"Davey, will you hold still?" Jack was sitting across a table from Davey with a newly acquired set of face paints. The two of them, along with Crutchie, Sarah, and Katherine were in Maine's living room getting ready to go to the pride parade. Sarah would be taking Jack, Katherine, and Davey in her car while Crutchie would ride with Maine and her family.
"He'll stop turning his head if you get the mirror out of his view," Sarah laughed, "switch seats so his back is to the mirror,"
"No, I'm almost done," Jack added the final stripe to the gay pride flag he was painting on Davey's face, "there you go,"
"Wow," Davey stood up and got closer to the mirror so he could get a better look at it, "I have literally never seen this flag before today, I like the color scheme,"
"Great, now I need to paint the bisexual pride flag on my face," Jack brought the pink, purple, and blue face paint over to the mirror.
"Do you want someone else to do it?" Crutchie offered.
"No, I can do it," Jack promised.
"When you're all done getting ready, I want to get a picture of all of you," Molly entered the living room, "you all look great... Where's Maine?"
"I think she's in her room doing something with Laurence Chompington," Crutchie shrugged.
"That I was," Maine came out of her room holding her Venus flytrap in the flower pot, she had colored an ally flag on a small piece of paper and taped it to the flower pot, "look how cute,"
"I will never understand her attachment to the plant," Jack was focused on his face paint.
"Are you planning on carrying Larry around ALL DAY," Crutchie asked.
"Yeah, unless someone else wants to," Maine smiled.
"I'll carry him for a bit," Crutchie offered.
"Is everyone ready?" Alicia grabbed her purse off the kitchen counter, "Ellie-Bean, are you coming?"
"Yeah," Ella jogged into the front room, "I was just tying my shoes,"
"Okay, I'm done, how does it look?" Jack put the face paints away.
"Great," Molly gave him a thumbs-up, "now, everyone go outside so I can take your picture,"
"Everyone pose with your arm around your significant other, or in Crutchie and Maine's case, best friend," Alicia instructed once everyone was outside.
"What about me, Mommy?" Ella asked.
"You... hm..." Alicia thought for a moment, "you can stand in front of Maine and Crutchie, and you can hold Larry because you're both Allies,"
"Okay," Ella agreed.
"Okay, everyone smile," Molly held up her phone and took a few pictures, "great, let's go,"
"I'm excited," Jack smiled, "I've never been to a pride parade before,"
"I am... sad for you," Katherine shook her head, "you're seventeen, right?"
"Yeah," Jack shrugged, "but you can't have been much younger when you went to your first pride parade,"
"Fair enough," Katherine chuckled, "you think we'll see Darcy and Bill and the others?"
"I don't see why we wouldn't," Sarah had trouble finding a place to park, but that just gave Crutchie time to make his way over to where they ended up parking.
"Okay, Jack and Davey, important tip for you," he started, "we all know there are people who aren't going to agree with who we are,"
"We know THAT first hand," Jack rolled his eyes, "do you remember this past school year at all?"
"Well, yeah, I just want you to emotionally prepare yourselves in case that kind of person decides to show up and be mean," Crutchie nodded, "cool?"
"Yeah," Davey agreed, "we can handle it,"
As it turned out, a Venus flytrap could be a real conversation starter. At least four people asked about Laurence Chompington in the first fifteen minutes, and Maine would just respond with a laugh, "He's easier to care for than a dog," and that was a good enough explanation for everyone.
"OH HY GOODNESS!" Katherine suddenly exclaimed, "Vivian? Sky?"
"Katherine! Sarah! It's so good to see you!" Vivian ran and hugged her friends.
"It's been way too long since we saw you," Katherine smiled, "you both look like you're doing well,"
Vivian had clearly gotten a haircut, but she still wore the headband that gave her that signature Vivian look. Sky was now wearing glasses, and following close behind him was someone Katherine hadn't noticed before.
"You're Vivian's little brother, right?" Katherine crouched down so she was at eye-level with the 11-year-old.
"Um, sister," Vivian corrected her, "Silvey,"
"Oh, my bad," Katherine apologized.
"It's no problem," Silvey shrugged.
"Silvey, you're worse than Sky. Yes, it is a problem. People need to respect your proper name and pronouns," Vivian scoffed.
"She said she was sorry," Silvey defended.
"Okay, yeah, I'm being a little protective," Vivian admitted.
"Sky!" Maine and her family had caught up with Katherine and Sarah, and as one might expect, Maine was beyond thrilled to see Sky.
"Hey! How was cheer this year?" Sky high-fived Maine.
"Other than the little while I wasn't cheer captain, it was great," Maine shrugged. Conversation continued from there, but no one seemed to notice that Ella and Silvey had made eye contact and were starting a shy conversation.
"I like your shirt," Silvey smiled.
"Thanks, I like your shoes," Ella replied.
"Thanks,"
Several seconds of silence followed, then Ella broke the silence to introduce herself.
"I'm Ella, what's your name?"
"Silvey,"
"That's a pretty name,"
"Thanks, I chose it myself,"
"Oh, that's cool," Ella nodded.
"How old are you?" Silvey asked.
"Nine," Ella shrugged, "how about you?"
"Eleven," Silvey chuckled, "so I'm going to be in middle school,"
"Wow," Ella nodded, "I've got a couple years before I'll be in middle school,"
"What are you two chatting about?" Maine cut in.
"Nothing," Ella stepped backwards slightly, "we're just introducing ourselves,"
"That's nice, carry on," Maine nodded, "but we to keep walking,"
"Sorry about her," Ella joked, "she's my step-sister,"
Silvey laughed, "Sisters can be fun, and annoying sometimes, but mostly fun,"
"Yeah," Ella agreed, "I mean if it weren't for Maine, I never would have learned to do gymnastics,"
"Gymnastics, that's fascinating," Silvey nodded, "I've never been able to do anything requiring... ANY physical strength, I'm more into the academic side of things, learning, reading, I could spit facts at you all day,"
"Ooh, cool," Ella giggled, "facts like what?"
"Well... homosexuality can be found in over 1500 animal species," Silvey shrugged, "seems like an appropriate one for a pride parade,"
"Oh, yeah, I've heard about all kinds of homosexual animal couples, dolphins, birds, bats, and penguins count as birds but I think they deserve a separate mention because they are so cute," Ella expressed.
"You like penguins? Well did you know that a group of penguins in water is called a raft, but a group of penguins on land is called a waddle?" Silvey was very proud of her vast knowledge of penguin facts, she never suspected it would happen to come in handy. It impressed Ella, anyways.
Meanwhile, Jack and Davey had found themselves far away from their group, which was far more troubling to Davey than it was to Jack.
"Calm down, we'll group back up with them when we get back to the car," Jack tried to calm his boyfriend down.
"I'm not sure if you knew this about me, but getting lost in New York is on the bottom of the list of things I ever wanted to do," Davey rolled his eyes.
"We're not lost, we still have each other, it's not like the time you got lost in the woods behind Alicia's cabin," Jack pointed out, taking Davey's hand to make sure he didn't lose him.
"Yeah, yeah I guess that's true," Davey mellowed out slightly.
"Can we stop and appreciate the fact that we're here?" Jack looked around at all the bright colored flags and smiling faces, "I mean until we have equal rights, this is FUN. I would LOVE to paint this,"
"I see you're an artist bisexual," someone passing had overheard them.
"Oh, definitely," Jack chuckled, "I mean, I'm an artist and I'm bisexual, so yeah,"
"Awesome, have a great day," the person continued on their way.
"So is artist bisexual a thing?" Davey questioned.
"Yeah, I guess there's a whole subspecies of bisexuals who enjoy art," Jack shrugged, "pretty cool,"
"Subspecies?" Davey laughed.
"What else do you want me to call it?" Jack rolled his eyes.
"Well what about me? Do I fit any 'subspecies' of gay?" Davey joked.
"I don't know," Jack admitted, "to me you're just Davey, the greatest guy in the world,"
"World high or THE WORLD?" Davey only asked this to be difficult.
"Yes," Jack scoffed, "both, all of the above. Hey, can I do something I've been wanting to do since... I don't know, seventh grade?"
"Depends, what is it?" Davey questioned.
Jack threw his arms around Davey in a tight, loving hug.
"Aw, that is very sweet, Jack," Davey hugged back.
"You are the perfect height for hugging," Jack smiled.
"Why?" Davey chuckled.
"Well," Jack started, "you're just the right height that I can put my head on your shoulder,"
"Right," Davey nodded.
"Hello, love birds," a familiar face, actually, two familiar faces approached them.
"Romeo, Specs, hi," Jack waved.
"Are you here alone? Where's Crutchie?" Specs asked.
"We kinda... accidentally got separated," Davey admitted.
"Accidentally?" Romeo raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, very much accidentally," Jack insisted.
"Oh, because we ditched Elmer and Buttons and a few others," Romeo laughed.
"Correction, sir, you ditched them, I only followed you so you wouldn't be lost alone," Specs seemed to hear himself as he said it, "which is exactly what you intended, isn't it?"
"You know it," Romeo smirked.
"ROMAN MATTHEWS!" Specs exclaimed, "We rode here with Elmer! We need to find the others or we aren't going to have a ride home,"
"Okay, sheesh, you don't need to full-name me," Romeo rolled his eyes.
"Your name is Roman?" Davey had no idea how he didn't know this at this point.
"Yeah, but NEVER EVER call me that," Romeo warned.
"I wasn't planning on it," Davey didn't want to be on the bad side of any of the newsies.
"Good, the only person with my real name pass is Specs," Romeo pointed to Specs.
"I don't even call him that very often," Specs clarified, "Romeo has a much better ring to it,"
"Well, you two have a good day," Romeo nodded, "I suppose Specs and I probably should go find Buttons and Elmer,"
At the end of the day when everyone was getting back to the cars, Davey and Jack met back up with the others their party and they exchanged stories about what happened that day.
"Ella was talking to Vivian's little sister, Silvey, and it was super cute. Silvey knew all of these cool facts and Ella was super interested," Maine informed them, "right, Ella?"
"Yeah," Ella nodded, "Silvey is really cool, she knew a lot of facts about penguins,"
"You two got along really well," Maine pointed out.
"Uh-huh. To bad she's in middle school and I won't be able to see her at school," Ella shrugged.
"We ran into Specs and Romeo," Davey chuckled, "so that was interesting,"
"Someone walking by overheard me saying I wanted to paint a picture of everyone with their pride flags, so they asked me if I'm an art bisexual," Jack added.
"Which you SO ARE," Katherine nodded, "I'm so glad you two had fun at your first pride parade,"
"Hey, Maine," Ella asked once everyone was in the car, "the next time you're going to hang out with Sky, can I come and can Sky bring Silvey?"
"You two sure got along, didn't you?" Maine chuckled, "sure, we can set something up,"
"And on an unrelated note, mommy, what did you say it was called when someone can be attracted to anyone, regardless of gender?" Ella continued.
"Pansexual, why?" Alicia replied, "do you think you could be pansexual, or panromantic?"
"No, I'm nine, I'm too young to be thinking about romance," Ella laughed, "just wondering,"
"Sure, you're too young to be thinking about dating anyone, but you're not to young to have a crush, or multiple crushes," Molly pointed out.
"I don't," Ella insisted, "I was just wondering,"
***
"Ooh, Vivian, come look, Oreo thins are on sale," Sky was at the store with Vivian and Silvey, they were supposed to be getting peanut butter and chocolate chips to make cookies, but Sky was getting distracted in the Oreo section.
"Oreo thins?" Silvey ran over, she had started wearing her tiara for the same reason Vivian wore her headband, it kept her hair out of her face and made her feel more confident, "those are my favorite,"
"Ah, a girl with taste, I see," Sky nodded.
"I only know that because I stole some of yours," Silvey admitted.
"THAT explains why I ran out quicker than usual," Sky shook his head, "but seriously, don't do that. If you want Oreos, I'll buy you Oreos. But those were MINE,"
"I'm sorry," Silvey frowned.
"It's okay, now that you know, you can get your own," Sky ruffled Silvey's hair.
"Not today, you two," Vivian crossed her arms, "we're supposed to be getting ingredients so Nana can MAKE cookiesssss..." her voice trailed off, her eye was caught by something, or rather, someONE behind Sky, someone she hoped she'd never see again.
"Well isn't someone looking nice and grown up," Ms. Neema crossed her arms.
Vivian was silent in fear, she almost wasn't even breathing.
"So how old are you now? Nineteen?" Ms. Neema raised an eyebrow, "Vivian Call,"
"Why do you know who she is?" Sky asked accusingly, but when he noticed Silvey cowering behind him, he knew who this must be, "YOU! You evil witch! Stay away from them!"
"You shouldn't speak to adults that way, boy," Ms. Neema warned, "and I'm not the evil one, the evil one is whoever let that little boy dress like a little girl," she pointed to Silvey.
"She's not a boy," Sky put his hand on Silvey's shoulder.
"Of course he is, I guess you're the criminal mind, then," Ms. Neema rolled her eyes.
"Sky," Silvey whispered, "don't let her hurt Viv and I,"
"I won't," Sky promised, he put on a brave face and once again confronted Ms. Neema, "you have no right to speak to them that way, why couldn't you just mind your own business?"
"You don't get to tell me my rights," Ms. Neema wasn't fazed at all by Sky, "and I think I know more about this child than you do, after all, I did raise him," she reached out and snatched Silvey's tiara.
"Hey-" was all Silvey could manage before freezing with horror.
"Give it back NOW," Sky demanded, he could hear Vivian breathing, finally, but it was a pattern of scary breaths.
"Won't anyone ever realize that boys are boys and girls are girls?" Ms. Neema snapped the tiara in half and dropped the pieces on the ground, warranting a loud gasp from both Sky and Silvey. "Oh, grow up, it was an eight dollar tiara, and if you think about it, I did Clayton a favor,"
That was Vivian's last straw, "HER NAME IS SILVEY!" she roared, "I DON'T KNOW WHO THE #%&$ YOU THINK YOU ARE, BUT WE AREN'T IN YOUR CARE, IF YOU CAN EVEN CALL IT THAT, ANYMORE, YOU CANNOT JUST SEE US IN PUBLIC AND TREAT US LIKE YOU DID WHEN WE WERE CHILDREN, NOW LEAVE US BE!"
This really scared everyone in the aisle, Ms. Neema seemed to finally get the picture and left, several bystanders were staring in shock, Sky and Silvey had never heard Vivian yell like that, let alone curse, and even Vivian was shocked at her own outburst, "you two can get your Oreos, but we need to pay and leave," she turned on her heel and took her groceries to the check out line.
Sky and Silvey were no longer interested in Oreo Thins, Silvey picked up the halves of her broken tiara and stood in silence.
"It's okay, Silvey, I bet Papa can fix it," Sky tried to be reassuring.
"No, I'm... probably too old for it, anyways," Silvey shrugged, "what eleven-year-old wears a tiara, anyways?"
"Oh okay," Sky nodded, "I'll take it and throw it out on our way out,"
Silvey hesitantly handed the pieces to Sky. Sky put the pieces in his hoodie pocket. They met up with Vivian again, and as they left the store, Sky dropped something in the trash can by the door. But it wasn't the tiara pieces, it was a few poptart wrappers and popsicle sticks.
"I'm sorry for my outburst," Vivian sighed.
"Oh, no, it's okay, she didn't apologize," Silvey chuckled, "I hope you got rid of her for good,"
When they got home, Sky immediately went and knocked on Jeffery's office door.
"What can I help you with?" Jeffery asked.
"We had a run-in with... uh... Silvey and Vivian's old guardian, and she kinda..." Sky took the halves of Silvey's tiara out of his pocket.
"Oh dear," Jeffery expressed, "well, I can have that fixed and better than ever in a jiffy,"
"Thanks, Silvey will be so happy," Sky smiled, "just, don't tell her until you're done,"
"Got it," Jeffery took the broken tiara and closed his office door. Sky went to the kitchen and saw Gemma comforting Vivian and Silvey.
"I can't believe I said what I did," Vivian shook her head.
"You said what you had to, sweetheart," Gemma assured her, "you were sticking up for Silvey, you were just being a good big sister,"
"But I shouted- no, screamed at someone older than me," Vivian sighed, "not to mention my language,"
"Okay, in normal circumstances that would be a bad thing, but it was all you could have done," Gemma pointed out, "I don't think Ms. Neema will be stepping ANYWHERE near you again. Now, who's ready to make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies?"
"I am," Silvey smiled, "let's do it,"
"Silvey, where's your tiara?" Gemma asked.
"Ms. Neema broke it so I threw it away," Silvey shrugged, "I think I'm too old for it, anyways,"
"Oh, well if that's how you feel," Gemma nodded.
They all had a lot of fun making the cookies, it really brought their day back together after their run-in with Ms. Neema.
"I think I'm starting to regret throwing my tiara away," Silvey admitted.
"I figured you'd say that eventually," Sky chuckled.
"I guess the choice was made and I have to live with it," Silvey sighed.
"I never threw the tiara away," Sky smirked, "I had Papa fix it,"
"You did?" Silvey blinked.
"I told you, I knew you'd regret it if I threw it away," Sky repeated.
"Aw, Sky, you're so sweet," Vivian kissed Sky.
"I do what I can," Sky shrugged.
Jeffery stayed in his office until late in the evening, everyone was left wondering why it was taking him so long to glue two pieces of a tiara together. But when he entered Silvey's room as she was getting into bed, the reveal made everything make sense.
"I thought you might like your tiara to have... a little color," He held out the tiara, and it didn't even look like the same tiara anymore, each one of the little plastic white crystals had been replaced by a colored one, and they formed a vivid rainbow.
"Oh my gosh," Silvey gasped, "I love it! Thank you so much!" she hugged Jeffery, "it's so pretty!"
"I'm glad you like it," Jeffery smiled and set the tiara on Silvey's nightstand, "sweet dreams, little lady,"