him between his first night with the strong gearhead versus many interactions later when the taller was finally comfortable enough with him in bed that he took his shirt off. After Rye’s limited reaction and continued acceptance despite all the scars on the other’s torso, especially the one across his left pec and collar bone leading to his shoulder, Decky had been more open with the curly haired boy and that was when their friendship had hit off just as well as their physical relationship. Rye understood to his own extent why Decky was so scared to share such a vulnerable part of him, and it helped the slightly younger boy understand the other’s actions and defenses just a bit more when he’d finally revealed it. Decky knew that if you couldn’t get past the scars littering his body like pieces of the past that refused to be forgotten, then you wouldn’t be able to handle him and everything he holds inside. Sex first just made sense.

That, however, was a situation JJ would have to go through herself, because Rye was on the same boat as the other handful of people trusted enough by Decky to see the scar that weighed him down like the very word branded there. That boat was ‘don’t say a word about it no matter how much is asked or offered’, and Rye would stay there until he died.

The Boaz parents truly were disgusting human beings.

“Secondly, you don’t have to be some kind of sex goddess to be polyamorous, JJ, and you’re allowed to try different labels and see how they fit you. Being queer in any form is not a one way stop, it’s all about the journey on the way to discovery. No one is going to judge you if things change as you get more experience,” Rye never thought he’d be the one giving these lessons, but here they were. God save them all. “If you don’t want to have sex with Decky, tell him that. If you do, tell him that. If you want him to be gentle, or rough, just communicate. Dude does great with up front wording, but he’s only really good at context clues when it comes to reading actual books. Just wait, he’s going to blindside the fuck out of you with his flirting now that you’ve awakened him to your possibility. It’s mostly him like, hotly leaning over you against a wall somewhere while throwing out blunt compliments and innuendos during conversations, but hell if it doesn’t pull you in somehow.” Rye rolled his eyes as he recalled the many times simple flirting from Decky had him weak in the knees because it wasn’t just words when it came to the other jewish boy, it was something about his actual presence and proximity that became intoxicating.

“And Sonny? Don’t get me started on Sonny, dude. You’re fine there, because if Sonny says no to Decky whenever Decky calls him next then you’re not even going to get to the flirting stage. Sonny’s an ornery dick on a good day, and they're both unhealthy in a ton of ways but the way that they treat each other and their relationship isn’t one of them. Decky’s going to be getting Sonny’s permission to ask you out or he’s not, in which case he won’t lead you on or I’d bite him next time I saw him, and not in the kinky way. In the ‘how dare you try and play with my bestie’ feral gremlin kinda way, y’know?” Rye was a healer, not a fighter, sue him. “Plus, you know, PJ would slaughter him, probably DJ too at the very least, and he wouldn’t dare raise a hand to defend himself against them because he’d know he deserves it.” Rye finally took a breath from his informative assurances and took another sip of his drink, ignoring the now cold food before him with a small frown, realizing he hadn’t had much more than his fries before he let it all cool too much to eat, not even a bite taken from his chicken tenders. Oh well, JJ was more important. He leaned onto his crossed arms, elbows resting on the unbalanced and wobbly tabletop, and addressed the final issue that he recalled from her ramble.

“We all already knew he liked you, JJ, and now he finally realizes it too. Don’t start doubting yourself now, yeah? You’ve waited, you’ve played it safe, but safety’s about to be off, babe. Now’s the time to buckle up for the ride.”

Internally noting the advice her friend was giving her, JJ looked around them, at those sitting in the food court and the passersby. She never expected her crush would bear fruit but now Decky saw her and he wanted her, at least physically. That was a good thing and yet, even when her friend told her to stop doubting herself, she found herself more worried than usual. Turning back to him, catching his kind, brown eyes, while her gaze was packed with concern, love and respect, Jordyn worried, “And you’re okay with this?” Rye deserved love more than anyone she knew and she would hate if he was burying his feelings for Decky because he knew how she felt. All he had to do was say the word and she’d shut down any romantic or sexual aspects she had with the mechanic. “I get it, you’re giving me advice and all and I know you’re always rooting for me but as your friend, I want to know— no. I need to know that my actions won’t hurt you.”

Extending her legs from under the table, she grabbed a hold of one of Rye’s legs. Instead of holding hands, she held his leg (minimal mess since she didn’t want to reach over her food). “Regardless of how I feel, Gavriel,” JJ continued. “You are my best friend and you come first.” There was extra emphasis on the last part, wanting him to know that he was her priority and no relationship would pull them apart. No matter what, they had each other. “You know so much about Decky, you know that right? And the last thing I want on my conscience is something like I took what makes you happy away from you. I know you have other lovers, you tell me everything, but you can’t deny what you have with Decky is special.”

“You’re right, I’ve never denied that we had something special, but what’s between Decky and I, the important part? I don’t think it’s that kind of love, Jay,” Rye imparted, eyes leaving her face and skittering across the crowd without actually taking any of the faces in. You tell me everything. That was only partially true. He hadn't told her what happened with Ronnell aside from the barebones, and absolutely nothing about what happened once the firefighter had gotten upset with Rye. He didn't lie to JJ, he just didn't give her an in depth explanation. The only people that actually know what happened there were Helen and Decky, who knew everything, and to a lesser extent of knowledge, Monarch, Sin, and AJ. Well, maybe Monarch knew more than she let on, but she didn't get the information from Rye.

Anxious fingers found his napkin and began to fray it before tearing off a tiny piece at a time and balling it up, only to toss it into his box of unfinished food that now served as the base for their table’s trash before going back for another round. Of course what he had with Decky was special, the two boys didn’t just share touch as a love language, they also shared a culture, one that encouraged strong ties amidst its tribe and fostered deeper connection and conversation with every encouraged question. Rye was a positive connection to the culture his upbringing with his parents withheld from him, and Decky and his family had been the community and conversations that Rye missed from home. There was just something different about the commiseration of having transferred to a place where even the people at your synagogue were completely caught up in the frivolity and shallow depths of the world that they drowned themselves in. Decky had been a breath of fresh air that hadn’t come around until almost a year into Rye’s own acclimation to California.

To top all of that off, Decky was far too much like Rye’s childhood friend from the start, and the second the shorter boy had seen those haunted mahogany eyes that constantly scanned the world for threats, he’d been drawn to him. His mother called it his healer’s heart, and he never denied it. He wasn’t there to fix people, just to show them that they were seen and accepted as they were, and if that love sent them on a road to healing then all the better, but if that person stayed the same? Rye saw them. He’d always see them. When he’d found out Decky was AJ’s friend, Rye had used his flirtatious connection with the king gearhead to ‘run’ into Decky at the next party while he’d been partying with their mutual connection.

“We’re great as we are. I liked sleeping with him but it was never going to be anything more than a deep friendship, Jay. He’s too much li-” Rye froze, fingers clenching around the tattered remnants of his napkin and the leg in contact with JJ’s wrapped desperately against her limb to ground himself. Memories rose unwanted in his mind like a sudden swell in shallow waters, threatening to engulf his mind and drag him away in the undertow. “He’s too much like Toby, having him as a friend is perfect, but I don’t think I'd be able to love him in an actual relationship without seeing someone else in his place sometimes, and that’s not fair. I wouldn’t be good for him. I don’t know if I’d be good for anyone, but especially not Decky. I love him too much to ever even try that with him, and he knows that. It’s why it was so easy for us to stop when AJ and I started. You’re different from what he knows, but trust me when I say that’s a good thing. I never would have encouraged you if I wasn’t completely secure in my place in this whole thing.”

There was a sigh of relief after hearing Rye’s words. JJ was new to all this relationship stuff. Truth be told, out of all her sisters, including her step sisters, only Addie had the most experience in this department. That said a lot since the girl loved sex and loved love. She was able to let go of any restraints of the social constructs of sexual orientation, identity and gender, as well as the ideologies of sex and romance to get herself involved in chasing a feeling. A feeling of ecstacy. Not even Dallas, their older sister by a year, actively pursued a relationship, content with her pursuit to visit the planets in the galactic skies. Jordyn was out of her element and she hoped her personality alone could get Decky to see her for more than a one night stand but only time could tell. She would never know unless she took the risk. It was a little scary and nothing usually scared her, aside from her babies dying one day. To be vulnerable, completely to someone, as if they were family to her, allowing them inside her heart and telling them things that she doesn’t even tell her twin… a scary thought but not scary enough to hold her back. Her desire outweighed her fear and she knew deep down. She wanted Decky, like really, really, really wanted him. “I hope he likes my different. I’m a little weirdo, I know that… different could be good, like you said. I want my different to be good for him.”

As JJ reached to take a sip of her drink, contemplating her thoughts and how Mordechai would pursue her, Rye’s phone vibrated in his pocket. This time it was shorter, informing him that it was a text.

“I think it will be. If not, we riot,” Rye once more assured his best friend, this time with a joke, while reaching into his pocket and pulling his phone out to check who texted him. “Sorry, one sec.”

FROM: UNKNOWN NUMBER
I realized calling you was definitely weird. AJ gave me your number. I wanted to see if you were okay. Also please bear with me, I don’t like to text… call me? If you’re comfortable with it. If not, can we talk tomorrow? At the dance? If not, that’s fine too. Alright, going to shut up now. Talk later.

Another text came in.

FROM: UNKNOWN NUMBER
It’s Niles, by the way.

Rye stared at his phone screen, blinking rapidly as he processed the words before him, fingers on his free hand tapping rapidly against his thumb in a repetitive and soothing pattern. “It…it's Niles,” He muttered for JJ's sake as hope began to bloom in his chest. Niles asked AJ for his number. Niles had gone out of his way to get Rye’s number and message him, which meant Rye hadn't completely and utterly fucked up this morning in front of the library.

The way that Niles texted was nowhere near the way that Niles spoke, and Rye actually found himself grateful for that, if only because without his own anxiety from standing in front of his crush, Rye was now privy to a bit of Niles’ own. He was nervous. Niles was nervous, and tried to immediately cover all his bases so that he didn't have to field several questions in response. Was Niles nervous about texting Rye? Or was it texting in general that made him come off as a bit more awkward and anxious than he is in person? Rye’s free hand went from finger tapping to desperately swirling his earbud cord around the digits in a constant flow of motion as his thoughts ran off without him.

“JJ, it's Niles,” Rye repeated, this time with a bit of hopeful panic in his tone. He shoved the device over to his friend so she could also read the message. “What do I say? What if I tell him I don't like phone calls and he gets upset with me?” Rye didn't hide that he had his hearing disorder, he just didn't advertise. The most you get when you try to explain that you constantly have your own version of a tinny dial tone constantly reverberating through your auditory senses was either confusion then well intentioned louder speech, straight up denial, or the classic ‘my ears have rang before, it can't be that bad,’. As if a single or multiple infinitesimal moments of your life where you hear a slight change of pitch was comparable to never once being able to understand the concept of true silence. As if it was the same thing to have ringing triggered by the clanking of ceramic and metal pieces together as it was to have your audio processing and understanding completely overwhelmed and blocked off by the incessant shrill siren that was so loud it caused nausea.

Assessing the texts, staying calm (although internally she was excited for her friend), JJ took what she knew of Rye and what she was gathering of Niles from the text alone and processed the information accordingly. Before she gave any advice though, she noticed the voicemail. “Maybe we should check the voicemail he left out first and that could help you decide? Looks like he is willing to text even if he seems anxious as heck. This is crazy.” The gremlin girl said in disbelief. “This is cool Niles? The one that’s quiet and reading his books? The one that sleeps under the tree with little to no care in the world? The one that put you in a straight up panic attack this morning?” JJ couldn’t believe it. The words coming from this other person didn’t match the face but then again, Niles was one of the smart students that kept to himself. She didn’t really know him. Not like Kate and Kim did. “Do you want me to listen to it? Or we can transcribe it into words?”

“Honestly I put myself into a panic attack, but yeah, that Niles. Transcribe it, please,” Rye answered, watching his best friend press the required button in the voicemail app and then press play once the words had finally popped up on the screen. As he listened to Niles’ voice, his eyes locked onto the short paragraph of text.

VM: Hey Rye. Niles here. Before you ask, AJ gave me your number. I… want to make sure I didn’t hurt you in any way by leaving the way I did. If you want to talk about it, this is my number. Text me, call me…video chat me, whatever makes you comfortable.*clears throat* Sorry if I upset you. I wasn’t really thinking… but that’s a conversation we can have when we talk. I’m here when you need me. *Click*

In his tone, it was controlled. All his emotions were contained. The only part that showed a sudden drop in uncertainty was when he mentioned video chatting, as if that wasn’t something he did often, if at all. He was willing to adjust for Rye, if that made the other boy comfortable. He spoke genuine and from the heart, and although it was hard to notice, the long pauses between words showed how careful Niles was trying to be, having thought about what he’d say long before he made the call. While the speech to text didn’t convey the tone, it certainly showed when Niles took breaths and breaks. This was a sensitive matter and if the text wasn’t revealing enough, the voicemail showed that Niles, like Rye, spent the whole day thinking about this morning and whether he fucked up. It was eye opening to say the least.

“Holy shit,” Rye breathed in disbelief, his heart beating just a bit too fast and his face quickly taking on a red hue as the words sunk in. The idea that Niles had been worried about him, had been thinking about him, should not have been as mind blowing as it was for the anxious boy. But it wasn't just thinking about him that got Rye, it was the fact that Niles wanted to check up on him, must have realized that the way he headed off after their conversation had been the wrong move for someone like Rye. It was the fact that he was willing to forgo his preference of mobile interaction in order to make it easier for Rye, likely without even really knowing why Rye had his own preference in the first place. Niles was seeing Rye, and he wasn't trying to look away.

Shaking fingers saved Niles phone number to a new contact, simply under the other boy's name instead of a nickname or pun like he usually does. When his brain wasn't broken from the way Niles spoke and the mix of excitement and nerves for their next interaction, he'd be able to think of a good one. Then, he returned to his messages and took a deep breath before typing and sending off his response.

To: Niles 😳
Hey, thanks for reaching out!
I don't do phone calls well so between text or video call
Whichever of those is better for you
Or if you want to wait for the dance that's fine too.
Oh!
And you don't need to apologize, but thank you

Rye stared at his screen as his finger hovered over the send button, second guessing himself before he'd even gotten out the gate. Silence stretched between the two friends until Rye looked back up to JJ for the support he needed to click send.

JJ shook his leg that she held onto with her feet. He would never know until he did it. What ifs, if things went differently, could be realities. This was Rye’s chance to make Niles a reality in his life, just like she was making Decky more and more an integrated part of her life. “Dooooo it. You got this. It isn’t like he’s going to say no. He reached out to you. Remember.”

“Yeah…I mean, yeah! Yeah you’re right,” Rye swallowed harshly before smashing his finger down on his screen. No going back now. He looked up to JJ for only a second, intent on using her to distract him until Niles replied, but his phone vibrated mere moments later.

From: Niles 😳
Video call tonight? I need to pick up my sisters from work, then we need to figure out dinner. But afterwards, I’ll be available. Does 8:30 work for you?

At this point, Jordyn was wiggling her eyebrows as she wore a devilish smirk. This was going smooth, better than smooth. Amazing! Maybe Niles wasn’t straight and maybe he did like her friend. Or maybe he was a good guy worried about the impression he left off. Whichever it was, it didn’t matter! Rye was making progress and soon enough he’d be on everyday talking terms with his crush, outside of the library. Teasingly, JJ made a heart with her hands and danced in her seat. “♪ Niles and Rye sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. ♫”

“Oh yeah? Two can play at that,” Rye laughed with a blush high on his cheeks before giving her a devilish grin and going for the one shot kill. “♪ Decky and JJ down by the creek, F-U-C-K-I-N-G. ♫”

“Stoppppppp!” JJ’s genuine sweetness and innocence went from her heart to her own cheeks, immediately bringing her legs back from under the table. Decidedly, she retreated from the conversation by cleaning up the table. “Look who has a date tonight, not me!” She stuck her tongue out, not taking a cheap shot but still poking fun at him. Grabbing their trays, she rushed to the trash. Her bags, one tote with a Biggie mouse, were by her seat which meant she’d come back but only after she brushed off the embarrassment. The idea of sex made her nervous and it showed. Once she settled her heart, from the sudden change in pace, and calmed the butterflies in her stomach, she’d come back but for now Rye could sit in his own emotions, thinking about Niles. He deserved it.

“Aww man, too far,” Rye chided himself when JJ made her retreat while also being well aware that she was getting back at him in her own way when she didn’t come back immediately. Determined to apologize for pushing her boundary when she returned, Rye took his punishment on the chin and focused on forming a text back to Niles and sending it without her proofreading or encouragement. Fair’s fair. Leg bouncing up and down erratically, Rye’s fingers slowly tapped the screen as he thought far too much on a response that could have been a simple sure. Finally, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he hit send, only opening one back up to make sure he had succeeded and it had been sent off to his crush.

To: Niles 😳
Yeah, totally! 😁I’ll be around, so just hit me up!
Thanks again for reaching out 👍
Talk soon! 👋

“...You desperate motherfucker,” Rye groaned to himself after rereading the sent texts, dropping his forehead onto his hands and making the whole table shake in the process. Yeah, he used emojis a lot but one for each line was a bit embarrassing even for him, and now all he could think about were the shitty MLM spam messages that tended to read much the same way.

See what happens when he’s left alone? This is why he needed his best friend!

Piper stared at her perfect mask of makeup in the slightly foggy mirror, letting her dark waves cascade back over her shoulders as she took the clip out from atop her head. When her eyes caught sight of the bruise on her wrist that her emergency makeup wasn’t equipped to cover, she frowned and reached into her backup purse for some thick bangles that matched her outfit, slipping them on like it was any other day. The forearm length red leather jacket covered all the scratches from her run down the cliff and to the school, and her sore and cut up feet were resting in comfy fuzzy socks that were completely hidden by her backup boots. For all the world of Beverly Hill High School ever had to know, Piper simply went home to change her outfit for the game, ever the fashion icon to be ready with multiple themed styles each day. Finally ready, she pulled her phone out and sent Adam a quick text, just saying thank you and signing off with her name so he could save her number, before returning the device to her pocket. Celeste had been texting her non-stop despite Piper’s responses that she would be there soon, and the buzzing continued even after her latest reply, a constant reminder against her thigh that she was disappointing someone else that bothered to care for her. Putting on the smile across her dark red lips, the one she’s practiced in the mirror her whole life, Piper sucked up the pain that jolted through each stride as she began her strut out of the girl’s locker room.

Only to come up short as she opened the door and ran into the brick wall that was Butler. Even with the sunglasses on, she could feel his glare on her and she shrunk immediately, a lion becoming a scared kitten in an instant.

“Butler, I-”

“You’ve been grounded.”

“But–!”

“No buts. No Homecoming dance. No Party. You’re lucky your father is kind enough to still let you go to the game.” The mountain of a man scolded, and Piper went to bite her lip shamefully before she remembered her freshly applied lipstick and settled for just looking away from Butler instead. No dance? No party? She’d worked so hard to be allowed to go in the first place! She’d even gotten Celeste and Athena to convince daddy that she could be over one of their houses in the time leading up to the dance, and now it was all for nothing. She’d screwed it all up by acting like she had when she’d still had her mother and hope for a better tomorrow. She thought she’d learned better years ago, but that was before anyone had stepped in for her. Before Adam had taught her something new, given her something back she hadn’t realized she’d lost. “I cleaned up your bloody footprints leading all the way here, you’re welcome.” Piper flinched, fighting back tears in the silent hallway. “You’re late, by the way. Start walking.”

And she would. Normally, she really would, but Butler was here and had cleaned up after her, that meant he had time and last she’d seen him he was on the ground with Adam standing over him. So if he was here, if he had that much time?

“Is…is Adam oka-”

“Walk, Piper, or I’m taking you home.”

Piper started walking immediately, glancing back only once as Butler started to shadow her and taking vindictive pleasure when she saw the way he limped before he began to properly compensate for the pain Adam had put him in. They said nothing to each other after that, and as Piper emerged into the fading evening sunlight and made her way toward the field and stands, she couldn’t help but breathe deeply and close her eyes on occasion, trying to listen for the breeze rustling bush leaves and the chirping of insects.



Piper pulled out her phone just before she hit the bleachers and pulled up Ethan’s contact, hesitating over the keys for a moment as she tried to think of how to break the news to her boyfriend. Much like Celeste and Athena, Piper doubted he would be happy about the matter. He’s been so excited for his party ever since he started planning it, practically talking her ear off about it sometimes, and now she was throwing a wrench in his plans because she’d been selfish. Typical of her, as daddy would say.

To: Ethan 💋
Sorry baby
I screwed up
got grounded 😢
at the game but no dance or party…

With that done, she let out a breath and fixed her hair once more before rounding the bleachers, only needing to glance up at the spot Celeste always sat in to gain her bearings before she made a beeline to the blonde, a disarming smile on her face as she got to her best friend.

“Hey, sorry I’m late!” She announced, as she primly sat down next to Celeste and crossed her ankles. She ignored her Butler setting up post next to Celeste's and focused instead on the spotlight blonde beside her, forcing any thoughts about the day out of her head with practiced ease. “Atrocious to leave you alone, I know, but I had to change outfits.” Her chipped nails were hidden in fists at her sides in hopes of stalling any inquiries as long as possible, but she knew it would be clocked eventually. Celeste knew of her little disappearances, it was just that even she didn’t know where Piper went, it was the brunette’s one true secret from the blonde. “I can’t believe I beat Thena here, though. Like, where is she?”

“God, watch us find out she has a boyfriend now and I’ll have to watch you both be happy without me,” Celeste protested, in an ornery mood because of a certain Spanish prince. Grabbing her purse, she placed it on her lap and rummaged through it to take out a few packs of gum. It was an assortment of brands and flavors. “Want some?” She offered her best friend, her mood gradually lightening up in the presence of Piper. Her other half. As Celeste waited for her friend to say yes or no to gum, she complained, “You wouldn’t believe who decided to come sit next to me! I’m so glad you’re here because now I don’t need to think about that awful experience. The nerve of that boy.”

Piper’s phone vibrated.

From: Ethan 💋
Yeah, no.
You’re going.
We’ll talk soon.

“Oh? Here you were talking about Thena and I having boy distractions,” She maintained face as she read the text but that didn’t stop the pit of dread that dropped into her stomach as the messages flashed up at her. What did that mean? What was Ethan expecting her to do? Daddy had already said no, already retracted the precarious permissions he had granted her with in the first place, there was no way she’d be able to convince him again, especially if Butler told him everything about the stunt she’d pulled. Her boyfriend was many things, but none of those things were introduced to daddy as her boyfriend, and as per their agreement to keep things as down low as possible, she doubted he ever would be. Even then…convincing Gabriel Lyon of anything was not an easy feat. Focusing back on her bestie before she sent Ethan her reply, Piper asked, “Who was it that dared think he could catch your eye, babe?”

To: Ethan 💋
What? No.
Daddy would never let me.
He already said no.
I can’t just change his mind.

From: Ethan 💋
You can’t.
I can.

“Álvaro,” Celeste growled behind gritted teeth. When Celeste noticed Piper being distracted and ignoring her offer of gum, she shrugged and closed her purse, putting it right beside her. “Me being the good samaritan that I am allowed him to sit next to me. I guess he couldn’t deal with his friends and all the football talk. It went well until he acted like he didn’t know I played tennis. At this school. I’ve literally seen him in the bleachers. That’s when I was like okay, this boy is up to no good and trying to make me his sloppy seconds. Like GROSS! He fucked Naomi. I don’t want to touch him. Not even with a 10 foot pole.” The more the blonde talked about this subject, the more heated she got. Clutching onto her skirt, she hissed, “i’M tRyInG tO LeArN yOU. AS IF!” She didn’t care who was listening. She wanted the world to know the prince-of-nothing was not on her good side. He deserved the fall from grace.

“You wouldn’t have been sloppy seconds, Cel, you would have been an upgrade.” Athena had slid into their row of the bleachers with ease, taking the seat on Celeste’s opposite side while she had been ranting. The blonde couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s frustration, “I still can’t get over the fact that you let him sit here for long enough to have a conversation.” She leaned in to make eye contact with Piper and gave her a smile, “Is Ethan coming to the game?”

“UGH who knows!” Piper replied without a second thought as she threw her phone into her pocket with a pout. I can. Like, what? Ethan wasn’t making any sense right now and being asked about it was just frustrating her further. “He said he’d see me tomorrow in the text that he sent after the pep rally, but now I don’t know what’s going on!” She crossed her arms and huffed, tilting her head to the other stunning blonde that completed the trio known as the Triple Crowns. Or, if you hated them as much as many in the school did, the Red Flags. “He just does what he wants, I never know what’s going on in his head,” She reached into her pocket and pulled one of her xanax out and tossed it back dry, no trace of relaxation from her meditation with Adam remaining in her body. “I got myself grounded, by the way, and now he thinks he can fix it? With daddy? As if. Anyway, Athena’s right, Princey boy is lucky you let him sit down at all, and then he tried to play a game with you? Gag me. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“RIGHT?! And girl, Ethan doesn’t deserve you. I keep telling you, to get a boy like that to really notice you, you need to go radio silent. Then he’ll see what he’s missing and that’s a QUEEN. Like how dare he? And oh my god, speaking of queens,” Celeste went from one friend to the other. “What was taking you so long, my dearest Thena?”

Athena sighed, pretending to act annoyed. Let’s just say she hadn’t let her best friends in on the Benji situation. Or the Jonah situation. In fact, both Celeste and Piper were completely in the dark about the two men in her life. Sure, they had met Jonah on the occasion, but the other members of the Triple Crown had no clue the antics the two got up to when it came to their business model. And when it came to the boy currently on the Football field, neither of her friends had a clue that she had been texting Benji all Summer and was harboring quite the crush on him.

So… she lied.

“Sorry, I had to talk with my Aunt about something. Family business always calls, y’know?” She shrugged, and diverted the subject. “Hold on, rewind. Piper you got grounded? Why?”

“Oh,” Piper froze when the conversation came back around to her, having hoped to slide right past her comment by focusing on Celeste instead, but she should have known that their thorough third would have caught on. She looked at them with wide eyes attempting innocence and uncrossed her arms to throw her hair over her shoulder distractedly. “I just, like…okay, I totally ditched Butler earlier and he fucking snitched like the bitch he is, so now daddy’s mad,” she revealed carefully while letting her annoyance at the scarred man a few feet from them seep into her tone. She was tempted, for a moment, to tell her girls about Adam and about everything else that had happened, but something about it felt personal. It felt like it would invite questions and judgements from two of her favorite people, and her pills weren’t working well enough for her to be ready to field them. She waved her hand carelessly, bangles clacking together, and sighed heavily. “No more fun for Piper after the game tonight.”

Flabbergasted and not pleased, Celeste snapped her gum in annoyance and complained, “Your Butler is so TOXIC, Piper. My Butler would NEVER.” This would not do at all. Celeste wouldn’t dare go to a school function without her best friends. The audacity of Gabriel Lyon prevented his daughter from being a fun-loving teenage girl. “Please tell me Ethan is stepping in? Do I need to call him and tell him to be a man? Do I need to be the man?” The Green Princess already had her phone out, ready to give her cousin a piece of her mind. “Also, girl, we need to stop doing what daddy says and live our goddamn life. What are you going to do, Piper Rose Lyon? You do realize you not going to the dance is a CARDINAL SIN.”

Piper frowned at Celeste and hovered her hands over the blonde’s phone without touching it as though it would actually stop the glamorous girl from making whatever move she wanted. “It’s not that easy, Celeste,” She whined, her lip jutting out. Celeste would never get it. Neither of her best friends would. It didn’t matter if they knew that her bedroom door locked from the outside and not the inside, or that Piper’s Butler was meant to be Levi’s but failed his final test and was then hired by her father instead. They never seemed to understand that there were chains on her wrists and legs heavier than any real ones could hope to be. She huffed and retracted her hands from their place above the phone slowly, cautiously. “But yes, when I told him I wouldn’t be able to change daddy’s mind he just texted back ‘You can’t, I can’, which like, what? Even my Bibi wouldn’t be able to convince him now. I mean, Butler got hurt and he lost me for, like, an hour. I'd be surprised if I’m even allowed to go to my next photoshoot with how upset he must be.”

“Your dad could stand to learn a thing or two about parenting. Or he could just take a Xanax.” Athena shook her head, “If you need an escape plan, you know you always have a room at the Helmsley house.” She placed a comforting hand on Piper’s shoulder, “Maybe Ethan has something up his sleeve you don’t know about. Blackmail can get you far in this life, after all.” The blonde turned to Celeste, moving her head in such a way where their dark haired friend could not see her face, and raised her eyebrows in a slight panic. The other girl was right, not going to the dance was indeed a sin, and if there was a way out of this, she would try her very best to help.

“Whatever my stupid cousin has in mind, I’m sure he’s thinking his ego will carry him to success. So. How about this,” Celeste watched the field, loudly snapping her gum, thinking about an ingenious plan to get her best friend out tomorrow. She needed to double up on her cousin’s plan because she’d be damned if she didn’t have Piper when she went to the dance and party. “Why don’t we force your dad’s hand? The fact your Butler got hurt is curious to me, seeing how our Butlers come from a very legit company, so we’ll need to talk about this… later. BUT if you, me, and Thena go to the dance together, all showing up at your house with dates ourselves, I don’t think daddy dearest would want to deny you then. What? Is he going to start a war with his business partners? That’s like social suicide. To add extra incentive, I’ll have my mommy come and take pictures of us. They can chat away and she can convince him you’ll be at my place afterwards.” Celeste instructed, thinking her plan would be better than Ethan’s, by a long shot.

“Baby,” Celeste turned to Piper and gently grabbed her hands, squeezing them with love but also showing through her gaze that she could not, would not allow Piper to go out without a fight. “You’re only in highschool once unless you fail out. You really can’t miss this party. That’s like setting yourself up to drop out right now and how would your father feel about that then, hm?” She was losing her point but Celeste still talked with conviction and confidence, like she was the smartest girl on the bleachers. “This is our last year to make memories and I’m not okay with you making those memories alone in your bedroom. Do you understand?”

Piper stared silently at the two blondes that made up almost all of the happiness and freedom that she ever experienced, and her frown became an empty, wooden smile as she swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. “You girls are my best friends,” she spoke quietly to avoid any shake that almost escaped in her tone while she also desperately hoped for both girls would keep their attention on her face and words and not her actions. She didn't acknowledge Celeste's comment about talking more on what happened with Butler later, knowing that whether she replied or not, Celeste would make sure to remember for the both of them. Athena’s own comment about Piper's father needing to take a Xanax was incredibly ironic to the brunette, given that her father had control over her own prescription and only allowed her a certain amount per week ever since the incident over the summer. She squeezed Celeste's hands with her own, as the blonde still had them in her grasp, and did her best to gently extricate herself from the dainty yet powerful grip before her friend decided to look down and catch sight of the bruises Butler's grip had left on her when Adam had sent him to the ground. “But please, please don't do anything that can make daddy upset. He'll just extend my punishment later even if he does let me go. At least this way it's just the one day…”

Athena raised her eyebrows at Celeste’s plan, her face contorting into one of surprise. How were they supposed to show up at Piper’s house with their dates to break Rapunzel out of her tower when they didn’t have any dates to begin with! She shook her head slightly, the other blonde always had a way with words and did not put thought behind her ideas when it was necessary. Like right now. But, not wanting to ruin their united front, she nodded. “Celeste has a point,” Thena gave her a pointed look, almost as if she was staring into her soul, “Your dad won’t be able to say no if we all show up, and if he’s upset he wouldn’t dare show his hand.” The blonde smiled softly, “We’d do anything for you, honey. And I promise we’re going to make this year count, starting with tomorrow night.”

“See, I have a point!” Celeste crossed her arms, taking the validation near immediately. When the smart one of the group joined forces with her, she knew that she was onto something. “And quit with the damsel shit, Piper. I know you have a fire in you. Use it. Like come on, you’re a Lyon. Be a Lyon and stop playing so coy.” The small blonde was getting more and more agitated by the second. She chewed her gum and glared at the field. This wouldn’t be the first time Gabriel Lyon ruined things for her. “Is this really how the rest of your year is going to play out? Are you seriously going to let your father ruin everything? It’s like you’re already defeated when you never put up a fight.” Ugh. This was so typical of her. Quitting before she ran the race. She couldn’t survive without her, could she?

“Cel,” Athena reprimanded through gritted teeth, “Not the time, nor place.”

Pop.

Celeste sucked her gum in as a response, watching the game and seething. She didn’t have anything to say to that. Athena knew she was right.

It’s like they forgot that she used to have Scott to help her at home, to fight for her, and remind her of the fight she had in herself, to sit with her on her bed and remind her that she wasn’t as crazy or useless or small as daddy made her feel. Piper had actually been the worse of the two Lyon children when they were younger, always running away and throwing tantrums in public and making it clear that just because daddy was the one that won custody of them from both of their mothers, that did not make him the one she wanted to be with. Piper had been a disruption, a stain to the Lyon brand and rambunctious tomboy when she wasn’t busy throwing fits or breaking down. Granted, Butler had always been there so she only actually got away with however much her father allowed. The extent of her freedom has been dictated by Gabriel Lyon since the moment her mother and Scott’s mother made the mistake of trying to file for full custody of them, and any time she reached for the sky in her cage she realized it was nothing more than paint on the ceiling. Scott had been just as trapped as her. Celeste and Athena had powered their way through early, of course, the girls an inseparable trio since single digits. Then, Bibi had come along and got her into modeling. Piper fell into routine.

But Scott left and it all went to shit at home, and then she got too fucked up and Butler brought her home and told daddy and things have been spiralling down ever since. She’d numb herself daily and she hadn’t cried the way she had with Adam since the night Scotty officially left her behind.

Celeste was wrong. It wasn’t that she never put up a fight, it’s that the fight had slowly been drained out of her along with her hope and now she was just existing as a bystander in her own life for her own sanity. The cliff, Adam, that had been the most Piper that had risen to the surface since the summer, and look what happened.

It wasn’t her father that ruined everything, it was Piper. Being herself.

Cracked fingernails dug into her palms as she fisted her hands tightly in her lap before she reached for the last pill she had in her possession and tossed the final Xanax back with abandon, mood now sour after thinking about her brother. It’s not like any of the other ones had helped, but why not. The burn as the dry pill scraped down her throat kept her from responding to her friends until she was sure it was clear, and once it was she crossed her arms and responded to them both with more bite than intended.

“If you want me to fight for myself then stop trying to come to my rescue. Let Ethan do his thing, and if he fails and can’t get daddy to let me go to the dance then I’ll know that he’s not worth staying with any longer.”

“So you do want your Prince to save you,” Celeste scoffed, not surprised. “Fine. Choose a boy over us,” the Crown Green stood up, bringing her purse to her side. Nose high up in the air, she hmpfed in displeasure. Her day was turning horribly. First the prince-of-nothing, now her best friends. “I’m done with this. We’re going to lose, I can feel it in the air. I can’t believe you made me wait and now I’m bored!” Putting her shades back on, flipping her hair over her shoulder, Celeste maliciously snickered, “When my cousin fails, because he will, remember this talk. And remember my voice when I say: I told you so.” Surveying her friends and their facial expressions, seeing Athena gritting her teeth, Celeste rolled her eyes and brought her attention to the towel that prevented their bottoms from touching the dirty bleachers. Disposable. She had plenty of towels at home. “Remember to toss that when you leave. We don’t need some perv trying to steal something our asses touched.” The thought of some gross person collecting their things gave her goosebumps. She had a stalker once but Butler took care of him. All was good in her world and she knew better than to allow someone the satisfaction of following her without her knowing ever again. “Goodbye girls, this has been so… life changing. Not really. It was boring. We really do need to stop talking about boys. They’re not worth our time. I will see you tomorrow, or not.” Her gaze fell on Piper one last time before sauntering away. “God Butler, please tell me something worth my while.” The Triple Crown girls were down to two, leaving Athena and Piper alone together.

The remaining blonde sighed, shaking her head slowly.

Celeste could be… well, a lot.

It was no secret she was the drama queen of the trio, and Thena was always the one to clean up her messes, whether they were intentionally made or not. The girl wordlessly scooted next to Piper, closing the gap that their friend left upon her departure. “You know, she means well.” Athena rationalized, hoping that the girl would know well enough to understand. “It comes from a place of love, she’s just… protective.”

“Well sometimes I just don't want to hear it,” Piper huffed, looking away from Athena so the blonde didn't see her tears of frustration. And after all the work she did to get her makeup back to perfect, wasted. “Does she think I don't know I'm pathetic? I don't need her telling me too. I don't care anymore,” The words slipped out before she could stop them and she bit the inside of her cheek in self reprimand. She was usually better at holding everything together but that brief flame of hope with Adam had been suitably extinguished with the return of Butler's damning presence. Piper could play pretend all she wanted, but she wasn't her own person and she was getting too tired to carry on like she was. She had been reminded of how she used to be and then quickly reminded of why she was no longer that way. She loved her friends dearly, but she was bitter too. Athena would be able to read her like a book if she so much as glanced the blonde's way. Sniffing as an act of pretension just as much as it was to cover the stinging in her eyes, Piper watched the field without taking a single thing in, retreating within herself before the game could even really take off. She brushed invisible dirt off of her pants and dropped her chin into her palm, resting her elbow on her knee. “I only came to the dumb game for you two and now she doesn't even want to be around me, I might as well stop ruining things for everyone and go home too, get my grounding started.”

“No, Piper, don’t say that.” The blonde’s face fell, her brows furrowing at Piper’s devastating confession and the moisture she could see forming in the corners of her eyes. She sighed, brushing a piece of her friend’s hair out of her eyes. “I want you to be here, please stay.” Athena pleaded, hoping that her friend would take a breath and enjoy their evening together (even though it was partially for personal benefit since she didn’t want to watch Benji from the bleachers alone like a loser). “Let’s just forget that conversation even happened for now and we can talk about it later. I want you to have fun tonight, you and me.”

“Okay…” Piper went along with Athena’s request, slumping against her friend’s side like a ragdoll and dropping her head on the blonde’s shoulder, a combination of the effects of her meds and the exhaustion of running all the way back to the school after climbing a cliff finally beginning to breach her awareness with the less judgmental approach Athena took with her. She was so fucking tired, and Thena was comfy. She took a deep, steadying breath and wondered if her best friend had intentionally used the words escape plan when offering Piper a room at the Helmsley home, or if she was just being dramatic and intending to mean for a sleepover. As she watched the players move on the field like battling and racing ants, the brunette realized something. “Thee…why are we watching football? I like, I don’t even know what’s happening.”

“Shhh… don’t worry about it, just enjoy the game.”

Decky glared up from the backseat of the car at the house Ethan had driven them, arm around Sully’s shoulders as the younger senior dozed pressed up against his side. The spanish colonial style home stood large and wide across an already sprawling property with perfectly trimmed hedges and manicured lawns, garden beds taking up both sides of the house with the ornate entryway sitting regally in the middle. He had a feeling before, but he knew for sure now that he was going to hate every minute of this, and if the vineyard party was to be any similar then he was glad he’d be high as fuck the whole time. As Ethan brought the car to a stop, Decky tapped Sully on his bicep until the lighter brunette opened bleary eyes, which Decky easily took as his cue to straighten up and take his enveloping arm away.

Sully sat up and rubbed at his eyes as he reacclimated to the waking world, trying to remember what was going on past the fact that he fell asleep on his friend, the other boy easily recognizable to him even before he began to register anything else. He looked at the scowling mechanic blankly before following his gaze out the window of the car and to the property beyond.

“Oh yeah,” He stated simply, gaze traveling across the architecture before them with minimal interest or thought aside from, shit’s huge. Then, he registered that they were there already. “Wait, how long was I sleepin’ for?”

“Does it matter?” Decky scowled at Sully and threw the door open but didn’t step out yet. “Ya obviously needed it. Green, what’re we doin’? Waitin’ here for a cue or just followin’ ya in?”

There wasn’t an immediate response. With his mind finally slowing down, in the comfort of his property, and parked, Ethan was looking through all his messages to make sure he didn’t miss anything from the chat with his boys to his girlfriends’ dms. If it wasn’t obvious by now, Ethan wasn’t the best person to text. Actually, he sucked at it. Noting the time, the game would start in twenty five minutes, Ethan wondered to himself if it was even worth going to the game. The thought of the game was fleeting because soon enough, he realized he had a text from an unknown number. He raised an eyebrow.

From: Unknown
yo, im new. my name’s owen. jamie suggested i text you
he said i need to be in attendance for your party tomorrow
he also said you owe him one for not telling your girlfriends about each other

There was a momentary rumble of protest in his throat. Jamie was being bold, as per usual. Owen? Doesn’t ring a bell. He must be new. Ethan didn’t know any Owen in their year and if Owen was already connected with Jamie, and Jamie suggested Owen to him that means the gossip boy thought this new kid suited the Elite. Or the gossip boy wanted to protect this new kid from Hive. Whatever the reason was, it seemed that his hand was being played for him. Ethan didn’t want any trouble and being on Trixie and Jamie’s good graces wasn’t such a bad thing… sometimes. They were needy, especially when they wanted him to do something. It got exhausting but at the same time, it wasn’t like he cared for school politics and the petty drama. He just wanted to chill and build a brotherhood (which was inclusive to all genders). He just helped them from time to time because they asked (it’s that easy, folks).

Once he added the number in his contact, he messaged back.

To: Owen
you do
anyone that’s anyone is going to be there
don’t expect you to go to the dance
at 6
Party bus will be in the lot 7:30
We ride then

From: Owen
I don't really party so rn I'm just planning on staying at the gym
But Jamie said he'd hook me up with Trixie if I went so I might be there lol

Oh. This was going to be too easy. With quick ease, Ethan copied Trixie’s instagram url and put it in his text with the transfer student. He pressed send, dangling the hot babe to guarantee Owen went to his party. Trixie was hot. She was just hard to get. Maybe Owen would be different. Maybe she’d bite.

To: Owen
your welcome.
see you tomorrow.

“Sorry boys,” Ethan finally responded. “Had to take care of something, but come on, let me show you around my family’s crib.” Ignition off, Ethan was out of his car leading the way to the front entrance. Once he unlocked the front door, he gestured for the two lost souls to enter one of his family’s properties and make themselves at home. “Wha’cha think? Pretty dope, huh?”

“I feel bad for your landscapers,” Sully responded with little thought as he glanced around the ornate foyer with a vaulted ceiling and chandelier, mind still a bit behind and processing the outside still.

“I fuckin’ hate rich people,” Decky muttered darkly, glaring at the ostentatious display before him. “Too much fuckin’ time an’ money, too many tchotchkes. There’s so much shit, what the hell is the point in havin’ all these things?”

“To fill the empty spaces they can’t in their hearts?”

Decky paused and stared at the other poor boy in the room, not surprised that Sully’s barely-there mental filter hadn’t woken up with him, but the tiktoker hadn’t even missed a beat. Decky was almost proud.

“Huh, you’re probably on ta somethin’,” He agreed easily.

The usual laid back and all smiles Ethan Green was now wearing a pinched expression. “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” the Elite leader whispered under his breath. Crossing his arms, he stared at his two guests disappointed. “You’re both acting like my cousins, but just on the opposite end of the spectrum.” Was he wrong for picking these two to be fake friends with Andy? Well, they didn’t say no to his offer, so this money they were disgusted by was helping them get what they wanted. If they were really against helping him, they should’ve just communicated. It was too late now. They were here and they were going to help him get the vineyard.

“We only have one landscaper and I help him,” Ethan disclosed, flicking at his nails that had dirt in them. “My dad has given him full reigns on the design and basically can do whatever the fuck he wants. He gets paid well. It’s my job to mow the lawn, do the dishes, take out the trash, clean the fucking pool, and be my brother’s keeper. My parents didn’t raise bitches and it’s wild to me your friends with AJ if you think like this.” Looking away from Mordechai and Sully, burying his annoyance and bringing out his casual, cool persona (his automatic setting), Ethan breathed, focusing on the task at hand and emptying out any worry. He yelled, “ANDY YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE!” His voice was loud enough that if his father was home, he would hear. His mom wasn’t home — she was in Tokyo purchasing an exclusive statue for one of her all time favorite animes — so unless she had ultrasonic hearing, she would not hear him. She would not appear.

“He’s got a point.”

“Shut up, Sully.”

Sully shrugged at the surly boy, not having intended to say any more on the matter anyways. Ethan had been right, what Sully and Decky had said was rude and deserved reprimand. Oli was his best friend, it wasn’t like the DIY streamer was unused to sights similar to the Green home. But, Sully forgets himself often and randomly spits out the things he’d heard growing up in his low income neighborhood, where there was no love to be had for the opulent lifestyles existing just a few blocks away. What he’d said about empty hearts had been something his uncle said often, usually a few minutes or hours before he showed up with some stolen items from the very type of people he’d disparaged earlier. There was a reason uncle Del was in and out of jail his whole life, and Sully usually knew better than to quote him. His ma would probably be a little disappointed. Seeing as he’d probably hurt Ethan’s feelings without trying, and wondering if his words would have hurt Oli if he’d heard them, Sully removed himself from their little triangle, wandering away a bit to start inspecting the actual structure off the foyer’s interior rather than what it had hanging on its walls.

Decky glared after the other boy in annoyance, arms crossed defensively and unwilling to admit that Ethan had properly chastised him. Not that the taller boy would care, especially given the way Decky had just acted, but his response had gained him a lot of respect in the gearhead’s eyes, as well as struck a chord with him at the brother’s keeper comment. It made him think of his smoke session in the bathroom earlier with PJ and Nicky, and the only child’s initial unenthusiastic response to the way Decky had spoken about being a sibling.



So yeah, Ethan had sufficiently made him feel like a bit of a dick while remaining humble himself, and Decky found himself liking the guy a little more. Who would’ve thought? Still, he didn’t want to be here. It’s been forever since he’s had a proper hit of anything but weed to mellow him out and his people skills were barely passable when he was on a fresh high. But his uncle had insisted and no matter how obstinate he was, he tried his best to respect the wishes of the men that took him and his brother in. Any wind gone from his sails, Decky hunched his shoulders tensely and remained silent by Ethan’s side, awaiting the response and arrival of the two other Greens.

By the time Decky had resolved to silently brood instead of loudly, Andy was only moments away from appearing on the scene… and appear he did. He had a plastic guitar strapped around his neck, hanging at his side. He crossed the long hallway and stood in front of his brother and his ‘friends,’ and it became immediately apparent that Andrew Green’s eyes were bloodshot, a redder tone than a fire hydrant. Somewhere along the way, weed must have come up between Andrew and his father. “Dad’s downstairs. I’m glad you guys are here… He keeps wanting to play vocals, but maybe he’ll let someone else do it.” Andy glanced over at Decky and Sully, adding a quick explanation, “my dad can’t sing. He’s got the juice but not the pipes. Does that make sense?” Though not a groundbreaking sentence, for the first time in their lives, Ethan was hearing his brother sound more like their father as he rambled about ‘the juice.’

He looked at Decky and Sully again, and it was like a wave of reminder had been washed over him. “I don’t know what you guys like. Dad wants everybody to have a good time and he asked if we needed refreshments and I said probably, so! He gave me these to give to you.” He dropped a hand into his jeans pocket and produced a plastic baggie with two very full, very large rolled blunts which he thrust toward Decky. “I think Dad thinks everyone we know is a stoner.” Though he was looking at Decky, that was directed toward his brother.

“Oh, he also wanted me to say ‘mi casa is su casa.’ Although… maybe I shouldn’t have said that he told me to say that… can I try again?” This time, it was back to Sully and Decky.

“No need, I got the message,” Decky replied, scowl still in place but tone lighter than it had been before Andy’s entrance. The other boy was pretty high from a glance alone, and his talkative nature was not something Decky was expecting, but he had a soft spot for ramblers and Andy being both chill and bouncy at the same time was as off putting to the former dealer as it was endearing. He hesitated a bit at the bag being offered to him before reaching out and taking it lightly from the musical Green with a soft but confused, “Thanks,” while craning his head around to look for the other person that was supposed to be falling into the deep end with him. He sighed in irritation when he saw that Sully was staring at the fucking arches of the walls and ceiling instead of paying attention and called out, “Sully, he was talkin’ ta both’a us, tune in man.”

“I was listenin’,” Sully defended as he took a few long strides to Decky’s side, waving at Andy in greeting.

“Repeat it, then.”

“Somethin’ ‘bout juice and refreshments, were we supposed ta bring some?”

“No, and ya definitely weren’t payin’ any attention.”

Sully shrugged. “Can’t blame a guy for tryin’. Hey dude,” He looked at Andy, finally addressing him with more than a wave. “Who does the restorations on this place? It’s some of the cleanest shit I’ve ever seen.”

“I don’t know, ask my dad. I thought it was like this when we bought it, but I don’t know… this is just the guest house, maybe they restored it? The main house is getting renovated,” He added that last part with a shrug and a somewhat apologetic look to Sully. He didn’t have an actual answer for the other boy, but his eyes lit up as he thought of something he could tell Sully. Pointing at one of the pictures on the wall, Andy explained. “But my mom did all the decorating. See? This is me, my dad, and E at a safari. We saw a giraffe, which was pretty cool.” Alongside the hallways were pictures of the twins, their parents, and various groups of them. Andy gestured for the group to follow and started to head down the hallway, glancing over his shoulder to look at the other three boys.

“And if he asks, Amy Kwon is a perfect princess and I have the situation completely under control.” Not true, but a prying father didn’t need to know.

Sully shrugged at the lack of answer from Andy, having asked out of immediate interest more than anything deep, and slowly followed after the now leading Green, following his fingers and latching on to whichever painting or photo he spoke about with more engagement than Ethan would have seen in him all day. He liked having references when getting new information, it just made things easier, and Andy was providing him both with little effort.

“Guest house? Christ,” Decky puffed out in shock, waiting to start moving until Sully and Ethan had. “This place would take up a whole neighborhood block back home. Wait, what the hell does Amy Kwon have ta do with this?”

“Welllllll, I’m taking her to the party, Decky.” Andy couldn’t help but look over his shoulder and grin at the assembled boys. Whatever fears the masses had about Amy’s bad reputation, it seemed Andy either didn’t share them - or was too blinded by how pretty she was. “Super cool, huh?”

“...” Decky stared silently into Andy’s eyes, a million different responses to him ranging from she’s gonna eat ya alive to an incredibly sarcastic suuuuper cool, dude, but none seemed appropriate for the bright, excited grin on Andy’s face. Decky didn't know Amy too well, they had only the vague connection of having Rye and Helen between them. And while their close friends were also close, the same could not be said for those on either end of the friendships. He looked to his side a bit to stare at Ethan’s profile, trying to see if the other Green boy had an opinion on the matter. He noticed the not so subtle distaste and the quick cover up back into his neutral smile when Sully suddenly turned around and spoke up, saving Decky the trouble of forming a response to Andy.

“That’s sick man, you like her?” Sully pulled a jolly rancher out of his pocket, unwrapping it and popping thw hard blue candy into his mouth. Then, distracted once more, or rather returning to the train of thought he was previously on, he pointed to one of the proudly displayed photos, “Is that you guys as babies?”

Ethan Green didn’t like Amy Kwon. He knew her game and what she wanted to do. He loved his brother more though and if she was what made him happy, he would accept his brother’s blooming romance and wait until he was needed. He believed that would be sooner rather than later when Amy inevitably breaks Andy’s heart. Ethan didn’t know Amy, not like Helen and Toury did. He knew better than to judge a book by its cover. It was the rumor mill that got him concerned and that someone actively exposed Amy. True or not, that was not a web Ethan wanted his older brother to get caught in.

To his own grief, Andy was a Green and Ethan knew he’d get involved because that’s just how they were. They all got involved in their own ways, even Diana with her art and love for love, leading the Candies to some meddlesome matchmaking antics. Celeste might not think she was involved but the fact that she can be heard over a crowd of thousands is her own way of getting involved. She was a Triple Crown and her actively ‘not getting involved’ is a stance on its own and will get noticed. Ethan had his Elite and Levi had the Hive. Andy though? Andy was a wallflower and didn’t have any reason to fly toward the sun, risking getting burned by it. His crush on Amy, however, changes everything and soon he’d be attached to the Tantalizing Trio, whether he liked it or not. Soon someone would actively try to throw him into the rumor mill. It came with the territory of being famous and let’s be real, Amy was famous. Everyone knew her name.

Deciding to take Sully’s cue, no matter how unintentional his redirect was, Ethan laughed, “Yeah, you wouldn’t believe it when you see it but I’m the smaller one that looks like he’s going to cry. The other baby, that is soothing me, that’s Andy.” There was a moment of reflection as Ethan looked at the picture. Before the zoo incident, they would’ve seen Andy with confidence, with direction and with an eagerness that couldn’t be contained. Ethan looked up to his brother as he thought about how things were and how things are. Even now, even if Andy was less in control and hardly at peace with himself, the younger twin looked up to him. None of that mattered right now! What mattered was the vineyard and securing it for his party. “Okay boys, we can always sight see after the talk. Do you want anything? You can head to dad’s mancave with Andy and I can fix something up in the kitchen. Unless you want dad’s snacks and drinks, then he got the hook up downstairs. Just say the word and it’ll be provided. Want an espresso martini? You got it, dude. An Italian sub? Hell yeah, I could eat. Something simple? Crackers and cheese? Easy.” The more Ethan talked about food, the more hungry he got. It’s been awhile since he and his bro had food. Clearly, he was ready to eat again. “Now what’s it going to be?”

“You got coffee?” Sully asked once Ethan had completed his explanation and offers, ever reliant on the energizing substance regardless of the time of day.

“Yeah, sure thing,” Ethan replied, choosing to accompany the boys until they got to the door that led to the basement. Then he’d head toward the kitchen and fix Sully up some coffee.

Decky’s stomach twisted at the thought of any food. It may change once he smokes a little or finally has a good hit, but as it is he's as close to sober as he's been in he doesn't know how long and there was nothing appealing about the thought. He could already feel his stomach cramping and the occasional chill wracking his body, and the thought of taking something in right now just to throw it up later when the withdrawals sunk their razor sharp teeth deeper into his body was sickening.

None of this stopped him from observing Ethan as he explained the photo to Sully, the rich boy's mind somewhere else as his eyes were locked onto the photo of him and his brother as babies. There was a lot said from that single lingering gaze, and likely it wouldn't have been so obvious if Decky himself weren't his own brother's keeper, or if he hadn't been paying so much attention to Ethan in the first place. There was a lot of love in that gaze, and plenty of happiness and nostalgia. But there, just before he changed his line of sight from the photo to the two boys he'd bought the time of, there was pain and loss in equal measures. There was a brother who saw both paths that his brother could have gone down, and had decided to shadow him on whichever he ended up taking to make sure he had the best go of it. Decky's seen that look in the mirror ever since they survived Gravette and came to Beverly Hills, ever since little Danny had started flourishing and letting his genius show. Decky may hate most everything about the ritz and glam of the area they found their new lives in, but he could never regret what it was doing for Danny.

When Sully and Andy both started making their way to the Green father's den, Decky shoved his hands deep in his pockets and did his best to change his scowl into something softer, though he's unsure if it worked. He waited until the other two of the quartet had gotten further down the long hall before he addressed the boy of equal height.

“You're a good brother, man,” He said without any emotion, glancing sideways for a brief moment of eye contact before he looked at the backs of the other two boys and took a step forward while ignoring the ache in his muscles. “If ya got concerns, we'll look after him when we're around,” another glance at Sully wandering back over to the walls and getting distracted by the detailing of the baseboards, he let out a sigh and began to make his way after him. “Or at least I will.”

“Thanks,” Ethan answered, trailing behind and matching his pace with the gearhead. “As worried as I am,” he began, speaking honestly and low enough for only Decky’s ears to hear. “I would much rather him learn now, while we’re still in school. I have full faith he can take care of himself, he just needs to believe he can.” The Elite member stopped in his tracks, at the door that led to the basement, where his father was waiting. Andy and Sully continued onward, idly chatting, likely thinking Decky and Ethan were close behind. Ethan turned to look at Decky; his thumbs hooked in his pockets. “I should be thanking you two though. You could’ve said no but here you are indulging in my stupidity. And I know I’m being stupid. Our party could be held here if we really wanted it to but there’s something about the vineyard, and the fact that it’s off limits, that makes me want to throw it there more. Stupid, right?”

“People always want what they ain't s’ppose ta have, Gre- Ethan, it's human nature,” Decky responded, fumbling over his tongue as he realized it wouldn't make much sense for him to be calling both the twins Green while in the presence of a third Green, especially if he's supposed to be Andy's friend. He thought about Nicky's earlier comment on Decky's use of last names for everyone outside his friends and while he didn't agree with the gamer's assessment that last names were only for sports teams, he did agree that at the very least he could start calling a few people by their first name. So long as he's open enough to getting to know them more, of course, he wouldn't just go calling everyone by their given names as if they held any lasting place in his memory or life. “Not stupid, you're just bein’ a normal person, nothin’ wrong with that. And hey,” He paused for a moment, wondering if he should say the next bit since he wasn't sure about it, and deciding if Ethan was willing to be more open and honest with him, then the least Decky could do is respond in kind. “I don't know if this is any help, but Rye's good friends an’ shit with Helen Wells, and he don't tend ta stick around people that ain't worth it, or that don't have good hearts. Somethin’ tells me that shit with Kwon ain't what it seems, just like everythin’ and everyone else in that fuckin’ school. I mean dude, ya brought me in ta your house and I'm a literal convicted criminal and drug addict.”

“You right, you right, and I owe it to Andy to give his maybe future girl the benefit of the doubt, but man, she’s going to eat my brother alive,” Ethan grimaced; Andy and Sully no longer in view. It was hard to not think the rumors were true because it revealed Amy’s character, who she was in the dark, or at least it was manipulated to the point that it made an extremely convincing argument. Ethan wasn’t going to think about that. It was just going to ruin the vibes. He needed to lock the fuck in and focus on the task at hand. The vineyard. “Alright homeboy, go work your magic and convince my dad you’re cool. He’s a simple guy. If he offers a joint, take it and smoke.”

“Well, least I wasn't the first one ta say it out loud,” Decky responded to Ethan's ‘eaten alive’ comment before giving him a careless salute and following down after the already disappeared Sully and Andy, leaving the Elite leader alone upstairs.

Whilst the other two had their private conversation, Andy and Sully walked together down the halls of the home, with Andy providing context on whichever picture Sully commented on. Despite the boys calling it a ‘guest house,’ the twins' mother had done their best to make it feel like a home. Eventually, they found their way to a staircase, with Andy speaking as they stepped down them. “I hope he’s not playing without us, dude.”

The stairwell was wide, and perhaps a few feet deeper than one explained, but it was lucky for Sully that Andy was there to add the exposition. “So, when my parents bought this property - it’s a fifteen acre lot, there was just this house. The basement used to be like, a wine cellar I think… but dad had it expanded! Anyway, they’re building the actual house… but it won’t be done for a while. That’s why all of our family photos and stuff are in here.” Andy shrugged as he spoke with the cadence of someone who had said this spiel a hundred times before, and put his hand on the knob to a door at the end of the staircase.

“I guess I’m rambling. But you sounded interested in the pictures!” Andy justified his chatter about his home’s origins, and threw open the door. The basement was huge in a ‘cavernous’ way, with one of the four walls lined with arcade cabinets, pinball machines, and one skee ball machine tucked into the corner. The opposite wall held framed art, mostly of anime characters, a glass container that held figures, some of which were big enough to be clearly visible even from this distance.

Under the art, there were shelves stocked with bottles of different liquors and a wooden bar equipped and ready for a full service. Past the bar was something a little out of place at first, probably the strangest thing in the room: a single, full-size bowling lane was tucked into the wall. Andy gave a sweeping gesture to Sully, and ultimately pointed at the back wall, with a large black leather couch in front of a huge TV hanging on a wall and flanked by massive speakers, with a man splayed across it. “DAD! We’re here.”

Upon hearing the door open, Henry Green sat up. Upon hearing his son’s voice though, he hopped to his feet and spun around to look back at the two teens on the scene, a still lit blunt in one of his hands. “What’s up, dudes?” He quickly closed the gap between himself and the other two boys, then held out a hand toward Sully. “Yo. I’m Henry. Welcome to my humble abode, mi casa is su casa.”

Sully had been interested, so Andy needn’t have justified his explanation, but the taller boy didn’t seem to actually be worried about his amount of talking so Sully simply nodded to him instead of interrupting. As he reached the bottom of the stairs with him and took in the basement, his face lit up at the arcade games and layout, a small smile finally breaking his blank features. When Henry Green came over and introduced himself, Sully didn’t waste the manners that his ma instilled him with and he quickly clasped the man’s hand with his own and gave him a firm and steady handshake.

“Thank you for havin’ us sir,” He replied, trying to maintain his gaze on the patriarch but unable to keep it from wandering to all the visual stimulation around them. His wandering gaze also had him realizing that Decky and Ethan had yet to follow him down, so he amended his previous statement. “Or just me, I guess. This basement is awesome.”

“Dude, don’t call me ‘sir.’ Henry is cool. I miiiight accept a Hank if you guys hang out here often enough.” He lifted the doobie he held between his fingers to his lips and drew from it. He held the smoke in his mouth and looked between the two younger boys with a quick glance. He blew the smoke out as he spoke, “don’t tell my wife I’m down here burning flower. She’d hit me with a shovel,” he explained, with an offhanded gesture toward the anime figures in the case. If Alicia heard about the smoke being blown in the game room, Henry would have heard it not just because of ‘smoke residue’ on the figures, but on more than one of the original arcade cabinets they had. That was a big deal! Apparently.

“Hey, kid. Do you know the lyrics to Enter Sandman?” Henry asked as he met eyes with Sully. After Henry asked the question, Andy did his absolute damndest to subtly motion that Sully should agree. It was not subtle, and Henry shot Sully a look before launching into an unasked for explanation. “My son here, he doesn’t appreciate my singing. Usually, when we play Rock Band, my wife sings - she was in choir in high school. I wasn’t! BUT, I’ve been singing damn near half the setlist in the car since before you were born.” Henry groaned, but ultimately relented.

“Do you like to sing, dude? You wanna play vocals in Rock Band? Andy told me the only way Decky — helluva name, your other bro — would play is if we let him play drums, since then he can hit something.”

“He’s actually a good singer, I’ve heard him singin’ to music in the garage when he thought the break room door was closed,” Sully responded, but didn’t deny that Decky would be more willing to play along if he could get some aggression out. He, just like Henry, had seen Andy’s imploring look and simply tilted his head back at the other boy once the father had stopped talking and wondered if this was the conversation he’d missed earlier upstairs. Was he supposed to be the one singing?

“Well now I know ta lock your ass in the room if I want some privacy,” Came Decky’s voice from the last few steps of the staircase, followed soon by his actual appearance into the basement, an unhappy scowl on his face at the discovery of Sully’s knowledge. Deciding the other boy already had his chance to answer the Green twin’s father, Decky crossed his arms and answered for him. “I ain’t the one with girls fawnin’ all over videos of me if I so much as hum a chord, so Sully’s your man if ya want vocals.”

“That doesn’t mean I sing, dude,” Sully argued with little care, turning to the other gearhead with a confused frown. “I don’t even know what my singin’ voice sounds like.”

“Looks like it's time ta find out, then,” Decky bitched back before adressing Henry’s earlier comment about his name. “By the way, it’s a nickname my brother gave me before he could pronounce my full name, but it’s the only one I go by.” It was informative for the man that didn’t know him, but it was also a warning not to use his birth name even if Henry already knew it. Decky wouldn’t respond to it in any positive manner, and he had a feeling that from what Ethan had already told him about Henry Green, the man would understand to leave well enough alone. “Also, I’ve played real drums but I’ve never played this game, would it translate?”

Henry walked as Decky and Sully talked, and he couldn’t help but grin. It reminded him of the way he had talked with his friends, when he’d been younger. If this was the kind of people his son was hanging out with, then Henry felt like he could relax and let things take their own course. Andy was a little soft at times, and Henry knew that was partially his fault - but knowing that didn’t mean he magically had an answer for it. This was good though! A good start for Andy.

By the time Decky posed his question, Henry was already holding drum sticks. He spun on his heel and instead of answering, he pointed a drumstick at Andy for an answer. Andy looked momentarily alarmed and then looked down at the guitar controller that hung from around his neck and then quickly shook his head, “what? No, no way. This is hard. Ethan is better than me at this.”

Decky grimaced and held his hand out for the drumsticks. “Great.”

The door to the stairs entrance creaked open and there were light steps heading down the stairs. Slow and steady wins the race. Whistling like Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop, thanks mom, Ethan inched closer to his destination. He was going at a snail’s pace, which was unusual for him. There was a reason for that and it would soon be revealed. Almost a minute later, the youngest son of Henry Green found himself off the stairs and in the basement. The tune came to a close and he breathed out in relief. In his hands, held with a tight grip, was a serving tray. Ethan cautiously moved to the bar.

On it was a sterling silver coffee pot, a sugar bowl, a cream pitcher, a shot of espresso, a small cup of 2% milk, a small cup of oat milk, a couple of packets of Splenda, two mugs (just in case Decky wanted coffee too), a micro spoon on a dainty plate, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, ginger, vanilla extract, some chocolate, whipped cream, and a couple of biscottis. He forgot to ask Sully how he liked his coffee and from what he knew of coffee, especially from his girls, there were many ways to make it and plenty to add in. All he really liked was a shot of espresso and occasionally a chai latte on the side with it. Coffee could be complicated so he kept it simple. He was a simple boy. He didn’t need much. “If you want liquor, like Kahlúa or rum, my dad has some here. I filled this tray up as much as I could. Didn’t know how you liked your coffee.” Once he placed the tray on the bar, having held his breath from the bottom of the stairs to the bar, he breathed out again. He succeeded without clumsily dropping everything.

Success!

Turning on his heel, Ethan faced his father, his brother and two friends, yes you too Decky, and he grinned, “I can sing!” He couldn’t. While he could keep a whistling tune, once he sang, he couldn’t stay serious and always made funny voices. His favorite was acting like he was a demon from hell, growling and poorly attempting to do screamo. He wasn’t good at it. At all. His family knew better than to let Ethan sing.

Decky and Sully both stared at the serving tray with wide eyes, neither even able to take in just how much the rich boy had loaded onto it without their focus jumping from one addition to the other like a bad game of pinball. When Ethan offered to sing, Decky’s attention split away from the tray while Sully moved towards it slowly like it would bite him if he made the wrong move. Decky didn't believe Ethan for a second that he could sing, if only because he’s never heard so much as a roaming whisper in the school hallways about it. Ethan didn’t seem the type to hide his talents, see: his sports career. To top that off, if the shorter Green twin could sing, Andy wouldn’t have asked Decky and Sully ahead of time to take the bullet.

“What, ya don’t wanna see Sully switch in ta his Entertainer persona?” Decky goaded, knowing that the way Sully acted on screen and camera versus the way he acted when they were off was forever intriguing to much of the BH student body.

“It ain’t like I’m a whole other person,” Sully called back from the coffee tray, his eyes having found his targets and most of his focus going into not losing sight of them. He took the espresso and dumped it into his black coffee before doing the same thing he’d done this morning and taking the smallest amount of sugar and a splash of cream and mixing his coffee together. It didn’t even change color. Perfect. He drank half of it in one go before continuing. “It’s just more like I used to be. Like rewindin’ time.”

“Yeah, but it does throw people off.”

Sully shrugged. “People shouldn’t be so easily surprised or entertained, but I guess that’s why I have a followin’ that pays the bills,” He tilted his head at Ethan while Decky rolled his eyes at him. “Did you wanna sing? I don’t wanna take your spot or nothin’.”

“Sully sings.” Henry spoke as he looked up from his phone and over to Ethan. “I wanna see the entertainer thing. Sounds cool.” He shrugged.

“I hum,” Sully stressed once more, his objection falling on deaf ears.

Henry scoffed. “Yeah, so does Hetfield. You’ll be fine.”

“Jesus, that’s how you like your coffee?” Ethan’s mind was not keeping up with the rock band conversation. He was fixated on Sully’s black coffee of death. He really should’ve just asked him how he liked his coffee. Never judge a book by its cover, that’s for sure. Now he knows for future sleepovers. There was nothing fruity about Sully! Black coffee was probably like a shot of espresso anyways. He just didn’t realize Sully liked his coffee like that. “Okay, okay. The Music King is here,” Ethan announced, with conviction, grabbing a plastic guitar and putting it on him. “We’re going to play a whole set list and then when we’re done, we’re going to watch a movie. Dad has an arsenal of good movies, it’s going to be great! I made sure to have the guest rooms prepared last night.”

“What’s wrong with my coffee?” Sully asked defensively, having already been teased about it by Rye this morning.

“Guest room?” Decky asked with a frown as he twirled the drumsticks with shaky fingers. “Why?”

“Whaddya mean why?” Ethan raised an eyebrow, legitimately confused at Decky’s question. “And Sully, my man, nothing is wrong with your coffee. I just didn’t expect it, is all.” Damn. These two asked too many questions. What were they? The fuzz? “Nevermind that. Places boys. It’s time to rock.” Not waiting for anyone, the youngest Green started the song and swayed his head to the music, all the while making glances at his brother to: ask the fucking question.

“Whaddya mean what do I mean?” Decky volleyed back while his attention got drawn to the screen, the row with his little drum set logo already rushing notes forward for him to hit. He may have never played the game, but it didn’t exactly take a hard thinker to figure it out; yellow note, hit the yellow drum pad, wait for the next one, repeat. That is, until it changed pace and suddenly the screen was requiring a lot more of his attention, pulling it away from Ethan. “Who just brings up their guest rooms? And a whole setlist and movie? What time am I s’possed ta be gettin’ home tonight?”

“I still have to drive home from the garage too,” Sully piped up, the vocals yet to come on screen. He turned to look at Ethan, head tilted in question. “I have to be at Oli’s early for us to get ready together for the dance. I think we’re recording a Get Ready With Me or somethin’ for my channel.”

“You don’t have to stay the night if you don’t want to! But you could. Chef makes killer waffles, you guys like waffles?” Henry had now kicked his feet up onto the couch and was resting as he watched his sons and their friends play games. Did he have somewhere better to be, or something better to do? Maybe so, but at the moment… it was all about the vibes.

“Dad can we party at grandma Eve’s vineyard? Uh, just me and E and these two. And Amy.”

Henry grinned. “And there it is. See? I knew there was no way you guys were doing all this for nothing! You think I never pulled the ‘sibling asks instead’ card, E? Cyndi used to do this shit for me all the time!” He sat up and shook his head as the music continued to fill the room, “That’s what? Five people? There are more than five people here every Saturday! The entourage is bigger than five, why you lyin’?” He rolled his eyes, before eventually giving a serious answer.

“I don’t care, just don’t burn nothin’ down.”

Did they even need us? Decky thought as he tried to get back on beat after he fumbled upon realizing the Greens had planned a fucking sleepover. Decky doesn’t plan to sleep at other people’s houses, he just usually ends up passing out there from either exhaustion, drugs, alcohol, or a combination of the three. Having one planned seemed so…childish? Innocent. Something like that. It was a cute, if weird, sentiment from the rich boy considering how close they all actually weren’t, especially considering the fact that their dad didn’t even seem to need much convincing on the matter that was the entire reason the two working class boys were here. He glared at the screen and hit the pads a little harder than necessary.

“I got a little brother ta get home ta, he won’t put his damn book down ‘til sunrise if I’m not there,” He finally answered around the one minute mark of the song.

“I’m just goin’ home to an empty house so I don’t really care,” Sully answered, eyes not leaving the screen as he waited for the vocals to begin. He tilted his head and fiddled with the brim of his cap. “But I guess if you’re gonna be droppin’ Decky back off then there ain’t any point in havin’ to do it again in the mornin’ for me to get my truck, y’know? I don’t wanna put you guys ou-” The lyrics hit the line on the screen and Sully cut his sentence off, starting the song without missing a beat. “♪ Say your prayers, little one, don’t forget my son, to include everyoooone~♪” Sully was no longer in the sleepover conversation, his attention now on the screen despite the fact that he knew the lyrics already. Andy seemed pretty excited to have someone that wasn’t his father or brother singing, and the Greens have been really nice so far so he wanted the other boy to enjoy the game as much as possible, which included actually trying to sing well. He didn’t know if he was actually a good singer, but hopefully he was better than Henry and Ethan.

Sully did sing well but by then the vibes were off and Ethan was missing more keys than he was used to. He was glad his dad was down to letting them use the vineyard but now he was upset that neither Decky or Sully wanted to stay over and watch movies with him. He didn’t say anything in response but it was visible that he was getting angry at himself the more he fucked up in the game. If he kept messing up that would certainly lead to a broken guitar, which isn’t uncommon in this household. He just wanted to hang out with his new friends but that was too much of an ask. Was he really that awful to hangout with?

“Just bring the kid brother, dude. Who cares? Kids would kill to hang out here. Ethan, take a chill pill, bro. Ain’t many of those guitars left, y’know?” Henry sat up as he talked, the song having come to an end and the results up on screen. “What garage is he at? I’ll send someone over there. But, Decky, dude… You gotta get into it man, you know what I mean? Like this.” Henry mimed headbanging along to the beat of the song, flailing his arms as if he were playing the drums. How did he end up with two dudes who didn’t know how to have fun? Luckily, there had never been a better place to learn.

“You got that long ass hair, bro. Put it to use.”

The thought of moving his head the way Henry just did sent a spike of nausea straight to his stomach, and he did his best not to look like he’d sucked on a sour lemon at the feeling. When he responded to Henry, the tone was completely flat despite the fact that it was intended to be sarcastic. He didn’t know what had Ethan upset, but his father had clocked it so it must not be out of the norm for the Elite boy. “Oh yeah, just call up Dom’s Garage and tell my Uncle Hershey ta have ‘im ready and waitin’ with our bag’a spare clothes, have him grab an extra set’a mine for Sully,” He looked at the adult in the room with a raised eyebrow and pointed to the screen. “I got the second highest score? What does headbangin’ gotta do with it?”

“Life ain’t about the score, it’s about the vibes, my friend! The energy. Dude, are you even stoned? For fuck’s sake, I sent A up with two fatties for you guys, I figured you smoked ‘em on the way down. Hold on, dude.” Henry stood up and stalked over to the bar, which he disappeared behind, and Andy looked between Sully and Decky.

“Sorry my dad’s weird.” He’d never really had anyone over to say that to before, but it felt accurate.

A few seconds later, Henry emerged from behind the bar with a device, and sat it down on the bar. “Come here, dude.” He said, gesturing for Decky. “Come hit this shit.”

The song concluded, right on cue, and Ethan looked over to his father, brother and friends. His dad was right, he did need to chill, but at the same time Ethan didn’t want Sully or Decky to go home so early. He contemplated something for a moment before signaling to his dad, silently, that he’d pick up Danny. It would be better if Decky’s little bro didn’t have a random stranger arrive. Stranger danger and all that. If his father and brother kept these two distracted, Ethan could discreetly come and go without them noticing he was gone for too long, especially if they got stoned out of their mind. Taking off the guitar, leaning it on the entertainment center, Ethan grinned, “You too, Sully. Relax a bit. Get to know my dad! He’s a cool dude.” Backpedaling to the stairs, Ethan made his spidey escape and lied, “gotta’ take a dump. Be back!” And just as quick as he came, Ethan was gone, on a mission to pick up Danny Boaz so that he can have his goddamn sleepover.

“What the fuck is that?” Decky asked, looking askance at the foreign object the Green patriarch had brought out, setting the drumsticks down as Ethan left and slowly making his way over to Henry, grabbing Sully by the scruff and dragging the boy with him so he didn’t have to be the only one learning something new. Sully stumbled for only a moment before following along easily, smacking lightly at Decky’s hand to have him release his grip on his collar.

“I’m comin’ dude,” Sully protested and Decky released him easily, and stopped on principal just to see the look the taller boy gave him before turning his attention back to Andy to address his previous comment. “If you think your dad’s weird then you don’t even wanna meet my uncle.” He tilted his head to the Green boy to show he wasn’t just walking away from him like he has a habit of doing, and then made his way over to the counter with Decky. It was then that he finally took in what was sitting there, and his eyes lit up in interest. Ever curious, he asked, “Nah he was right, what the hell is that thing? How’s it work?”

It was a war of attrition.

Who could hold out the longest?

PLC v The Toxics.

A tale as old as time; a tale that Tallulah Venetia Stratton could give two flying fucks about.

The whole Stratton empire of Beverly Hills High School was not one that Tally ever particularly wanted to be a part of, it was something that she inherited from her older sister Scarlett, whom had inherited it from her cousin and so on and so forth and at the end of it all was just a bunch of rich white people selling drugs for the sake of it or to feel some kind of rush. The Stratton/Van Cise clan didn’t need the money, there were not hard up people. If life was a dance on a pinhead, they were hanging off the edge of it by their manicured fingertips.

Tallulah was the youngest Stratton, Alexandria, her twin, her soulmate, was a few minutes older. Whilst their other sister Scarlett was a few years ahead of them. At first glance, one would not think that the two girls were twins. They were not identical and between the two of them, a mixed heritage of Jewish, Romani and Argentinian was prevalent on their skin. Even when lined up with their cousins, Theo and Bronwyn, there was not much that would give them away as relatives…save their attitudes.

To be a Stratton was to be bad to the bone, to be dangerous and was to be better than anyone else. It was built into them from before birth, it was in their DNA. To be birthed into her family meant that whatever path Tally chose in life, she had to be the best, nothing else would be worthy of her blood. Theo was a superior athlete and Lex was a rockstar. The flame haired Tallulah loved to cook, her desire to open a place of her own in the future had been a dream since she was a girl. But the world of recipes and boiling points was not the type of completion that was adored in her family. It wasn’t as cutthroat as business or politics. That was probably why she picked up her first skate and surf boards when she was ten. No Stratton had dominated extreme sports, yet.

There was one other thing that Tally was better at than most, sex. She had learned relatively early that she was a beauty incomparable to any other. Tallulah oozed sensuality and she knew how to wield her body, her mind and her soul like a bladed weapon and she knew how to do it almost instinctively. She could remember, quite vividly, when the looks in the eyes of both the boys and girls in her life changed from indifference to desire. She could remember the stir in her own body, the excitement and tingle to give them what they wanted, to give them a bit of Tally. It was exhilarating and once she’d had a taste, the toxic thirst became insatiable. Men, women, teachers, cops, all different, all sharing the same want…they wanted her.

Unlike her cousin, Tallulah had learned a very valuable lesson from her grandfather, keep it professional. Theo had a tendency to mix business with pleasure, messing with the emotions of his prey and torturing them for fun. Lex too was set upon a dangerous path. With their grandfather's advice to take the PLC supply, it meant manipulating the little firecracker called Addie. Tally had nothing against the girl personally, she was just working for the wrong side, Lex just saw a target, she had been truly stung by the losses of Everly and Neveah from their group. The younger twin's pleasure did not come from the corruption of the innocent or the downing of a foe, hers came from the outside, from the flavour of a good dish or the taste of the beautiful set of lips.

Speaking of tastes…

Tallulah awaited a taste at that moment. Everyone had rushed off to the game which meant the school was basically empty and she just so happened to have the key to the sociology classroom, thanks uncle Matt. It was the perfect place to meet her version of pleasure, a feisty blonde with a name as addicting as her body, Sin. As Tally leaned against her uncle's desk, her weight against her flat palms and her outfit more daring than a man ready to jump a canyon on a motorbike, she pondered how much longer she had before the path of her family opened up before her. She wondered if it was even possible to stray from it. As far as she knew, no one ever had before.

Sinead walked confidently down the hallway to her destination, slowly wiping any evidence of her irritation with her brother Rian off her face as she went. The blonde man, despite having been the one to decide for them both after Sin’s short juvie stint that they would forsake their legacies as the heirs to Gravette’s very own Dullahans MC and move, had just twenty minutes ago loaded up his saddle bags and headed back to their hometown without her. Sin had been against it back then, especially when he’d wanted to try and dissolve the mother charter completely, but when Poppy had found Decky’s uncles and the Boaz brothers had needed support in their journey, Sin had softened her stance just slightly and agreed with Rian to leave with the boys, while also convincing him to simply leave the club in good hands. And he had, it was just that sometimes there were Donaghue specific secrets and knowledge that required him to return, some shit still in his name needed to be signed or approved, and he had to make the long trip back to Gravette for a few days to sort things out. Sometimes, he tells Sin to load up her bike and join him. Most times, she’s left home alone for the better part of a week. Obviously, this time was like most times.

The older she got the less well it sat with her. If she was in Gravette still, she’d have completed her prospect period and been patched in already instead of struggling to recreate and experience that club feeling on her rides to and from school with Monarch and the Boaz brothers. She’d be able to see her brother-in- law and annoy her nephews every day in person instead of over video chats. Rian only brings her back with him when he needs information that their father or their sister Fiona shared with Sin and Sin alone, knowledge and history that had been bestowed upon her in preparation for her to have a place at the club’s table amidst her family, both blood and bonded. But of their blood, it was just Rian and Sin left, only two of many remaining to bear the weight of generations worth of responsibility and dynamic, and Rian had made the choice to leave it all behind, not her, yet he got to return the most. So, hiding her irritation and hoping for some fun distraction it was.

And what a wonderful distraction that lay beyond the door Sin had come up to. Tallulah Stratton could distract Sin like no other, her touch like ignited gunpowder trailing heat down her skin and her gaze that set a fire in her core and kept it stoked. She opened the door silently and closed it the same once she’d gotten to the other side of the barrier, locking it behind her and turning to the girl with hair as orange as the molten metal Sin loved to mold. She smirked at the taller’s pose against the desk and took her all in, striding forward until she was standing in front of her with her hands resting on either side of Tally’s own on the surface. With their faces inches apart, Sin’s smirk became even more playful and she tilted her head slightly while she looked between Tally’s crystalline blue eyes and her alluring lips.

“Well hey there, were you waitin’ in the dark here just for lil’ ol’ me?”

“Baby, I don’t just wait in the dark.” Tallulah purred like only she could, her words carried on a whisper, directly between Sinead’s lips and into her mouth. She shifted her position, lacing her fingers with her biker girl’s and standing further upright. Tally was the taller of the two bombshells but not by much. Everyone knew Sin to be a powerful presence, a raw presence that could not be controlled or ignored and to behold her was to be in awe. That’s what everyone else would see. The toxic gypsy saw what others could not, she experienced what others daren’t even try. She had seen and made Sinead submit.

“Mami, is the dark.” Tallulah, like a venomous snake, fleetingly licked the lips of her pretty prey before snatching her fully into her embrace, constricting and binding her with her strong limbs. She flipped their positions, forcing Sin onto the table and lingering over her, ready to strike with her fangs.

It was no secret amongst the vapid peers of Beverly Hills that Tally had her fingers in many pies. It was a Stratton hallmark. One of which was her OnlyFans. She didn’t care for the weirdos who wanted pictures of her big toes and dirty underwear, or the ones that knew she was still in school and wanted her in pigtails and sucking on a lollipop; to her that was just easy money. It wasn’t until one day, she saw a new subscriber and her interest was piqued. She didn’t need to do much sleuthing to figure out that it was one Sinead Donaghue, a girl that had been buying drugs from her and Lexie on the regular since she turned up from her trailer park or wherever it was she came from. Tally was nothing if not intrigued but she could say she was surprised. She knew how good she looked and she also knew what the girl really wanted whenever she bought her drugs. The look in the eyes always gave it away. Which was why the next time they met, Tally did give it away and Sinead gave her something back; she wasn’t sure exactly what it was but it felt like the biker’s soul.

“You missed me.” Tallulah didn’t ask questions, she spoke in facts. The hunger in her lover's soft blue eyes was comparable to a starving nation. Her mouth lingered over Sin’s as she spoke, gently caressing her lips with every word. “You were very obvious today with the princess and your friend at the stairs.” Beneath the bravado, Tally had seen Sinead at her most vulnerable, it wasn’t something she hid well, or at least it wasn’t in the presence of hell's favourite harlot. “My girl had a rough day?”

Sin was pliable beneath Tally's actions, following along easily and letting herself get caught in Tally's coiled grip. It was so liberating to not be the one in control, and to not want to be. It had started off as just drugs, of course, being new to California and needing a new plug, she'd found the Strattons quicker than even Decky or Monarch. She'd established the connection with the twins, but very quickly realised that it was more just with Tally than both her and Lex, and Sin wasn't one to pretend, so she kept her focus on the orange haired deviant. When she'd gotten whispers of her OF, Sin had done something she never had before and paid for a subscription. The next time she went to Tally for a bit of coke, the dealer had made it very clear to the biker princess that she'd seen through the username the blonde had chosen, but Sin certainly hadn't complained about the new attention. She hadn't even complained about the change in her expected flirtation dynamic, because unlike her usual games with people, she could tell that with Tally it was Sin's turn to be played with. She found that it was more exhilarating and, in fact, she loved it.

And she still did. Loved the way Tally pressed against her and wrapped her up like she'd keep her there as long as she wanted, and the way that her lips brushed her words across her mouth like calligraphy strokes being inked onto her skin. Sin did love her ink. Tally spoke of being the dark, and that may be true with her criminal elements- not that Sin was any more repelled by that than she was any other part of the girl- but to Sin she was a bright, blazing inferno that drew the other in like a moth to her flame. The scorching feeling of Tally's presence was better than any fire Sin had ever set, any explosion she'd ever triggered, and any drug she'd ever burned and taken into her lungs. Sin wanted to be bathed in Tally's fire and lay across her embers like a resting dragon, get lost in the heat and passion that only this dangerous girl had managed to match her with. Sins belonged in the fires of eternity, a perfect match made in hell, and she did love to embody her name.

It was as confusing as it was addicting, and Sin already had an addictive nature to start. When Tally called out her poor poker face, and wasn’t that wild that she could see through it, the metalworker scoffed and rolled her eyes, pressing into the taller and stealing a lingering kiss from her before pulling back and shaking her head. She didn’t want to think about her day right now, it was basically a filler episode between the morning smoke session with Monarch and Trixie and her recent fight with Rian. She looked Tally in the eyes as she twirled a bright orange lock of her bangs between the fingers of her hand not trapped in Tally’s grasp.

“When ain’t I obvious ‘bout what I want? And who cares ‘bout a rough day? The silver linin’ of it is that I got the house to myself for like a week, and an outfit with your name on it,” She revealed both as distraction and an invitation, biting the inside of her lip as she gave the other a confident smile and released her hair in favor of dropping her hand to Tally’s hip and trying to pull her closer to close the almost non-existent gap between them. “Well actually, the choker has mami on it and I’m not puttin’ that on ‘til you earn it, but the outfit’s cheap an’ very ripable, which I figured we could both appreciate.”

Deflection.

Tally knew it well.

Weakness of any kind was not acceptable in the Stratton household. To show but a single flaw in their families faux finish was to bring great and unrelenting shame upon the house. As Grandfather Jacob would often reminisce, they were a family of survivors. Famine, war, holocaust, none could fell the Van Cise and Stratton clan. Any mere iota of something deemed un-familial-like would be buried deeper than the bodies that were surely feeding the worms at the bottom of their palatial estate in the hills. Whenever Tallulah felt a pull of emotion, a stirring in her stomach of something assigned as lesser by her family, it would be hidden, tucked away behind her wall of toxicity. Left to fester like an open wound, it wouldn’t kill but it would poison.

She savoured Sin’s taste on her lips from her swift kiss but that would not be enough to satiate and as much as she wanted to devour the blonde whole, she also wanted to inquire further on her submissive’s state of mind. Tally had not truly cared for anything or anyone really, at all, save her sister. There was glory and wealth to be had, love to her cherished for some but the gypsy model had long been a Nihilist. Lexie worshipped the ground their family walked on. Theo, for all his evil ways, had goals and dreams. Bronwyn, the precious flower of their tribe, she loved more than anyone else in the family ever had. Tallulah filled her life with things and stuff, she put her body out for the dogs to devour and she experienced everything that she could but still nothing truly clicked inside of her. Yet this uncouth, loud and obnoxious biker chick stirred something in her soul that Tally had never felt before. She didn’t know what it was but it was exciting.

“Hm.” The orange haired succubus pulled herself away completely from Sinead and took several steps back. With her pale blue eyes lingering on her lovers heaving chest, Tallulah reached down her own side, her finger tracing down from her breast, down the corset of her red leather dress and to the hem of its skirt which barely covered anything. She loosened the strings on the side, allowing her thick thighs a touch more freedom, room to breathe and Sinead a view that she would die for.

“Sit.” Tally pointed to one of the desks before the sound of the click of her heels filled her Uncle’s empty classroom. She made her way around the other side of the large teachers desk, as if she was about to open the class herself. “Now.”

Sin frowned in disappointment when her distraction didn’t land, but she hadn’t much been expecting it to, either. If there was one thing she’d learned in this dynamic it was that Tallulah Stratton was not one to be lead through life blindfolded in any way, including Sin’s almost impulsive need to not share her life or troubles with anyone. Before the tempting Toxic, the deflection and attitude she tended to give the people she had fun with meant they would soon get sick of her or feel unwanted, and often they would try and give her an ultimatum that would have her laughing at the other person until they were out of her life and only her life. None of them ever had a place in her heart from the start.

But that was when she was in control. Tallulah was all about control, thrived on it like it was second nature, and she was the only person outside of Decky and Monarch that could demand something of her and she’d follow willingly. Not even Katie or her fellow gearheads here managed to break past her obstinate front when she didn’t want to share something, and not even her two friends could convince her as easily as Tally did with a single word.

Sin took her leather jacket off and threw it on the desk before sitting in it, crossing her tattooed arms and leaning back like she was in detention. She glared at the fabrics pinned to her jacket, blacking out all Dullahan patches as if she ever got a chance to fully join the club and claim her birthright before leaving in the first place. It was all legacy and honorary for her where it should be full tilt. She tilted her head to try and look past the teacher’s desk at the temptation that sat there, well aware Tally had done that on purpose.

“I can’t believe you just gave me a glimpse and hid it behind a desk,” She complained with little variation in her tone, lips pursing together until she was somewhere between a scowl and pout. “Well, I’m sittin’.”

Sin listened to Tally, more than occasionally enjoyed doing what the other girl commanded of her, but that didn’t mean she made it easy. She may not be great with books like Charlie, Poppy, and even Decky were, but she would play with vague wording with the best of them, and all that Tally had told her to do was sit. So help her if her next words were ‘speak’, though, because being spoken to like a house pet was not on her list of fun or exciting turn ons.

“Anticipation is the best aphrodisiac, baby.” Tally had designed her voice to appease, tease and tantalise. It was soft, smokey, lending itself as a whisper from a bygone day of black and white cinema wear woman oozed classy sensuality and lived in a world of hedonistic delights and delicacies. “And I do so love to watch you tremble.”

She made her way from behind the desk, dragging her fingers across its edge before she took a few short steps towards Sinead, where the tips of her manicured nails found the now bare arm of the biker. Tally’s pointer danced up her paramour’s sun kissed skin as she continued her motion around the blonde, circling her like a shark. Pausing, she caressed Sin’s chest gently, leaning down to kiss her clavicle and nibble at her ear. “And you love pleasing mami, don’t you little sinner?” She sang into Sinead’s ear like a siren of yore, enticing this concrete pirate into her domain.

She continued her circle around the blonde, repeating her kiss on the opposite side before completing the rotation and finding herself staring down at a wanting Sinead. Their games were simple enough, Tallulah didn’t go in for the complex like her cousin Theodore, who so loved to dominate people just because he could. Sure, Tally loved to control, to be in charge but she did so purely for the satisfaction it brung. She wasn’t out to make life miserable for people, quite the opposite, she lived for pleasure because nothing else mattered anyway, existence without pleasure was meaningless. She turned away from her lover and made her way back to the teachers desk, bending over it suggestively to reach something on the other side. Tallulah turned her head and smirked. “Close your eyes.”

“Absolutely evil,” Sin all but whined, now more than a little hot and bothered. And Tally wanted her to close her eyes against the treacherously tempting tableau before her? In a great test of wills, Sin pulled her eyes away from where they’d trailed all the way down the dominant’s long legs, catching Tally’s intoxicating gaze to do as she said and close her eyes. She tensed slightly, well aware of the vulnerable position it put her in, but vulnerability with the other girl was kind of the point nowadays. Her world now nothing but the back of her eyelids, Sin crossed her leg over her knee and dropped her chin onto her hand, leaning onto her jacket on the desk. “Does it please, mami?” She asked with a bit of snark, mimicking Tally’s earlier words.

“You can please mami in a moment.” Tallulah grabbed a small box from the desk and held it close to her ample chest before turning and stepping back towards Sin. She took a hold of the other girl's leather jacket and tossed it onto another chair nearby to free up the space. Leaning down, Tally slipped her tongue between Sinead’s pursed lips and kissed her deeply, all the while her hands placed the box down in between them and opened it up. From inside, emerged a strong, sweet but spicy smell. Tallulah stepped away again, dragging Sinead’s lip with her for a brief, tantric moment before offering up her surprise. “Open up and tell me what you think.”

Sin would have face planted on the desk with the way Tally ripped the jacket out from beneath her propped up arm if not for the other girl catching her with her lips, and the shocked gasp hadn’t even had a chance to form before Tally’s tongue took over her senses. She felt drunk on the lingering kiss alone, but when something amazing started filtering in as she took a breath in through her nose, she could have sworn she was losing it before realizing the other must have brought out one of her dishes to try. Still, she kept her eyes closed dutifully through it all, and as the orange haired seductress demanded, she opened her mouth and accepted whatever Tally was offering.

Taking a fork from the box, Tally sliced into the meal she had prepared and made sure to get a little bit of everything onto the prongs. “This is Gypsy Eggs. A meal for my people.” Her fingertips teased Sinead’s chin as she guided the fork into the girl's mouth. “Baked eggs in a tomato, chilli and chorizo sauce, with a Parmesan accoutrement, sliced Parma ham with special chimichurri seasoning and a nice piece of toasted sourdough.”

Food was Tallulah’s secret passion. Where Lexie had her music, Theo his football and political aspirations and Bronwyn her ice skating, Tally had found herself drawn into the world of cooking. She wasn’t even sure why. She enjoyed skating and surfing and the lifestyle that came with it. Being a model was like breathing air, it was easy. But being in a kitchen at boiling point, the searing heat from the pots, pans and ovens burning skin and focusing on putting out a meal or a dish that could wow someone in ways that only an orgasm could match? That was the sort of challenge that made life worth it.

She had already incorporated food play into her and Sin’s dalliances before but this wasn’t just about kinky sex. For Tally, this moment was about sharing something that she had specially made just for the beautiful girl that sat before. To see and feel her reaction to something that she had created and something that perhaps she may want to pursue after the Hills have finally burned to the ground.

The amount of different ways that this girl could make Sin moan should be illegal. The moment the food passed her lips and flavor burst across her tongue, Sin was sold another one of Tally’s recipes. She chewed slowly, savoring every shift in spice and making sure she gave the other girl’s art the appreciation it deserved. She should have known this was the other’s goal when she had her close her eyes. She had wanted her to focus on her taste buds.

“Fuckin’ hell, Tals,” Sin breathed reverently once she’d swallowed the bite. Sure, Sin enjoyed baking with little Danny Boaz and had been doing it ever since they were kids, but she didn’t think anything she ever made could hold a candle to a single dish Tallulah Stratton had introduced her to. It showed her how wide the gap between hobby and passion could be, and it just had her more enamored with the girl.

Wait.

Enamored?

Shaking off the silly thought, she opened her eyes to look into the cook’s own, Sin’s metal blue clashing with Tally’s diamond hard gaze. “That was amazin’, seriously. I don’t even like tomatoes.”

“I know.” Tally smiled. “That’s why I put them in there. I knew I’d be able to change your pallet.” To see the look on Sin’s face, to see her savouring the flavour and not wasting a bite, that brought Tallulah a joy that she got so rarely. Not because her food was bad, she knew it wasn’t but to be able to share it with someone, to give it to someone who would honestly enjoy it and appreciate the effort and time that goes into the dish. That was the true joy in a chef's life.

Tallulah dug the fork into the food again and spanned it thrice in hand, her eyes never leaving the locked in gaze of her lover. She slowly teased the bite she now held with her tongue before placing it into her own mouth to chew. “Mmm.” She moaned in pleasure. “Could’ve done with a little more spice though, guess I know for next time.” She teased. “I assume your brother is away again? You said you had the house to yourself.”

Sin’s happily hazed expression dropped a bit when Tally brought everything back around, but she’d done it in a way that she knew would have the biker responding. She’d shared something personal first. She'd also managed to soften Sin even more by showing her knowledge on what foods Sin wasn't fond of. Reciprocation is key. “Yeah,” She sighed, slumping back into her seat and crossing her arms defensively as she broke the stare and looked toward the nearest window despite it being covered by blinds. “Would’a been nice to go too, ‘specially since I didn’t get to see anyone for my birthday last month, but they didn’t need any'a my knowledge,” She rolled her eyes. “Actually, they kinda did. Rian took my fuckin’ key so we got in a fight before I came back to school. Fuckin’ dick.”

Each Donaghue child had a key to a different safe hidden at different Dullahan MC properties, and their late sister Fiona’s had been entrusted to her husband Francis, or Big Bro Franky as Sin loves to call him. Much to his chagrin. It was also used to represent a vote from the bloodline if one of the siblings couldn’t be there, and Rian wouldn’t tell her for which reason he’d snagged hers. God help him if it were the latter. After they’d both left for their separate destinations, Sin spent the whole bike ride yelling at Francis over her headset that if Rian tried to use it as a vote that she’d stab him with a hot dagger herself when he returned. She made it very clear that she had no idea what was happening with the club at the moment and Francis had assured her he’d handle it when their brother arrived.

“It’s whatever,” She buried it, uncomfortable with the old feelings that Rian’s cold attitude had brought up in her. Like the way he’d treated her before Fiona died and then Pa and suddenly they were all that was left. When he’d hated her birth for being the death of their mother. She thought they had gotten past it, especially since moving to California, but when the club is involved they have a bad habit of slipping back into their old roles. She hated it. “My brother-in-law’s takin’ care of it. But yeah, house to myself, nothin’ to do but my metal work. I was thinkin’ you could come over and give me a better reason to be all hot and sweaty.”

If anyone knew about family drama, it was Tallulah Stratton. She couldn’t perfectly envisage what unfolded for the Donaghue’s but she had a pretty reasonable idea considering the constant war for superiority that raged in the toxic city known as the VCP. In such battles there were very few innocents, with only Bronwyn and her mother Bobbi being the only true family members without the blood of both an enemy and an ally on their hands. “I’ll be there, don’t you worry.” Tally pushed herself vertical and once more made her way behind Sinead, though rather than kiss her, this time she began to run her silky soft straw colored hair through her black nailed fingertips. “Mami will take care of you, in every way you need. Forget about all that shit, you belong to me. Don’t you, baby?”

Sin relaxed considerably under Tally’s surprisingly gentle ministrations, this time closing her eyes of her own volition and trying to get lost in the feeling of the Toxic Twin’s touch. The frown fell away and she leaned into the fingers running through her hair and the nails grazing her scalp. She was already turning to putty in Tally’s hands, and she barely thought about the question Tallulah had asked her as she replied with a soft, “Yeah, ‘course I do,” and then her eyes shot open as the words actually processed in her mind and she shot straight up in the chair to turn around and look at Tally with wide eyes doing their best to cover the fear beneath, suddenly more tense than she’d been before showing up here. On the defensive. “Wait, what?”

They’d played possessive before, Tally’s called Sin her’s and Sin has done the same back, but this wasn’t that. There was a big difference between claiming someone in the heat of passion and saying you belong to me after Sin just showed her vulnerability. The blonde tried to think of a time where someone wanting more from her didn’t end horribly, but every time a relationship was kicked up from casual to calling it, labeling it, the other party would end up upset with her, like they expected her to change the way that she acted now that they wanted to date her or even just get closer to her than a fuck buddy. Hell, the Gravettite couldn’t even make proper friends outside of the gearheads, even Katie Calaghan was honorary due to her dating Scott. Tally had already forged her own place somewhere between those two ends of the spectrum, not being some random lay but also not having any labels.

Maybe not to others, but to Sin, even belonging to was a label, and she did not want what she had with Tally to end because suddenly new expectations came into play that she couldn’t meet. Buried even further beneath the fear and worry in her eyes was something new though. Intrigue, want, desire for that something new, something more. Hope? She stared at the other girl silently for another moment before speaking up, much quieter than she’d intended, insecure in a way she’s never felt before.

“That ain’t some random flirt for me, Tally.”

The immediate shift of Sin’s body in her hands and the look in her pretty blue eyes made Tally take her own step back from the situation. It didn’t take a body language expert to see that the blonde had taken the drug dealer's words in an unintended and unexpected way. Tallulah, ever the Stratton, could not allow the situation to spiral out of her control; it was not happening.

Did she want more with Sinead? Something beyond fucking for the sake of it and festering her domination kink? Had she developed feelings? A million thoughts raced around her head like stars in the sky and she attempted to process herself the meaning of her own words. Had Tallulah absentmindedly made some declaration of love? Or was the metal worker more crazy than her reputation?

What to say? What to say?

“It wasn’t a random flirt.” A simple fact was all that she could come up with as Tally’s momentary lapse in presentation corrected itself. “You’re mine. Whenever I want you. Wherever I want you.” She returned her step back forward and guided Sin by her shoulders back to facing the front of the class. Taking her hair back into her hands, Tallulah wrapped it tightly around her fingers and then yanked up firmly. “You do what you want with whoever you want but we both know, you’ll always find your way back to me.”

The orange haired temptress licked her lover's ear lobe ever so lightly before pulling out her chair and in one swift motion mounting her. Tally slipped her hand around Sinead’s throat and their eyes locked as the harlot began to squeeze.

The pull on her scalp had her gasping, Tally’s tongue had her eyes fluttering shut and a tremble making its way through her, just as Tally liked to cause. When the other girl was suddenly on her lap and tightening her grip on Sin’s throat, the blonde gave in completely as ecstasy began to take over her higher thought processes. Any tension from the previous comment flew out of her mind as quickly as Tally’s grip stole her breath. Tally’s words had helped. Sin didn’t mind being hers, didn’t mind being at this girl’s beck and call, so long as she didn’t want something Sin wasn’t sure she knew how to give, had been told she didn’t know how to give by so many people. Talllah had come up upon a curve too fast, but managed to shift gears and take the apex like a professional, coming out on the other end not only unscathed, but triumphant, revving her engine for good measure. Sin was hers now.

“No one else worth findin’ their way back to,” She rasped out, risking some of her breath as she reached out and grasped Tally’s strong thighs with a biker’s grip. “Mami knows what I want.”

A gasp of pleasure escaped Tallulah’s throat like a thief in the night as her prey latched onto her. She began to roll her hips on Sin’s lap, teasing the girl with her sultry rhythm. “That’s my girl.” She spoke once more, as she so often did, into Sinead’s lips as they crashed together once more in addicting toxic ecstasy. She didn’t know whose desk they were on, Tally always skipped her uncle’s class but she knew that the poor unfortunate soul was about to come as close as they could to heaven with the two women about to lose themselves on it.

Tally got to her feet once more, taking several steps back she gazed upon her lover with feverish want and raised her hand to play with the low hanging necklace part of her choker which perfectly slipped down her chest. She licked her plump red lips before glancing down at the floor and back up to a feral Sinead.

“Kneel.”

Sin was on her knees before Tally had even finished the command. Maybe Tally would get that collar on her sooner than either expected.

Ramón threw his door open and tossed his bag to the floor next to his vanity while his clutch hit the furniture’s shiny dark wood surface, and then proceeded directly to the door on the other side of his room that led to his office. Stella had relatively free reign of his home and could follow him easily, and he wasn’t one to break routine so he simply kept moving until he’d reached the destination of the next unchecked box of his mental list. The pale aqua fabric lit up one corner of his office like woven moonlight across water, the jeweled breast line sparkling like scattered stars under the room’s intense lighting. As always with something he’d made, it was a masterpiece. He gently rolled the dress form out from its place and removed the garment from its fabric body before presenting it to his childhood best friend with a smug air.

“Go ahead, try it on, I know you’ve been waiting,” He goaded. He had to make sure everything was fine with her outfit by the time he had to leave to get back to the school for the game, or else he’d be working back and forth between both Stella and Cael’s homecoming clothes later tonight. Plus, as much as he enjoyed making his best friend wait for things just to see that angry red tint that takes over her skin, he was just as impatient to see the completed piece to his work and that included Stella being in the dress. “And be gentle or I will take my fabric shears to everything in your closet that I didn’t create.”

Stella twirled her car keys in her fingers as she followed closely behind Ramón to his room. She’d been uncharacteristically silent for the majority of their drive; the only sign she was there with him was the jingling of her lanyard as she spun it around her index finger. The blonde had been in a sour mood ever since homeroom, and it had only gotten worse as the day went on. Ethan was being a royal pain in her ass, and to make matters worse, he was completely ignoring her. Like, hello? Who just ignored their on again, off again, situationship! How rude.

But all of her woes melted away the second that she laid her eyes on her best friend’s masterpiece. Her jaw went slack as she took in the blue dress, completely left speechless. “Mo… baby you’ve outdone yourself. Holy shit.” The blonde took the fabric in her hands and marveled at the details. “I have nothing snarky to say. You really did that, bitch.” Stella walked over to Mo’s bed and placed down the gown so she could undress to try it on. She had no shame in stripping right there - there was no such thing as needing privacy for the two of them. Stepping into the dress, she delicately pulled it up over her bust, slipping her arms through the straps. She looked back to her best friend, “Can you zip me up please?”

“I know, I’m amazing, aren’t I?” Mo replied shamelessly while also preening from her compliment, checking his phone to see a confirmation text from Andre about the other boy picking his outfit up tomorrow morning before the dance. Mo’s talent was in high demand for the dance, especially amongst his friends, and they all knew it. They also knew that, as his friends, he would spend the most time on their outfits and also be willing to dance along the deadline while still providing the completed product with grace. Thus, the likes of Stella, Cael, and Andre were the last to receive their outfits as for them his final touches went to the last minute to ensure every detail be not only perfect but also eye-catching and show stopping. Stepping up to help his best friend when she’d asked, he put his phone away upon reading Dre’s confirmation and grabbed the zipper, pride flowing through his body as it closed smooth as butter and hugged every curve of his friend like a second skin.

He stepped back and took Stella in as she turned towards him, a grin that only friends like she and Cael got to see, unrestrained and childish in its happiness. She looked stunning, gorgeous, fabulous. Showstopping, just like she always was, only ever accentuated by his designs, never overtaken. And from a first glance, not a single thing needed to be altered on her dress. Ramón has known every minute change and fluctuation in Stella’s measurements since they were children and she they had both decided she was going to be his first model, and the older they got, the less and less he actually needed Stella for intermittent fittings and tailoring. Eventually, it got to the point where they only needed this: the final fitting.

That didn’t stop them from getting together in the least, of course, it just showed how well they knew each other.

“Damn bitch, you said I did that? Look in the mirror, that dress is nothing without you wearing it. You’re going to blind people with how bright you shine, babes.”

Stella could instantly feel how the dress fit her like glove before even glancing at her reflection in the mirror. No matter how many dresses Mo made for her, or outfits he curated, it still never ceased to amaze her how talented her best friend was. He had a gift, it was evident. And seeing his unbridled joy and wide smile was just the icing on the cake. She loved being able to make him feel this exuberant. Hell, if she had it her way, he’d be like this all the time. Because even when she was in a sour mood, like today, when he was happy, so was she. What was that saying… happy wife, happy life? The blonde walked over to the full length mirror in the corner of Mo’s room, stepping onto the little pedestal.

She gasped, her breath taken away.

It was truly a masterpiece. The shape of the gown, the off the shoulder sleeves and the jewel encrusted bodice hugged her in just the right ways, highlighting her figure effortlessly. The color was perfect too, just the right shade of blue to make her skin glow while complementing her hair color. “Mo…” Stella started, turning her head to look back at her best friend. “It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.”

“Isn’t it?” He responded giddily. Mo was practically glowing under his best friend’s praise, the excitement and satisfaction of finally seeing the completed piece, and how immensely pleased Stella was being all he needed from his almost full month of work since his inception of the design. He’d started hers first, and she was the third to last to get it because while he delivered perfection to every client he had, those closest to him deserved absolute divinity.

“Alright, let me make sure everything’s as it’s supposed to be,” He said as he stepped up behind her place on the pedestal and began to do his quality checks on the gown. Once he’d confirmed the perfection of his product, he helped Stella delicately remove it and put it in a garment bag for her to keep it safe when she left. With business completed, the best friends were left with free time before the game where they’d both be returning for different reasons, Mo’s being supporting his cheerleaders and to later be Cael’s ride back here so that Mo could do his final fitting and the other Candy could sleep over. Which was perfect, because there was a new development involving a mystery letter that he needed to talk to his other best friend about.

But that was for later.

With Stella now in the comfy clothes she kept in his room and the two of them sitting on his bed while he touched up her makeup, he decided it was time to ruin the good mood.

“So, was it Ethan that had that look on your face before you saw your dress?” He asked, ripping the bandaid off as he always did. Quick with a bit of inevitable sting. “Because I was almost insulted when I got in the car and got the bitchface directed at me.”

Stella was mid-sip of water when Mo decided to declare war.

She nearly spat out the drink as the words left his lips, so much so, she had to cover up her mouth with her hand to ensure no water escaped unceremoniously. Swallowing, her facial expression softened from her normally frigid exterior, the light in her eyes flickering. “I’m sorry.” The blonde stated, first and foremost. It was a rarity for her to apologize to just anyone, but her best friend was the exception. She sighed, revealing her current thoughts, “He ignored me all fucking day. Didn’t even reply to my message this morning about the dumb coffee. Of course, the one day I go out of my way for that jackass he blows me off.” Stella shook her head, “And he just finally had the mind to text me after nearly 8 hours and all he could say was ‘it’s been a day’. Like come ON.”

“Ew,” Ramón offered with a matching disgusted expression, pushing his glasses back up his nose so he could raise it in the air in distaste. “It sounds like you need to find someone that isn’t such a little bitch, Stells, because who the fuck does he think he is to ignore you and then not grovel at your feet in apology?” Inside, Ramón was simmering for his friend. He was also upset because despite the fact that it had been with much different boundaries first set in place, Mo had set the whole situationship with Ethan and Stella up.

The girl shook her head, “It doesn’t make any sense Mo. Like, I get he and I have our moments, but everyone in this school wants to be with me. Why does he act like it's a chore?” Stella furrowed her brow, but then quickly reversed the movement since she knew her best friend would have her head if she messed up his makeup job. “It’s a shame, the sex is great, but everything else is well… meh. I like arguing with him and giving him a hard time, but that’s just my way of showing affection.”

“A chore?” The disgusted expression morphed to indignation and Ramón forced his best friend to look at him with a few stern fingers under her chin. “Stella Louise Manning, if you even so much as think that he feels that way then you need to take a step back and look at why you’re still bothering. You can have good sex without a relationship, situationship, whatever,” He said with a glare before she could correct him herself. He stared deep into her striking sky blue eyes, grounding her with his own warm earthen brown. “If he doesn’t get you, if he doesn’t respond to you properly, if he doesn’t even give you gifts that fucking fit who you are, then he doesn’t deserve any bit of you. You are a goddess gracing him with your presence and like an ignorant, godless heathen, he is turning a blind eye. You shouldn’t chase him, you should smite him.”

Ramón Montoya was the King of the Candies, the literal thread that held the drama club together, and one of the most vindictive and vicious responders to a perceived slight against him or his loved ones that Beverly Hills High has ever had the luck of not seeing, his worst reactions being restrained as his attitude was put on a leash by his family and their wariness of bad press and media. If Mo had it his way, if he could get away with it, he would give Ethan the most public humiliation of his life, and make sure there was evidence so that the boy never forgot it.

How dare someone so basic make his platonic soulmate deflate like that? Unforgivable.

Stella listened to her best friend, although her eyes seemed to glaze over as he went all Mama Bear. It was very unlike the girl to show such raw emotion, most of all let a stupid boy like Ethan Green get the best of her. She prided herself with having the grace and poise of someone twice her age without the wrinkles, what was it about this specific situation that was causing her so much discomfort? She and him had played this song and dance for nearly a year and a half. Why now was it suddenly an issue?

Maybe it was the fact graduation loomed in the distance and Stella had to figure out what the fuck she was doing with her life. Maybe it was because Katie Callaghan was favored to get the lead again this year. Maybe it was the creepy DMs she was getting that seemed to pile up by the day. Ethan Green was the straw that seemed to break the camel’s back. “I bother because I enjoy his company and he’s the only person I know who is willing to put up with my bitch ass attitude and serve it back to me tenfold. It’s fun, he’s fun.”

“Fun is fine, babe,” Ramón responded, well aware she had zoned out on him the moment he started his rant against Ethan but willing to let it slide due to her mood. “But you haven’t seemed like you’ve been having fun recently,” He thought back to the car ride in, where she seemed okay, almost defensively hopeful in a way she tried to hide behind a casual air and act of whimsy. How different she was less than half an hour later when he’d entered Belmonte’s class for Cael and Minnie’s cupcakes and some good old Candy kiki. Stella swinging between moods like Tarzan between vines was not unusual, hell it was practically a requirement of the Thespian Society to have a volatile personality regardless of where it was on the spectrum, so that alone would not normally be a problem. However, this wasn’t her being dramatic and shifting through attitude because she felt like it and she could, this was because of a boy.

Gag me with a chainsaw.

Mo took a deep breath before he said something that hurt his friend in her vulnerable state, visibly restraining himself and forcing a more neutral look onto his face when he asked the only thing he could think of that really mattered to him in the end.

“Does he make you happy?”

Stella snapped out of her funk real quick. This was getting too deep for her very shallow emotional bandwidth. Was she really having this come to god conversation today of all days?

Of course he made her happy.

Right?

“Nevermind, Mo. Let’s just drop this please.” She deflected, pursing her lips. It was rare for her to be this candid, but even she had a breaking point, and that came with the evaluation of her own needs.

Ramón's emotions vacillated between shock and worry at the way his best friend was acting. Never had a boy caused his beautiful blonde bestie such confusion and self doubt. Never had Stella sounded so small, so begging, as she did when she was unable to answer his question and requested instead his discretion. His regret at getting the two together was quickly morphing from exasperation to genuine, true remorse as he took in the state that the athletic Green boy was leaving Stella in. Mo slackened the pressure of his fingers under her chin but left them there as stabilizers and he harshly bit his tongue while he began to silently resume fixing the blonde’s makeup. He was gliding a perfect, solid line to finish the point of one eye’s wing when his bedroom door was thrown open, hitting his dresser with a solid thunk and rattling all of his possessions sitting atop it. Mo jumped in his own skin and the black line shot across Stella’s temple like it was making a run for her hairline, and the small boy hissed in rage at having been shocked into a mistake, turning a blazing glare to his doorway.

“What? Look what you made me do pendejo!”

For his part, Ramón’s older brother Rio did exactly as his little brother demanded and took a few gliding steps into his room to stand in front of the teenagers, bending down and getting in Stella’s face to stare intensely at the black streak breaking up her pale skin. He maintained a serious expression for only a moment before he broke out into an amused grin and booped the blonde lightly on the nose as if she were still the child that first befriended his baby brother, holding his hand out to intercept Mo by the face as he lunged forward in protective rage. He pushed the smaller boy back into his sitting position by his face while the younger spluttered indignantly.

“I’ve seen worse done professionally for the red carpet, hermano,” Rio finally said, releasing his brother when he stopped smacking at his forearm. “Don’t be so upset, I came up here to tell you that mamá made your favorite for dinner, and even made it early since Stell’s is here. Both of you make sure to thank her for spoiling you.”

“Excuse you?” Ramón glowered in offense, getting up to try and shove his brother out of his room. “When the hell don’t we? Don’t make us seem like ungrateful brats,” He pushed harder against Rio’s back when the actor didn’t budge, grunting when the older Montoya son slumped backwards over his little brother’s body, sending them both onto the bed in a heap beside Stella. Ramón grunted in frustration and kicked his legs wildly where they were hanging off the bed, failing to wiggle out from under his brother’s torso and dead weight. “Get off you bitch!”

“But Mónie you’re being such a drag that you’ve dragged me down with you! Now I’m stuck!” Rio put a hand to his forehead and feigned a swooning noise, somehow managing to squish his brother further into the soft mattress. He looked to his left and winked at the girl that had become his third little sister before giving Mo another moment of struggle and then finally getting off the boy, standing up while Ramón scrambled to regain composure. He laughed at the look on Mo’s face before explaining. “That was from Rosa, apparently you pissed her off this morning somehow and she didn’t get a chance to get revenge. Now get your bratty asses downstairs so mamá’s work doesn’t go to waste! Stell’s, she made your favorite too.” He closed the door behind him and his footsteps retreated down the stairs, leaving the teens alone once more.

“Have you eaten today?”

You knew that Stella was in a bad mood when she didn’t even care that eyeliner had just been smeared across her face. The blonde might have jumped a smidge when Rio burst through the door, but otherwise, her face was expressionless. No anger, no frustration, just neutral. She watched as the brothers fought playfully, a small smirk pulling at the edge of her lips. She stood up, walking over to Mo’s dresser and pulling out a makeup wipe from the pack, and got to work cleaning up the mess on her face.

Stella was an only child. She was a miracle baby, her parents having struggled to conceive for many years before she came along, so siblings weren’t in the cards for her. Sometimes she was jealous that Mo had such a big and happy family (even though she knew they could be annoying as shit sometimes), but other times she simply felt thankful that she was included as one of their own and welcomed with open arms into their home. Her heart felt warm at the thought, especially given Rio’s words that their mother had cooked her favorite.

With the rogue eyeliner removed, she threw the wipe into the trash. “I had a small lunch, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hungry. But even if I wasn’t, I’d still want your mom’s cooking.”

“She would have force fed it to you even if you didn’t,” Ramón answered, despite knowing Stella was already aware of where he got many of his overbearing habits from. He got up off of his bed and made for his door, coming up beside her where she was still standing near his dresser. As annoying as his brother had been, he could see that the intrusion had helped bring back a little bit of the natural shine that had left Stella during their attempted talk. No matter how many times Ramón tried to bring it up, it always ended this way, with the talk of Ethan brushed aside in favor of something, anything, with less meaning. Mo stared at his friend for a long moment, saying nothing as he searched her gaze for something that would make this game worth it in the end. Sighing at what he found, he tried once more despite knowing it would be in vain.

“You don’t have to answer, and I’m dropping it after this so we don’t lose our appetite, but think on this,” Ramón didn’t say please or beg, but his friends could hear the implication of the word in his tone. The ones that mattered understood how he spoke. Because when people mattered to each other, they learned each other. He thought Stella knew that just as much as Ramón did. “Does he know a single one of your favorite things? And I mean personal, favorite things, not something the whole school knows about you. Again, fun is fine, but does he deserve you?”

The look on his face told her that he didn’t want an answer even if she had one. He didn’t want to upset her or tear her down, but he also wasn’t about to let her keep her head clouded with any delusions that weren’t geared towards furthering her grandeur. No one had ever made Stella act like this before, and thus this was a new part of her that even Mo had to learn, but the fashion designer had never been one to walk on eggshells even around the most sensitive of their friends, and unless she was literally moments from a complete breakdown then he figured Stella would forgive him for continuing to be himself and not coddling her.

Eventually.

“Ramón Inigo! Estella Louise!”

“Coming, mamá!” He held Stella’s gaze for one more moment, hoping she’d take the time to read him as much as he was reading her, before finally breaking contact and opening his door. As he headed out and down the stairs he paused and added over his shoulder to his best friend, “I’ll fix that eyeliner after dinner.”

The blonde let Mo’s words reverberate in her mind. Like always, his inherent wisdom was showing and he did have a point. What did Ethan actually know about her? Sure, anyone who had a pulse at BHHS knew Stella, but only a handful truly paid attention to her quirks and habits. They weren’t technically dating, but could she consider her on again, off again beau one of those people? She sat with her wandering thoughts as she followed her best friend down the stairs to the kitchen, the promise of food a welcome distraction from her crisis. Her eyeliner was the least of her concerns, but still, she nodded.

“You better,” She attempted to jab, but her tone wasn’t cooperating. Instead, she offered her best friend a solemn smile. “Thanks, Mo.”

“Don’t thank me,” Mo responded with a grossed out expression on his face, his attitude returning now that he saw Stella was actually thinking on his words and he didn’t have to go soft. “You never thank me. You never have to, dummy,” He held his hand out to Stella so they could descend the stairs together. “You just owe me the loyalty of being your sole designer and bestie for life, I think that’s a fair trade.”