Being forced to move so many states away from all that he once knew, Nessa was nervous to tackle his new life. Fortunately, it didn't take long for Nessa to meet a plethora of unique individuals who welcomed him into their lives:
The optimist, the k...
There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that passed between the two haunted boys. Venice, with a flower crown pushing his black hair over his eyes. Nessa, with a newfound wonder in his starlit irises after everything that he had learned about the boy sat beside him. The agreement was to stay like that for the rest of the day.
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He felt his temper slipping from his grip for the first time in a long time. It wasn't the usual level of anger that he had trained himself to handle after years of pent up frustrations, it was the worse kind. The kind that made his fingertips twitch with anticipation, and his teeth dig painfully into his cheek as to keep him from acting upon it.
It wasn't fair of him, he knew that. Ilya had every right to flirt with Ian the way that he was. Ian had every right to return the favor the way that he seemed to. Kiwi had been hoping that it would end with Mythology, but his luck had only been tested. Without Nessa and Venice to take their places, and Emi and Keely sitting in bizarre silence, it made it easy for Ilya to invite Ian to sit with them during lunch too.
Kiwi liked Ian, just as he liked all of his friends. But he did not like the way that he was slowly growing more and more comfortable with what words he and Ilya exchanged. Kiwi had been secretly hoping that Emi would say something rude enough for Ian to leave. Instead, she only acknowledged him with a spare glance before returning her gaze to her phone.
Having no confirmation as to why she was being so docile, Kiwi wished that they were as close as they used to be. Back when it was their first few years of being teenagers — when they conquered the world as a King and Queen. She cut his hair when he was fourteen, and took him to a thrift store to buy him all of the masculine clothing that they could find. One time he had invited her over, and she stole all of his old dresses only to burn them in a garbage bin a few days later.
There were boys before Ian that had meant nothing to her, then the era where she fell for Ian and finally met her match, followed by the devastation that came after. Kiwi loved Emi like a sister, and he never doubted for a moment that she returned the sentiment. Something was wrong with her and Keely, which Kiwi noticed weeks ago when they first had a fight. But it was more peculiar now than it had been then, and all he could do was hope that she would tell him what was going on in due time.
Maybe that was part of his anger, the fact that his best friend was clearly going through something and she had yet to tell him about it. Or maybe it was the fact that he even had to go through the motion of cutting his hair and burning his dresses. Or maybe it was a result of the way that Ilya so proudly flirted with anyone, not even realizing that there was someone pinging over him right in front of his face.
But in that moment, Kiwi knew that it was none of those options that left him in such a sour mood. It was the argument he had with his mother before going off to school.
"Aunt Kathy invited us to your cousin Cynthia's birthday party. She's turning seven." His mom had started saying as she was in the middle of buttoning Lily's jacket. Vicki and Deane perked up from their spot on the couch.
