My Very Bestest Mer-Friend.

"Magic."

The second I walked outta that hellhole, her grades started slipping faster than she ever thought possible. From Straight A's to solid D's, an F, maybe C's and B's occasionally, Mom and Dad immediately noticed and interrogated her.

At first, it didn't work, her holding out that it was a little gap from missing her brother so much and not being able to focus from worry, but her time came to crack like an egg, and she spilled.

"L." I told her. She was not amused, and she made it very clear with the barrage of punches she threw at me.

Still, I couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Our parents never exactly qualified for a "Most Chill" award or anything of the sort.
The best thing they had was fucking the night they fought hard enough to traumatize Godzilla. That was the best way of making up they knew! I'm serious! Nothing but that. No talking, no acting like adults, nope. Just fucking.

But this only happened when Drista was a little kid, definitely way too young to realize what was happening, so I would take her out to the backyard with the camping gear and I'd tell her to make shapes with the stars or to tell me what she thought they looked like.

Those were good times. But back to what happened. They were naturally furious that she had managed to lie to them for so long and made her get an after-school tutor which she did not appreciate. That was where she met that Chad guy.
He also needed a tutor and had managed to bribe the guy who was supposed to help them to shut up for the entire lesson. He just played things on his phone and got paid for it. Sort of like a streamer, but I guess without the viewers.

Chad and Drista struck up conversations, which led to ditching, which led to hanging out in the park, which led to creepy(she called them "original") dates, which led to meeting up at not-as-safe-as-one-might-want places, which is where I always like to paint/leave hints.

This is where things tend to get a little . . . well, for lack of a better word, "Bad."

Now BEFORE all this, I had decided my work could have a better use than just something to brighten up gloomy areas, and I started leaving hints to money (as I'm sure Wilbur filled you in on). One of these little treasure hunts had gotten a good family out of hard times, they had used the money to start up their little business, which grew into a huge business, and they were offering up a huge reward to anyone who brought XD in, and the person that did.

Chad, who had decided that he hadn't been getting enough attention recently, decided to PRETEND HE WAS ME. Well, XD, but you get the point.

Naturally, this didn't hold up very long. Mainly because I don't think he even knew how to write his name, much less draw the way I do.

Yeah, what happened was they tried to get him to paint in front of a bunch of newscasters and people for whatever reason, and he made some bull excuse about stage fright, and how he doesn't like knowing that someones watching his "process" or whatever. But since then, people kinda figured it out after someone walked in on me making my latest creation while Chad was in an interview. Even though it was never really addressed officially, he doesn't pull all that "I'm XD yOu kNoW!" bullshit anymore.

But even after all this, Drista only ever dumped his ass after she saw him acting really flirty with one of her friends, wait for it

. . .

Ari.

Yep, Tooooootal shocker. From there, she only ever had to deal with him trying to get her back. It was pathetic really.

He was yelling "Drista! I can't live without you! Come back to me! Drista!" at our house the other day, and I think he's off his medicine, or he just escaped from the darkest corner of hell.
Not that I can verify that, he's always off doing god-knows-what.