Formerly known as We The Young / Vera, a singer held back by her size, and Ashton, a songwriter looking to stop failing himself, team up to achieve their dreams by forming the greatest rock band of our time.
***
Vera has always dreamt of being a sin...
"And we'll do this as best as we can, better than your parents if possible." Mother Superior stood in front of the Winters boys. She patted both of their heads with difficulty, since they were a lot taller. The boys had to bend their knees to accommodate the gesture. "Definitely better than your father, who only seems to know how to brandish his money around."
Sister Louisa raised her chin. "Mr. Winters made a donation to the school in order to, quote, take care of the bad influences in his sons lives, unquote."
We all looked at each other, unable to believe what we were hearing.
My voice was a few octaves higher when I asked, "Me?"
"And probably me, too," Quinn said with a growl in his voice. "He's made sure I know my presence is never welcome."
Ashton said something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like a curse, but it got drowned in the commotion.
"Wow, and people think I'm bad," Madison said.
Addy shook her head, so stupefied she couldn't utter a word. Link spoke for all of us when he asked, "Is this for real? Isn't that blackmailing?"
Mother Superior beamed a smile so bright that it left us silent. "It would be, if we had accepted it and fulfilled that purpose."
"Wait," I said. "I don't get it."
The older woman stood in front of me, pleased as punch. "What we need is for you kids to develop your own moral compass and understand that just because someone is an adult doesn't mean they'll always be right. So, Vera, tell me. What do you think would be the responsible thing to do tonight, in light of all of these events?"
I flapped my mouth open and closed a few times.
She gave me a little hint. "Mr. Winters said, to take care of the bad influences. How can we turn them into good influences?"
From the corner of my eye I could see everybody looking at me. I swallowed and gave it a thought.
"Um, we could try to not sneak out of school after curfew?"
"That's a start." Mother Superior nodded. "What else?"
"Um, do our homework, follow the code of conduct, I don't know..."
"What about the money?"
I snapped my mouth shut because I'd just been about to say stuff it up his ass? And then I thought of something better. Something that man would probably hate. This may get me in hot waters with two nuns from the Catholic church, but I still said it.
"How about we donate the money to an orphanage?"
After all, in different ways that was how all of us felt. Parentless.
"It sounds like just the perfect thing to do," she said. "As your punishment for tonight's shenanigans I want you all to write a letter for the recipients on behalf of our school. Show everybody that love is what this world needs."
I was pretty sure that I looked like a cartoon with my jaw hanging a few inches off the floor. This had been entirely different from any outcome I'd have expected.
Sister Louisa smiled her Mona Lisa smile and ruined the moment for me. "It goes without saying that we'll be watching all of you with special interest from now on, especially with the recital we have coming up a couple of days before Thanksgiving where you'll be representing our school. And no weekend passes for a month. You're all dismissed, back to your dorms at once."
We all groaned as we began filing out of the chapel.
"And Ayrton?" Mother Superior asked, and we all stopped to hear what she was going to say. "It might be hard, since you're behind on the curriculum, but we still have room for you if you're ready to come back."
The boy stood there, blinking at her.
"I thought being gay was a capital sin in the eyes of the Church, or something," he said finally.
Mother Superior shocked us all by saying, "Some people believe so, but if you ask me the biggest sin is to leave you adrift."
SONG OF THE DAY: Disturbed - Just Stop
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i just loved writing this chapter. the Mother Superior kicks ass. and cool story, but she's a fictional mix of the kickass nuns from my school as a kid 😊
on a different topic, this chapter's song was hardcore an inspiration for the first (extremely sucky), iteration of this story circa 2009. nostalgia~
