The bus stopped at a small stretch of local businesses in the somewhat dismal city of Clarksville, about an hour away from the school.
"So this is were you live," Miren admired, taking in the environment. "It's humble."
"Not everyone who goes to St. Rosemunde is drowning in dollars," Chara informed her, bringing her maroon backpack to her shoulders.
"I know," Miren agreed. She definitely wasn't. Maybe that's why it sucked so badly. Money wasn't evil. But the stuck-up students of St. Rosemunde were.
In contrast to the dull town, the sky was gleaming. However, Miren felt a chill trail down her back. Why does the rest of the universe get to be happy?
"My house is only a short walk from here," Chara said. "Whatcha wanna do now?"
"Die," Miren mumbled. It would be the easier option. Now that they were out on the main streets, she was beginning to rethink her decision to come here.
"What?" Chara piped after a while, running her fingers through her long jet-black hair.
Miren shook her head. "Nothing." But they had to do something. She turned to the girl. "What do you suggest we do?"
Chara's lips puckered as if Miren's words left a funny taste her mouth. "I don't know. I guess I'm just along for the ride."
Miren sighed again. Maybe she shouldn't have enlisted in the help of a sophomore. Or people in general.
Chara's face fell; she didn't mean to offend her. "Sorry, I say stupid things when I'm hungry." She rubbed her flat belly. "I had to skip lunch to finish my English paper."
"What did I tell you about procrastinating—" Miren stopped herself, an idea clicking. She hadn't eaten either. "Why don't we sit down at a restaurant and talk about this? Your pick." There she was, giving power again to an underclassman.
Chara nodded, accepting her challenge. She put her index finger to her cheek, contemplating this not so difficult decision. "Okay, I choose..." she spun around childishly, as if she were selecting a Pokémon. "There!" She stopped in place, pointing at a building a block over.
"There?"
"There."
Miren opened her mouth to object, before shrugging her shoulders passively. "Sure, let's go to Rockin' Robby's Retro Diner." There was a bit of enmity in her tone. "I was going for somewhere a bit more subdued."
"What? It's fun," Chara offered, motioning to the red, neon lights. "And Starbucks isn't a restaurant."
"I'm not feeling very fun." Miren said, however, starting in the direction of the restaurant. "And you know I can't afford Starbucks."
**
Orders were placed and the two sat across from each other in a booth. Old music records, girls in poodle-skirts, and famous entertainment icons from a past generation gave the walls character. A polished jukebox stood in the corner, playing Elvis music on a loop. The classic black and white checkered floor, soft pink, teal, red decor, and flashy neon signs gave the diner a dated, but somehow refreshing feel.
Chara tapped her fingers against the wooden table. Miren stared ahead, her eyes unnaturally still against a promotional poster for Grease.
"Reach any conclusions?" Chara asked, growing a bit uninterested with the whole ordeal. This run away thing wasn't as fun as it seemed before. And Rockin' Robby's Retro Diner wasn't as rocking as it sounded. She blew out the lackluster air, feeling it slide off her lips.
"Nope," Miren replied. Her eyes didn't move. "I'm sorry if you're bored."
"Don't worry about it," she dismissed, playing with a saltshaker. "If you feel stuck, why don't you just evaluate your options?"
"Because I have none."
Chara looked a bit taken back. "Okay, Gloomy Gilda, be that way. But it isn't going to help anything."
Miren sucked the bitter air with a hiss through her teeth. This situation couldn't be helped. She was beginning to reevaluate the death option.
"Let's see," Miren started, "I can't go back. I don't know where to go. Let alone what school will accept me with that YouTube video out there...and I can't drop out of school, either."
"Sure you can." It was the waitress. She set their meals down on the table. She had vibrant, child-like eyes that contrasted against her near middle-aged face. "My brother has a PhD and he's poorer than me. Actually, we're looking for jobs here." She smiled a crooked, yellow smile.
Miren gave a forced, half grin. "I'll consider it."
The waitress nodded, "The name's Faye. Just holler." She offered them silverware. "Enjoy your meals."
When she was out of sight, Miren's face returned to a frown. It felt natural.
Chara bit off a fry before slathering ketchup over them. "You know, you could just—" Her eyes fell to her friend's meal. "Wait. You got coffee and a salad?"
Miren raised her eyebrows. She was hoping the bitter taste of coffee would burn away the urge to cry. As for the salad...she just liked salad.
She took of her glasses, becoming part of the haziness that was her life. "Yes? Is that a problem?"
Chara smiled. "Wow, you really are a buzz kill."
"Just eat what you ordered from the kid's menu," Miren said, using her fork to stab her lettuce.
"Hey! She gave it to me," Chara defended. "Everyone always thinks I'm ten."
"Aww, how adorable," Miren commented, with fake enthusiasm on her tone. "Is the short Japanese girl upset?"
"I'm five-five," Chara said. "And yes, I am. I'm beautiful. Not cute." She flashed her a dimpled smile. Miren rolled her eyes.
They ate in silence. But halfway through her burger combo, something was eating at Chara. She looked a Miren.
"I know this whole thing is little rash—and I don't mind—but why don't you just..."
"Just what?" Miren took a sip of her coffee. It didn't help.
Chara was tapping her fingers against the table again. "...go home?"
"Go home?" Miren repeated. Chara nodded.
Laughing. Miren let out a hearty laugh. It was genuine, and perhaps the first time she had done so in a while. She recovered soon after the uproar started, which did little to reassure her friend that her sanity was in check.
"I don't have a home," she then said, her tone serious. "I'm an emancipated minor."
Chara's eyes widened. "Seriously? How?"
Miren shook her head. It was messy. "I used to live with my shitty aunt in Massachusetts. But I got a scholarship to go to the same middle school with Penelope. I actually lived with her family for two years. And then last year I was emancipated. And because I've been enrolled in boarding school, it hasn't been a problem. In fact, that's why the whole process went through."
Chara nodded. "So what you are saying is that you have to be enrolled in a boarding school."
Miren's eyes met Chara's before she shook her head in approval. "I suppose so."
"You do realize that the nearest one is in New York?" she said, almost in a flustered yell. "And private or public school, those NY kids are rough."
"That's aside the point." Miren wrinkled her nose. "Even if I transfer, I don't know if I could get a scholarship. I doubt I have enough money to last more than three month." She sighed. To call her hopeless wouldn't do justice.
"Fuck—" The ringing of a cellphone cut her off.
Chara brought the sky blue device out of her pocket, swiftly placing it to her ear. "Hello?" she said, politely. A smile crept on her face. "Oh hey, Wallaby!"
Miren's eyes narrowed. Wallaby was her boyfriend. Thus affirming that everyone was dating but her.
Chara playfully coiled her hair. "I'm doing great. How are you sweetie?
Miren cringed. Barf. She fought the urge to plug her ears to drone the noise.
It's not like she had a problem with the boy—Wallace Harisson. She technically didn't have a reason to. It was just his name. Harisson. He was the younger brother of the boy she was still deciding if she could possibly love. Especially when Parker took Penelope's word, and Penelope in general over her. Miren shook her head. But personal grudges aside, he was a good kid, and she was glad Chara was with him.
"You won first place at the Johnson-Simmons Robotic and Computer Engineering Competition? That's wonderful!"
Miren narrowed her eyes again. Of course he won the competition. To say that he was a genius was an understatement. Why he wasn't in college or a doctor or something was completely beyond her. Instead, Wallace—or Wallaby, as Chara adored calling him—was a junior at Rinzen. He had even skipped a grade and was an essential force behind the school's advanced technological programs.
Miren finished her coffee as Chara concluded her call.
"Anyway, great job. We have to celebrate!" She was beaming. "I love you too, Wallaby-baby."
Miren couldn't help but laugh. Chara put down her phone, fighting off a blush.
"What? I can't say that I love my boyfriend?" she asked, still flushed. Miren continued laughing.
"No. You can say whatever you want."
Chara looked away, her red face directed toward a framed poster of James Dean.
Still laughing, Miren forced herself to stop after a while. Nothing like young love and all of its silliness to brighten her up. Now if only laughter could fix her problems...
"Sorry about that," Miren said, adjusting her glasses. "Sounds like he's doing well." Unlike me, she though to add. But she felt that she'd delved far enough in her own pity for one day.
Chara nodded. "Yeah, sometimes I wonder if high school's too elementary for him."
The upperclassman lifted her shoulders. "I'd rather have it easy."
Chara nodded, before a smile then crept on her mouth, her naturally up-turned lips rising even higher. "But if it makes you feel better, Wallace doesn't like Penelope."
Miren's eyes widened. Chara nodded, pressing on. "He despises her."
"Really?" Miren said. I guess I like him more that I thought.
"He finds her manipulative and aggressive. But of course Parker is too oblivious to realize this." A frown then fell on her face. "But somehow she still forces him to do her homework." She lowered her head. Sadly, she couldn't protect her boyfriend against the evil forces of Penelope.
Chara shook her head. "In any case, he's very happy there. And that's all that matters."
Miren nodded, cracking a smile. "Almost makes me wish I went there."
Chara started giggling. However, her eyes widened almost immediately, as if she was stricken by an idea bigger than the two of them. Her hands slammed down on the table, startling the elderly couple seated a table over. But she didn't care. This was revolutionary.
"That's it!" she cheered, as if she had discovered gold in a coalmine.
Miren's eyebrows rose. "What is?" Chara was now staring at her. Examining her.
"Chara?"
"Hmm..." the smaller girl was lost in her own twisted thought. "...You'll have to cut your hair, definitely."
Chara's eyes then fell to her friend's moderately large bust. "We'll have to conceal those," she stated, mumbling to herself now. "Somehow."
Miren's eyes then met Chara's gave on her chest. She blinked. "Uh, Chara? What are you looking at?" She cocked her jaw in mild irritation before resetting it in place. She was sick of playing games. The silly girl should have known better.
Scratching her head uneasily, Miren could feel her annoyance swell like a water balloon. She inhaled, the air filling her with even more vexation. And with an exhale, the balloon exploded.
Miren slammed her hand down on the table, ignoring the pain splintering her nerves. "Look. Just tell me what's wrong," she said, trying to control her breathing. Trying to wonder why she was so bothered in the first place. Oh, yes, because hidden, despicable intentions were why she was here in the first place. "What the hell are you doing?"
Chara would have slapped her own forehead in response to Miren's bitter ignorance, but she was too ecstatic to be fazed by her shallow threats. She was too ecstatic in general.
"Don't you get it?"
Miren began to shake her head slowly.
"Rinzen!"
A staring battle raged between the two of them. Then Miren caught on.
"No. No." She shook her head rapidly. So much that she became dizzy. "Hell no! That's not even possible...I can't go to an all boys school."
Miren frowned. Of all of Chara's crazy conclusions...Like that drinking ginger ale upside down before a math test helped her memorize trig functions better, or that laughing made life better. Well, she wasn't laughing. This wasn't amusing.
"Of course you can!" Chara argued, cutting through the fog that was Miren's reasonable doubt. "We'll just cut your hair and pack up your rack," she explained, as if this were something logical, like two plus two equaling four. "And oh! Wally can probably forge your records. You'll be enrolled in no time! With a scholarship too! We'll call you Mark—"
"No." Miren wove her hand up in rejection. She wanted to tell her that this was perhaps the dumbest, most self-destructive plan she had ever heard of. But she knew better than to insult her only true friend.
"That's just not going to work. And Mark? No."
Chara placed her hands on her waist, as she persisted. "Fine. How about John? Sam? Donovan?"
Miren's face spoiled. "The last thing I ever want to discuss is my male name."
"Then discuss something!" Chara exclaimed in a flustered yell. Some heads turned to their table, but her eyes burned against Miren. "We've been sitting here for an hour and I'm just trying to help. And it honestly doesn't sound like a bad option, considering you don't want to go back to St. Roz's, which is your only other real option."
Miren pursed her lips. She's right, she thought before shaking her head. "But you're making it sound like this is reasonable. I'm a girl. It's all boys' school. I'm not trans. Even if I agreed to do it, whose going to let me?"
"Who says anyone has to know?"
Miren's eyebrows rose. A damsel in disguise. She pouted. It always seemed like she was running. Only now she was running toward her ultimate doom.
"C'mon..." Chara persisted, wiggling her legs under the table like an impatient child. As if this would be fun. "What's the worse that could happen?"
"How about a lot?" Even if Miren could execute this, what good would come of it? It would be as much trouble as it was foolish. She crossed her arms, staring at the table. She didn't have a terrible life, but sometimes she wondered why her biggest issue of the day couldn't be that Daddy bought her a new BMW in frost white rather than arctic white like 95% of her classmates. Instead, she was debating—and a very small part of her considering—going to an all boys school.
"And it's not like you can go to public school. If you do, you're just going to explode. Simple as that."
Miren couldn't help but grin at her comment.
Chara's own smile intensified, as she felt like she was finally gaining her friend's interest. "Boys don't cause drama," she said. "C'mon, it sounds like fun! It'll be just like She's the Man!"
Miren groaned. "Take this a little bit more seriously, would you?" After all, the movie ended with the girl being caught, or exposing her self, or dying—she couldn't remember. For this to work, Miren couldn't chance anything. The experience might be interesting. But it definitely wouldn't be fun.
It would be St. Rosemunde all over again. But I guess anything is better than there, she then decided, swallowing the bittersweet air around them. She definitely didn't see her day turning out like this. She also never saw herself agreeing to such an absurd proposal so fast. But as calm and reasonable she liked to come across, she knew that she was desperate. And she couldn't think of anything else less painful.
"Rinzen it is," Miren then said, trying to shake off the uncertainty in her tone. "That is, if you're sure Wallace can make the whole operation go through."
Chara nodded rapidly with a huge smile on her face. Miren sighed. She had no idea why she was so eager for her to do this. Chara logic was troubling. But useful.
"Thank you, Chara." Miren said.
"You're very welcome," Chara said, jumping to her feet. "Let's go! We have a ton of work to do."
Miren stood up, placing a tip on the table before her friend dragged her out the door.
She tried not to think too hard about what the rest of her life would entail.
Rinzen.
She's the Man.
**
Empty dorm room. Empty locker. A self-expulsion letter wedged between Headmistress Castro's office door. But it wasn't the principal's problem. It was someone else's.
"Dammit!" Artemis uttered. She stood her ground, her angered amber eyes scanning around the environment. But it was empty. Empty and hopeless like the person she was trying to find.
Trudging behind her, Penelope came into view.
"What are we doing out here?" she questioned, wiping a bead of sweat from her glistening forehead. Her cast was the culprit of her over exertion of energy. "She's not here. No one is. Because it's the weekend. Now let's go." She pulled on the girl's arm. But Artemis didn't budge.
Penelope huffed, causing her bangs to dance upwards. "I mean, hello, I'm horribly injured," she said, outlining her damaged form. "She left. What are we supposed to do about it?"
Artemis whirled in her direction on her heals, the intent to kill evident on her face. She opened her mouth to cuss her out, but her phone vibrated instead. With a sigh, she took it out of her skirt pocket and answered.
"Hello?" she said, far more nicely than she was feeling. Her eyes narrowed at Penelope as the conversation progressed.
"No, Headmistress Castro...I failed to keep a watchful eye on Miren...Yes, I apologize that St. Rosemunde has lost one of its most promising students," her glare singed Penelope's body. "No, I am not proud that my ignorance has shamed the school...Good bye." She clenched the phone in her hand.
"What was that?" Penelope said mockingly. "If the headmistress upset you, I can make her get an earful from my mom. Better yet, fired! They were actually in the same graduating class. Best friends. That's why she didn't have the guts to punish me..." Penelope smiled, applying some lip-gloss. Artemis shook her head.
"You don't get it, do you?
Penelope rolled her eyes, continuing with her vanity efforts. Artemis snatched the tube from her.
"I don't like what you do or how you get away with it." She folded her arms. She wasn't sure if she liked Penelope anymore either. "And now I'm getting reprimanded for it."
Penelope did look slightly taken back. But knowing her, it was probably because Artemis took her lipstick away. Parker loved that shade on her. "Sorry?"
"Apology not accepted! And besides, I'm not who you should be apologizing to—"
"Why does everyone give a flying crap about Miren all of a sudden?" She snapped. She had been getting away for it for almost three years now. Why the intervention? "I'm the victim. Can no one see that?"
"Maybe at some point in time," Artemis considered. "But you don't get it, and I thought you knew better."
Penelope snarled. "Then just tell me."
Artemis shook her head. "Sadly, you're not worth it." She started off, on a mission to find someone who didn't want to be found.
"Tell me," Penelope called after her.
"You really want to know?"
"Yeah."
Artemis exhaled, studying the girl before her. "You're a bully. And I have no tolerance for that."
Penelope looked appalled. "No I'm not. I'm merely asserting my dominance as the better person."
Artemis nodded. "Of course," she said, humoring her friend. "Just like all the other kids asserted their dominance all over me in elementary and junior high school."
Penelope's eyes widened. "S-sorry. I had no idea."
Artemis' eyes burned ahead, against the science building several feet away. "I wasn't born here, you know. I left Egypt when I was seven, and was constantly bullied for my accent and my awkwardness. I was even attacked by a group of kids because he felt 'my people' were responsible for 9-11. Soren was the only one who ever supported me. And I attempted to ignore what you did to Miren here only because I didn't want my reputation to be in shambles here too.
"But though talking to her and actually getting to know her in orchestra, I tried to see why. Why you bothered her. Is she even a threat to you? Don't you have everything?"
"You don't know the full story..."
"And I don't need to know it," Artemis said, turning away from her. "All I know is that I hate bullies."
Penelope looked at her, hurt showing on her face. "Do you hate me?"
Artemis didn't respond.
Air dispelled out of Penelope's nose in a puff. "Fine, just go and take Miren's side. At least I have Parker," she said. "And she'll never have him."
Artemis gasped before slapping her.
A boy? This fight was because of a boy? When Penelope had him? When Penelope, now that Miren was gone, officially had everything?
Penelope rubbed her stinging cheek, wincing. "I probably deserve that."
"You are pathetically shallow, you know that?" Artemis said, venom coursing through her words. "Don't wait up."
Artemis charged ahead, feeling as determined as ever. She thought Miren had actually done something wrong in this whole ordeal. That maybe she was responsible for The Incident. She didn't know that Penelope was just rotten to the core.
It was settled; she had to find Miren. Maybe it would mean thwarting her own reputation, but so be it. It was her punishment for laughing with the face of evil for so long.