No one said anything for a few moments.
She moved on with her story, stammering out of anxiety, "Th-then my parents found some of my new girl stuff the therapy group kids had helped me get, they thought I was gay, which technically they're not wrong but in the other direction, I don't like boys. I had to get out of the house for a bit. Now I'm here. I uh, understand if you don't want to be friends anymore-"
"Oh, no that's fine!" Chase exclaimed, "Can I call you Jules now?"
She nodded meekly.
"We don't Jules," Chase grinned, "We love you."
"Ah," she wheezed, and wiped the tear forming at the corner of her eyes. "I was so scared, I know there's not too many other LGBT kids at our school I didn't know what you were going to say."
"You'd be surprised." I looked over at Rosie.
She grinned and held up my hand, the string looping over our hands and tying the two of us together. Juliet's eyes widened, and she laughed.
"Oh wow!" She gasped, "Congratulations."
"Thank you!" I said.
"Not to take away from everyone's moment but I'm also gay," Ramon added.
"Really?" Juliet blinked in happy confusion as Ramon held open his arms to hug her.
"I knew it!" Chase blurted out, cackling, "I called it, I called it so hard, Johnny tell them how I called it."
We turned to look at Johnny who had shrunken back and had not gotten up to hug Juliet like the rest of us had. He had shrunken in on himself. His shoulders were raised like the hackles of a dog, and he was brought his knees up on the chair he was sitting on and rocked slightly as tears ran down his face on messy waterfalls. The rest of us went silent.
"I'm sorry," he winced, soaking in our stares, "I'm sorry I'm such a screw up, I wish I could be as cool about it as you guys. I wish I could accept it that easy, but I just don't... I don't know how!"
"Johnny." Chase frowned, "don't be a jerk."
"It's okay," Juliet watched Johnny carefully, "Not everyone is going to like it, I was prepared for this."
"Wait a second, Johnny what do you mean?" Ramon asked.
Johnny wiped his face angrily, "I... I... I've had... thoughts... feelings. About boys."
"Oh," Chase blinked. "Yeah?"
"Stop acting all cool about it! It's not cool! I hate it, I hate how I feel ostracized from the group and I don't want to feel those things because they make me a freak. Sure, it's fine for you guys, but my parents would kick me out if they found out another one of their kids was ruined. I have to like girls. I know I like girls. I'm not gay."
Ramon waddled over to him and gently out his hand over the other boy's, "It's okay."
Johnny yanked his hand away but stayed quiet, furiously wiping his face off of he cried harder and harder. Juliet tapped her fingers together then sat down on the bed next to him.
"Johnny... it really is okay." She promised. "I know how you feel. It's okay to feels those things... straight isn't the default, it's okay."
"Yeah, plus you can like both," I added. "That's very much a thing."
He still seemed unsure. "I don't know."
Juliet patted his knee gently, "Sometimes it takes time to come to terms and accept it. Just know that anything your parents have said to you is wrong and you're not a mistake, you're not wrong or broken. You're natural, you're you. Most importantly you're loved. That's what this is all about, love."
We gathered around him. Ramon's hand gently landed back on Johnny's and he didn't move away. There was something about the way Johnny glanced up at him out of the corner of his eye, something had changed there. We surrounded and were there for one another, because at point we weren't just friends, we were here for each other, building each other up, we were a family.
"When I came out my mom wasn't thrilled either," Rosie added, "but we talked about it, and over time she became more and more accepting. It might take time, but your parents will get over it. In the meantime, you have us."
"My parents just found out and they're still iffy about it," Juliet chimed in. "I'm going to come out at school too, and it's going to be hard but I know with you guys it'll be okay."
"My parents took it well," I said. "Because they love me, and if your parents love you they will accept you."
"You're loved," Juliet insisted.
"More than you know," Ramon said quietly.
"We're all going to be okay," Chase wrapped her arms around us.
Then it turned into one big group hug and Johnny actually smiled.
"Okay... okay." Was all he said.
"Hey Johnny," Ramon pointed at the ground.
There was a red string wrapped around his pinky finger.
Johnny's eyes widened. "Oh my God."
He stared at it, fixated for a few moments. It wound its way all over the room, impossible to pick out where it started and ended. It even appeared to disappear under the door frame. I glanced up at Ramon, who winked at me and held his hand behind his back.
"See? There's someone out there for you." Ramon went on, lips parting into a delicate smile.
Johnny looked up him and they held that stare for an almost unnatural amount of time, communicating silently as the string slowly faded away again. Johnny was okay again, possibly better then he'd ever been before.
"Sorry for freaking out," he said after a while. "Juliet, I want to say I don't care either I still want to be friends with you. I don't think you're bad. If I mess up on your pronouns feel free to whack me over the head or squirt me with cold water or anything."
Juliet grinned, "It's okay, I'll remind you."
"Alright fam, how are we all doing? Are we okay?" Chase asked.
The question was a loaded one, directed at every single kid in the room. She was asking how we were doing, but it was also a message telling us this was a safe place. We could say anything and Chase would personally hunt down our enemies. She was asking if we were friends again. She was asking what happened from now on.
"I think so," I answered. "You want to leave?"
"Yep, I'm ready to go back now." Juliet gave us a two-thumbs up.
We helped her pack up her things when I got the chance to elbow Ramon playfully.
"Are you going to tell him?" I asked.
Ramon shrugged, "He'll find out when he's ready, which won't be very long at this rate." The thought seemed to make him smile. "Can I tell you something?"
"Of course."
"I only rode with him here because he had invited me to stay over yesterday as a second apology. He... he opened up to me again Gwen, he let me hold him while he talked about his problems. I got to be there for him again, this time in person which felt..." He sucked in a breath. "It was amazing."
I couldn't but smile, "Sounds like both of you're are really working things out."
"You bet," he grinned, this was the happiest I'd ever seen him.
I was so full of joy. That was definitely the word. It filled me up like liquid gold and bubbled every time I laugh. I had so many reasons to laugh. I loved my friends, the fact that we were all together again was the best feeling, like I had sunflowers growing on my hands and feet and fuzzy bees flying around my head. It felt like I was the sun and flying through the universe at 43,000 miles per hour with not a single thought of stopping. This was my family, I loved them.