Chapter Text
Yawning and leaning back into my chair, I hear a few satisfying pops, which makes my spine feel loose. Rosa looks up from her work. “Didn’t sleep well?”
I lazily turn my head towards her. “Mmm, not really, just slept weirdly, and my bad feels shitty.”
“You know, Rosa can pop your back; she does it really easily,” Stella chimes in.
“I don’t feel like lying on the floor today.” I cross my arms at her.
“No, you don’t have to, just watch.” Stella turns to Rosa and gets up. “Pop my back.” Rosa gives her a quizzical look. Oh my god, quizzical? I’ve been hanging around Naomi way too much. Stella puts her forearms up, and Rosa stands, picks her up, and bear-hugs her tightly. I hear some gunshots coming from Stella. Rosa tosses Stella up a bit and pops her lower back, which sounds even worse. “OOooooo~ Yeah.” Rosa puts Stella down, and she leans back like an accordion. “Give it a try.”
I put my hands up. “Hell no. That sounds like pure agony.”
“Pffft. No, it's not.” Stella says as she leans in her chair, and more gunshots come out.
“Jesus fucking christ, what is wrong with your back?” I say disturbed from imagining what horrors her poor spine went through.
“Uhh.” Stella puts her finger on her chin. “I fell onto a pole when I was like… eight? Then, on a fence post and after those two, I was sent to a hospital and told my back is in really bad shape, so every weekend I go to a chiropractor when my back starts hurting bad. But Rosa here pops my back, and it feels better.” She pats Rosa’s shoulder, which makes Rosa nod her head.
“Oh my god, no wonder your posture is so shitty, I just thought you leaned forward a lot,” I say, disturbed.
“What!? I don’t lean forward, I am not a loser.” Stella proudly points at herself.
“You are,” Rosa says with a smile plastered across her face.
“Woooooow. Why are you calling me out like that?” Stella huffs.
“Because you need to stand up straight, tonta, I’m not gonna pop your back all the time.”
Stella tssks. “Fake friend, alert.”
“Fake friend, huh? I’ll show you ‘fake friend’.” Rosa scoots her chair closer to Stella and puts her in a headlock.
“Stop, you guys. I don’t want to get in trouble again.” I put my hand on Rosa and lightly push her off Stella.
“Fine,” Rosa lets go and leans in her chair. “I’ll get you Thursday night.” She crosses her arms.
“Oh yeah, you’ll lose as you would have right now.” Stella points her finger at Rosa.
Rosa pushes Stella’s finger down and smirks. “I’d like to see you try.” Rosa and Stella stare each other down, but I break the stare by tossing my pencil, hitting Stella.
“Can you two stop. I’m trying to finish my work. Also Thursday? Why Thursday?” I look at them exhausted of their shit.
“Oh, Thursday is when Rosa or me go over to each other's house and…” Stella puts a finger on her chin. “I think I’m going over.” She turns to Rosa. “Right?”
Rosa looks up and closes her right eye. “Uhhh… No, I think I’m coming over this week.”
“Really? Dang, my alzheimer’s is getting to me.” Stella puts her head in her hands.
“Ay, ya ves, te dije que te duermes más, ponte las pilas, Stella.” Rosa scolds Stella, which, honestly, having them around me is somewhat helping me understand Spanish, but I still have no clue what she said.
Stella sticks her tongue out. “A mí no me importa.” Her saying that makes Rosa shake her head.
“Ay, Stella.”
“Anyways.” Stella turns to me. “You wanna come over Thursday? I can show you what your future holds~.” She sings that last part, but Rosa cuts it short.
“Stella, I told you.” She coldly stares at her, and her voice gets serious. “No more tarot.”
“Awwww come on, Rosa.” Stella whines and exaggeratedly tosses her hands at her. “Just because you were told that your future is bad, that doesn't mean Lucy’s is.”
Oooo, I turn to Rosa. “Did it really tell your future?”
Rosa inhales and exhales deeply, then looks at me with a somber look on her face. “Yeah.”
“You can always change your fate, you just have to know how.” Stella chimes in.
Making Rosa Tssk “Ay, si. You can’t really change fate, Stella. People say that to make themselves feel better about the shit they get.”
“Oh, come on, Rosa, don’t be so pessimistic.”
“Then don’t be so optimistic, Stella.”
“Ok.” I take their attention and get back on topic. “Sounds fun. The going over in Thursday, I don’t know about the fortune telling.”
“That’s great! I’ll send you my location and text me if you can come over.”
“Yeah, having more people would make the hangout way better,” Rosa says with a smile.
“Who else did you invite?” I ask, leaning forward.
“No one else, it’s just been me and Rosa for a while. Actually, we did have someone one time, but their Mom said we were a bad influence.” Stella scratches her chin, then puts her head back in her hand.
“Who?”
Rosa speaks up first. “It was that girl, uh… Sage? Right?” She looks at Stella.
“Yup, and after her Mom said we were bad influences, they moved.”
Sage? That name sounds familiar. “How did they look?”
“Uh… Short, micro raptor, beige-colored.” Stella is filling the gaps, but I still don’t remember.
“I’ll be honest, Stella, I forgot about her,” Rosa says with not a hint of regret in her voice.
“A lot of people have. Weird, but makes sense. She was doing her best to be invisible.”
Sounds like Anon. I giggle to myself a bit, thinking about that.
“Didn’t something happen? Like…” Rosa hmms and thinks, then snaps her finger. “Right, she was bullied really badly, that's why they moved.”
Wait… I remember me and Trish leaving something in someone's locker, I think it was… it was something spoiled and smelled like shit. It smelled so bad that Spears made an announcement that they’ll find who did it, but they never did… oh shit, that was Sage. That’s who I saw through Spears window crying. I was a fucking asshole last year, oh my god.
“Fang.” I look up at Stella. “You ok?”
“Yeah.” I take a deep breath and exhale. “Just thinking.”
Stella tilts her head. “Of?” Shit, I am not ready.
“Uhh… Just thinking of Anon.”
“How has Anon been?” Relief goes through my body when Stella takes the bait.
“He’s been fine, just doing school work he missed.”
“Oh, that’s great. Talking to him would be nice.” Rosa claps her hand.
“Not today. Thursdays, yeah.” I lean in my chair.
“Why not today?” Stella asks.
“Me and Anon are hanging out with Reed and Trish, tomorrow too, and we’re gonna go over to Reed’s house.”
“Oh.” Stella's confusion turns into a sad frown.
“Come on, Stella, Lucy is coming Thursday, and by the sounds of it, she’s gonna talk to us all day Thursday,” Rosa says as she puts her head on the table.
“Oh yeah, you're right.” Stella puts her hands on her head. “Eto bleh.”
“Pffft. Get the fuck out of here with that cringy shit.” I giggle, which makes Rosa and Stella giggle.
…
I walk into class and see Trish’s and Reed’s chairs empty. I look around, but I don’t see them. So I just shrug, sit in my chair, and scroll on my phone.
“What’s up, Lu?” Reed walks in, eyes narrowed and a noticeable tint of red.
“Nothin’ much, you?”
“Nah, not much, just came back from the bathroom.” He slurs ‘bathroom’. “Where’s Trish?” he looks around before sitting down.
“I have no clue,” I say as I melt into my chair. “Probably in the bathroom too.”
“Makes sense.” Reed follows my example and looks up at the ceiling. “... I’m sorry Lu.”
It takes me a minute to process what he said. “What?” I look at him.
He has a pained look on his face. “I’m sorry.” He licks his lip while looking at the floor, considering what to say next. “For how I was acting.”
I look around a little, somewhat uncomfortable with his seriousness. “It’s… Fine Reed.”
He looks at me, his eyes wet either from him being high or he’s about to start crying. “Really?” His voice is weak and soft.
Where the fuck is this coming from? “Yeah.”
He sniffles. “Thanks.”
“It’s fine, dude. Don’t worry about the past.” Hypocrite. I take a deep breath and push that thought away. “Uh. So now what?”
Reed shrugs. “Guess we just wait for Trish.”
As if right on cue, Trish walks in. She waves her hand at us. We wave back. “What’s up?”
“Nothin’ much,” Reed replies, his head leaning on the chair's backrest.
“Yeah.” I lazily agree with him.
“Yeah, I feel the same way.” Trish sits in her chair. “Nothing… Noticeable? Yeah noticeable is happing today.”
Reed sis up straight and points at Trish and me. “You wanna know why?” Me and Trish look at him. “It’s because we’re waiting for tomorrow that’s why.”
“Makes sense, honestly, I can’t think of anything but Tomorrow.” Trish nods her head.
“Me too. And yeah, nothing noticeable is happening today.” I cross my arms.
“But it’s a good thing. Cause it makes the wait better.” Reed leans in his chair and looks at us.
I shake my head a bit. “Mmm. Not really. I had the same thing happen before, and honestly, the waiting made it worse.”
“Mmm. yeah that’s happened to me too.” Trish moves around in her chair.
“I mean, yeah, but like we’re gonna make the wait worth it, cause we’re gonna make it the best hangout ever.” Reed leans forward in his chair.
“What? Are we gonna get high as hell and jam out?” Trish jokingly says.
“Shit, maybe. If you’re willing to get high.” Reed smugly smiles after saying that.
“Nah, I don’t feel like getting high, and I doubt Anon would want to,” I say as I put my head on my head.
Reed shrugs his shoulders. “Alright. What about you, Trish?”
“Hell no.”
Reed puckers his lips and nods. “Aigh.”
“Sorry, Reed,” I say in a fake apologetic tone.
“Nah, it’s fine, just means more for me.”
“Yeah, but don’t take too much, I don’t want to deal with a retard on drums drooling everywhere.” Trish points her finger at him.
Reed raises his hands in surrender and smiles. “No promises.”
Trish gives Reed a cold look. “Yeah, well, make it into a promise.”
“Fine, fine.” He Tssks. “You guys were cool, what happened?” Reed smugly smiles as Trish whips her head back at him.
Trish takes a deep breath and exhales loudly. “Fuck you.” Reed starts laughing loudly, and I start laughing too. Trish smiles and laughs with us. “Fuck you, dude.”
“Hey,” he raises his hands. “Don’t shoot the jester.”
“I fucking wanna drown you instead,” Trish smirks.
I miss this. I really missed this.
“I’ll survive it.” Reed leans in his chair.
“No, you won't, you fucking idiot.” Trish leans forward and points a finger at him.
“He’d probably survive it cause there isn't any air in his brain already.” I chuckle a bit, saying that.
“Mmmm, you right.” Trish strokes her chin.
“Damn right, Lu’s right.” Reed slams his fist on the table, which makes everyone look at us.
“Settle down.” The teacher says from his table, which makes everyone go back to whatever they were doing.
Reed hunches his back as he looks around while Trish is staring daggers at him. “Oops,” Reed shrugs his shoulders.
Trish leans over towards him and bonks him over the head. “You fucking idiot.”
“My bad, jeez.” Reed rubs his head.
I put my hand on my mouth to stop myself from busting out laughing. Trish looks at me and smiles. “God, I want this day to be over already.”
“Patience is key,” Reed replies.
“That’s so fucking stupid.”
“Mmh. Not really.”
Trish goes limp in her chair. “Auuugggghhh.”
“Look where not being patient got you.”
Trish looks away from us, then closes her eyes and exhales. “Still fucking stupid.”
…
Classes pass by like… Fuck I don’t have a good anagram. But yeah, the three other classes pass by, and I’m happily walking, Tray in hand, up to some delicious food and putting it in my tray.
After filling my tray up with an inappropriate amount of meat, I look and see Reed and Trish sitting at a table, already their trays in front of them. Trish sees me and waves me down. I walk over and take my seat in front of Trish. “So is Anon eating with us?”
I use my plastic fork and pick up a big piece of sirloin and start chewing on it as I nod.
“Nice, can I get a piece?” Reed reaches over with his plastic fork and tries to take one of my dino nuggets, but I stop him by parrying him with my fork.
“Mine.” I snarl at him.
“Damn, honestly, I should have expected it,” Reed said in defeat.
Trish takes a bite of her salad. “Yeah, dude, you always try it and Lucy always does the same thing. She learned your patterns like… what’s that game where you die a lot?”
I open my mouth, but someone else answers. “That’s pretty much every souls-like game.” I turn around, and I’m not that surprised because of the voice. It’s Anon. He sets his tray down next to me and sits down.
Trish snaps her finger at him. “Yup.” Then she grows a smug smile. “I knew your ass would know.”
Anon takes a bite of his food. “What do you mean?”
Trish points her fork at him. “I’m not surprised a loser knows about loser games.”
Reed puts a finger on his chin. “Doesn’t one of your sisters play those games?”
Trish whips her head at Reed and starts punching his shoulders. “You fucking bastard.”
Anon starts laughing, and hearing him laugh again makes my heart flutter. I stare at his face and see every muscle in his face as he smiles, then he turns to me, and I see his hazel eyes. His mouth opens, but I’m too busy looking at his face to hear. “-has a sister.”
“Hm?”
He leans closer, “I didn’t know Trish has a sister.”
“Oh yeah, she has like… Three sisters and two brothers?” I look at Trish to confirm, and she nods, then goes back to hitting Reed.
Anon’s eyes widen. “Damn. That's a lot.”
“Yeah, Trish has to take care of them because her mom is busy working.”
Anon scratches his head and looks at Trish, then back to me. “What about Reed?”
I stab a piece of meat with my fork. “He has an older brother, but he’s in college.” I put the piece of meat in my mouth and start chewing it.
“I thought Reed was an only child.”
“Nope.” I gulp the chewed-up meat.
“Man… I had no clue.”
I was about to say ‘Really?” But I caught myself and remembered, Anon knows nothing about Trish and Reed.
Huh, maybe going over to Reed’s isn’t a bad thing. Anon gets to learn more about Reed and Trish, and Reed and Trish get to learn more about Anon.
… Wait, does Anon have any siblings?
I look at Anon. “Do you have a brother or sister?”
“Me? No, I’m a only child.”
Trish looks up from her plate. “So, you got more attention from your Mom and Dad.” She states. Reed stops rubbing his shoulder and looks at Anon, too.
“Uh…” Anon picks up his soda can. “No, not really.” He says it in such a somber tone as he puts the soda on his lips. Hearing him say that makes my heart hurt.
Trish starts fidgeting with her fork. “Oh, my bad.”
Anon shrugs. “Eh, it’s nothing.” He takes a bite of his food. “Who isn’t dealing with family shit.” We all nod. “Exactly.”
“Everyone’s got their problems.” Reed takes a sip of his milk.
“Well, duh, Reed thats like being a person,” Trish says with her mouthful. “You have to be a huge ass narcissist to not know that.”
Reed tilts his head a bit. “Hmm. Maybe, but I know some people who are narcissists who didn’t know that.”
“I mean, come on, that’s like pretty narcissistic, like do they think that their problems are the only thing?” Trish points all five of her fingers at him.
“They probably think that people already have their shit together.”
Trish smacks her lips. “Maybe. That's fair, but I’m talking about the people who think that their problems are the only thing that matters.”
Reed looks down at the table and puts his hand on his mouth. “Maybe?”
Trish turns her whole body towards Reed. “What? That’s like the definition of narcissism.” She turns to me. “Right?”
I look around and try to think. “Uhh… I dunno,” Trish’s head and hand move, telling me to continue talking. “It does sound… really narcissistic. You aren’t really considering people's emotions and what they are going through, but it sounds like an empathy thing cause isn’t narcissism, like just caring about yourself and thinking you're better than people or something.”
“Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Isn’t narcissism named after a guy who looked at himself a lot?” Trish jumps up and down in her seat while pointing at me.
“Yeah, it was named after a Greek guy who fell into a river while looking at his own reflection.” Reed chimes in.
“Then I think, it’s just an empathy thing, what I was talking about.” Trish scratches her forehead. “It started with an A… Ampathy?”
“Apathy,” Reed says.
Trish points her finger at him. “Yea, yea, yea. Apathy.”
I turn to Anon and see him just eating, plus he looks like he’s thinking about something, so I don’t bother him.
“Nice catch, Lucy.” Trish smiles at me. “But yeah, apathy, isn’t apathy and narcissism the same?”
I look up at the ceiling and think about it. “Hmm. I don’t think so?”
Reed tilts his head, and I see him and hear him bouncing his right leg. Then he lifts his hand and says. “Ehh.” His hand follows his words.
Trish shakes her head and sighs. “I don’t know either.”
…
I stretch in the passenger seat and look back to see Anon staring out the window.
“So how was class?” Naser says, catching mine and Anon’s attention.
“Boring.” I slump into the seat.
“Yeah,” Anon says as I hear him shuffling in his seat.
“Really? Hm. It wasn’t too boring for me.” Naser taps his finger against the steering wheel.
“You are the student council president. And you are,” I look him up and down to push my point. “You, so I don’t doubt anything boring would be fun for you.” I smugly smile at him.
“Wow, screw you too.” Naser jabs me with his elbow, hitting my funny bone, making me giggle in pain a bit.
“You dick.”
“You started it.” We get closer to the house, and Naser leans closer to the window and points. “Is that… Uncle Moe’s car?”
I look, and sure enough, I see Uncle Moe’s car parked in our driveway. “Oh shit, it is.” I turn to Anon. “Anon. You remember Uncle Moe, right?”
Anon rubs his bald head. “Uhh… Oh yeah, I remember.” He leans to the window behind me. “That is the most Italian mobster car I’ve ever seen.” He mutters, making me giggle a bit.
Naser parks the ‘Nascar’. That’s still a stupid fucking name for the car. And we hop out and quickly run to the door, except for Anon, who is walking.
Naser opens the door, and we rush to Uncle Moe. “Aaaaaayyyyyy, Naser, Lucy, how’ve you been?”
I hug Uncle Moe. “I’m ok, how about you?” I release Uncle Moe.
“Never been better.” Naser walks up to Uncle Moe. “Naser, you’re getting bigger every time I see you.” He stands up and measures his height. “Woooah, you’re gonna get as big as your dad.” Uncle Moe brings Naser into a hug. “How’ve you been?”
“I’ve been great.”
“That’s great to hear.” Uncle Moe breaks the hug and sees Anon. “Anon, how are you?”
“I’m ok.”
“Oh, come on, say it with your chest,” Uncle Moe says, exaggerating his point with his hands. Making a smile grow on Anon’s face.
“I’m ok,” Anon says louder.
“That’s what I like to hear.” Uncle Moe walks towards Anon, but before he can hug him, I see him put his hand on Anon’s face and tilt his head. The light makes the scar easier to see. Uncle Moe lifts his hand from Anon’s face, and his voice shifts from cheerful to serious. “Who did this?”
“It was an accident.” Anon tries to explain, but Uncle Moe puts up a hand.
“Just tell me who did it.”
Anon stays quiet, and he’s very still
“You don’t have to be afraid, just tell me.”
I gulp the saliva in my mouth, and everything starts feeling hot. My heart starts beating and beating. I turn to Naser, who is just as still as Anon.
“Ok, Dinner is ready.” Mom walks in and places something on the table. “If you wa-” I look at Mom, and she is looking at all of us. “What’s going on?”
“Sam, can you come over here, please?”
Mom walks over. “Yes?”
“What happened to Anon?”
“Oh, Lucy accidentally scratched Anon.”
“Really?”
Mom nods. “Hmh.”
Uncle Moe takes a deep breath and exhales loudly. “Well, why didn’tcha say so, kid?” He grabs Anon’s shoulders. “Had me worried.”
“Sorry, I just didn’t know how to say it,” Anon says.
“That’s reasonable. Alright, let's go eat.”
Mom smiles and claps her hands as we walk to the table and sit.
“So how was school?” Uncle Moe passes the plates.
“It was ok.”
“Boring.”
“Pretty boring.”
“Hehehe, Yeah, I feel ya’s, never was much of an education person. But you all need yours’.” Uncle Moe starts scooping some spaghetti into his plate. “So Lucy, are you still with Trish and… who is that pink raptor?”
“Reed.” I put some spaghetti on my plate.
“Yeah.” Uncle Moe’s tone changes. “You know, my friend said he saw Reed smoking. A cigarette, I would understand, I mean, who didn’t smoke when they were kids.” Uncle Moe laughs as he nudges Mom. “But uh. No It wasn’t a cigarette.” He puts his fork down. “Lucy, I would appreciate you not being around him, Ya know. He’s a bad influence.”
“Uncle Moe, He’s a friend, he’s not a bad influence.”
He looks over to Mom, who already knew cause I told her, but Mom wasn’t worried. “Sam, you know?”
“She told me a few years ago, Moe,” Mom says as she grabs the garlic bread.
“So you knew this kid who was what? Fifteen? Forteen? He was smoking carfe and you didn’t tell his parents?”
“Moe, it would be… hypocritical of me to tell his parents.”
“Not really, you know better now.”
Mom takes a deep breath as she looks around. “Look, His family isn’t… A family.”
“Then why didn’tcha help him? Invited him over, let him stay here a while?”
“I tried Moe, but he always said no.”
Uncle Moe sighs and looks down at the table. “Alright, I’m sorry, Lucy, I was too quick to judge, I should have known better.”
“It’s fine, Uncle Moe.”
“How about Trish? How’s Trish?”
“She’s fine.”
“Still taking care of her Brothers and Sisters?”
“Yeah, she says they're a handful.”
“I use to say the same thing about my Brothers and Sisters.” Uncle Moe takes a deep breath, looks at his spaghetti, and starts softly nodding. “I love them, even tho they annoy the hell out of me. I still love them. That Trish, she’s strong.”
“Yeah.”
“You know.” Uncle Moe shuffles in his chair, pulling out his phone. “I’m having a barbecue tomorrow, if you all ain’t too busy, you’re all invited.”
Mom smiles. “That sounds great, Moe.”
Naser nods. “Yeah, I'll go.”
Everyone else looks at me. “Uh… sorry, Uncle Moe, Me and Anon are going over to someone's house after school tomorrow.”
“That's fine, what about Thursday? Thursday, we all can get something to eat.”
“I’m gonna be at someone else’s house tomorrow, sorry.”
“Ah, look at you,” Uncle Moe smiles. “New friends?” I nod. “Do I know them?”
“It’s Rosa and Stella.”
“Wait…” Uncle Moe closes his eyes. “Is Rosa that Rexican girl whose ma goes to church and makes those delicious burritos?”
“Yeah.”
“She’s a good kid, but I don’t know who Stella is.”
“She’s a green stego.” I take a bite of the tasty spaghetti.
“Mmm… I don’t know, I’m gonna have to see her to remember. But anyways I'm glad you’re making new friends.”
Uncle Moe turns his attention to Naser and starts they talk about how school is and Naomi, all that.
Time passes, and our plates are empty, our stomachs are full. Anon is still quiet. Naser goes to the kitchen to help Mom wash the dishes, as Uncle Moe gets up and puts on his hat.
“Lucy, come over here, I wanna talk to you quickly.”
I look at Anon, and he still looks like he’s thinking about something, which is so fucking weird, but I get up and walk towards Uncle Moe, who went outside.
“What do you want to talk about, Uncle Moe?” I walk next to him and see his face; he looks uneasy.
He takes a deep breath and sighs as he looks around. “You know, Lucy, me and your Dad and Mom talk a lot.” He turns to me. “They told me something happened, something bad, and it changed you.” He looks me in the eyes. “Ripley told me that you started ripping your feathers. His voice was shaky, and it sounded like he was crying, Lucy.” I look at his shoes. “Lucy… If you wanna talk, You call me no matter the time. You can come over anytime, just call.” He pats my head and ruffles my hair. “I care for you, Lucy. I just hope you care about yourself.”
Uncle Moe fishes for his keys in his pockets as he walks towards his car, but before he opens the door, he looks at me, softly smiles, and waves.