TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of self harm, racism, and homophobia.
Hope's POV
"Okay, so here's what happened. Jah had a crazy fucking girlfriend. She'd always yell at him for no reason at fucking all, get pissed if he wasn't always with her, and she fucking hated me. She's a jealous bitch who thought I was gonna get with Jah, despite that I told her I was a whole ass lesbian countless of times."
"Well, as I said, she was fucking crazy. One day, she beat herself up or something, I don't even know, and made her have bruises all over her body and shit. Then she went to the police and told them that Jah was fucking abusing her!"
"So they took him to court, found him guilty, and sent him to jail for a year. But they fucking knew that Jah didn't lay a finger on her, that judge was just racist as shit. I went to visit Jah as soon as I could and told him I would bail him out, but he's stubborn and wouldn't fucking let me."
"I begged him to let me bail him, but he 'didn't want me spending that much money on him' even though he knows money isn't a fucking issue for me." She sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I didn't really need to say the last bit, but you get the point. Jah isn't a bad guy, promise. He just had a shitty fucking girlfriend."
I stood there, in shock of what she had told me. How could somebody be that cruel? She literally inflicted pain onto herself, just to send Jah to jail and for what? Jah is an angel and I doubt he even did anything wrong to her.
"Wow... how could someone even think to do that?" Was all I managed to say.
"I don't even know." She looked down at one of the four watches she was wearing. "Well, I've gotta get home. Finneas is probably about to call me since I didn't tell him that I'd be out. I'll see you tomorrow, baby." She smiled.
"Yeah, I should get home too. See ya, Bil."
-
I put my math textbook in my locker and zipped up my book bag, slinging it over one my shoulders afterwards. I shut my locker and almost screamed as I saw someone standing there, looking at me.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" The girl apologized quickly.
"I-it's alright. Umm, sorry do I know you?" I questioned. The girl looked similar enough, but I couldn't place a name.
"Well, not exactly. You know my sister though. My twin sister." She explained.
I raised my eyebrow. "And your sister is who now?"
"Jay Gray. You know, the one you fought on Halloween."
"I thought you looked familiar! So, what exactly are you wanting from me..." I trailed off, realizing I didn't even know her name.
"Jaelyn. I don't want anything from you. I just wanted to thank you." She rocked on her heals.
"Excuse me, what exactly are you thanking me for?" I asked, confused.
"For beating the shit out of Jay. She's a total bitch and she deserved it. So, yeah, thank you doing that. I would've done it a long time ago if I wouldn't have got grounded for hurting everybody's favorite little twin."
I let out a little laugh. "You're welcome, I guess? I've only talked to her a total of, like, five times, but she's been a bitch all five of those times. You know, you seem pretty cool, and from what I can already tell, you seem to be the better twin." I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and started walking down the hallway. It was time for lunch, and all the seniors had the same lunch wave, so I knew this was where she needed to go.
"It's totally up to you, but if you'd like to sit with me and friends at lunch, then I'd be more than happy to let you."
"A-are you sure? Like I don't want to bother you or anything." She said, shyly.
I chuckled. "I'm positive, dude! You honestly seem pretty chill to hang with and I'd be honored to have you sit with us!"
"Well, thank you. Seriously."
"No problem!" We walked into the cafeteria and walked to the short line to get our food.
"I want to warn you about Jay. She wants you and she always gets what she wants, so just be careful. She won't shut the fuck about you. But she can't seem to make up her mind; she's either talking about how much she wants to 'get revenge on you' or how much she wishes you was her's."
I laughed a little. "I appreciate your concern, really, but I can handle her. Seriously, don't worry about me." I sent her a smile, grabbed a bbq chicken sandwich, and placed it on my tray. She just nodded her head and grabbed some food, putting it on her own tray.
I went over and put my lunch number into the little machine, paying for my food. Jaelyn did the same and followed me as I showed her the way to my table.
"Yo, wanna know what Jay's actual name is?"
"Yeah."
She snickered. "Jayleen!"
I burst into a small fit of laughter. "This bitch is really named Jayleen? Fuck!"
Me and Jaelyn managed to calm down before sitting down at my table. I sat beside Billie, who instantly smiled at me, and Jaelyn sat on the other side of me.
"Hey, baby." Billie greeted.
"Hello. Guys, this is Jaelyn!" I gestured towards her as I said this. They all greeted her and introduced themselves. She uttered a simple hey to them.
"You look familiar. Do I know you?" Devvy asked, squinting his eyes at her.
"No, but I'm sure you know my sister, Jay." She said. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself.
"So, how's everybody?" I asked, looking around at everyone at the table. The amount of people sitting here seemed to grow larger everyday. I sure as hell didn't mind though.
"Pretty good, actually. I reconnected with some old friends." Jah smiled.
I smiled as well. "I'm glad to here that!"
"Yeah, I'm pretty good too. But bitchy Brown fucking gave my class, and my class only, by the way, a fucking pop quiz today and I'm ninety-nine percent positive I failed the damn thing." He groaned.
Lexi started laughing. "Yeah, because she fucking hates your class! First block did this, first block did that. She absolutely despises your class!"
"Well damn, I don't know why! I sit there and mind my own God damn business!" He grumbled.
I laughed as I turned my attention to Billie. Jaelyn and Dev were already deep into some conversation, which made me happy.
"What about you? How are you?" I asked her.
She rested her forehead on my shoulder and groaned. "Nervous. Scared. Just... I don't know."
"What's wrong?" I asked, a frown making its way to my face.
"There's something weighing me down but I just..." She trailed off.
I rubbed her arm comfortingly. "Hey, it's gonna be alright. You know you can tell me anything, right?"
"But I can't tell you, that's the thing! I don't wanna... never mind. Just forget I even said anything."
My frown grew even larger as she pulled her head off my shoulder and laid it in her arms on the table. I decided not to press her on it, even though I desperately wanted to know what was wrong.
I joined in on Jaelyn and Devon's conversation. "So what are we talking about?"
Both of their faces turned red and they started stuttering, trying to say something. I laughed at the two, both as flustered as they could be.
I heard the bell ring and groaned. I waved goodbye to everyone after we threw our leftovers away and put our trays up. I stood beside Billie and smiled as she interlaced our fingers.
We walked to fourth block and walked in once we got there. We sat in our usual seats and I groaned as the group of girls in front of us started 'whispering' among themselves. They weren't that good at whispering though, seeing as how me and Billie could here them.
"Did you here what happened Saturday?"
"I don't get why you still bothering asking me. You know that I never know what's going on. But anyways, what happened?"
"Jay got her ass fucked the fuck up! You know, Jay Gray?"
"Good! I've always hated that bitch! What she deserves!"
"Yeah, but wanna know the crazy thing?"
"Yes, I obviously want to fucking know what the crazy thing is."
"God damn, no need to be a damn bitch about it. Anyways, the person who fucked her up was that Hope Lewis girl! You know, the real smart girl?"
"Oh, yeah I know her! Isn't she one of those nasty queers though?"
"Yeah, fucking disgusting!"
Billie stood up quickly and slammed her hands onto the desk, causing everyone to look at her.
"I know you ain't tryna disrespect my fucking girl! I know your barbie wannabe selves ain't talking about my fucking babygirl like that! You really thought I was gonna let that fucking slide? Think again bitches because you've got another thing fucking coming! And please, for the love of God, learn how to fucking whisper! All of America can hear your loud asses!" Billie yelled, glaring at the three girls in front of us. Needless to say, they looked like they'd just seen Tupac's ghost or some shit.
"W-w-we're s-s-sorry. I-it w-won't ha-happen a-again, I-I s-swear!" The middle one, who I was guessing was the 'leader' of their little clique or whatever, stuttered.
"S-s-s-sorry d-d-doesn't f-f-fucking c-c-cut i-i-it." Billie mocked and I couldn't help but laugh. "I better not catch her name in your ugly ass mouthes again or you gonna catch these hands. If you think about her again, you're catching these hands. If you dream about her, you're catching these hands. If you even think about dreaming about her, you catching these mother fucking hands. Oh, how could I forget?" Billie said sarcastically, smacking her forehead.
"Don't fucking call her or anybody a fucking queer again. Love is fucking love. It doesn't effect you on who somebody else loves, so stop fucking worrying about it and judging them. Hell, if anybody needs to be judged, it's you three fucking idiots."
"What the fuck are you wearing? Do I need to teach you how to fucking match clothes? It's not that fucking hard. It's pretty simple, if anything. And you, what the fuck is your hair? Did I just travel back to the seventy's or some shit, because it sure fucking looks like it. And last, but definitely not least, you. Get some fucking gum, brush you teeth, something! I can smell your stank ass breath from over here! Oh and while I'm at it, could you three please fucking close your God damn legs? I'm tired of smelling fucking tuna. Got that?"
The girls, now scared shitless and embarrassed as fuck, nodded their heads meekly.
By now, the whole class was laughing their asses off. Mr. Howard, who was previously sleeping, was now awake and trying to get everybody to stop laughing, although he was clearly trying not to laugh himself.
"Billie! I'm going to need you to go to the office, now! I'll send your referral up later." Mr. Howard said loudly. Billie pushed her desk out, grabbing her bag and starting towards the door.
"I'll take her there!" I told Mr. Howard as I stood up, gathering up my stuff as well. I rushed over to where Billie stood.
"I don't think that's nece-" I cut him off by hurriedly pushing Billie out the classroom and shutting the door.
We started walking down the hallway. "Don't you think you went a little overboard with that?" I asked, laughing a bit.
"Nah, I think I went under-board if anything." She smirked.
I smirked as well I remembered what she had said at the beginning of... that. "So, I'm your girl now?"
She wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "Yeah. If anyone wants to try and test me on that, then it's on fucking sight." I smiled softly.
A few minutes later, we reached the office and walked in. Mr. Anders, the principal of Franklin High, sat at his desk and stared at us expectingly. "Can I help you two?"
"Yeah, I'm up here for a referral. He said he'd send it up here later." Billie explained.
"Of fucking course." I heard him mutter under his breath.
"Well sit down till it gets here. And what about you Lewis? What are you up here for?" Mr. Anders asked me.
I shook my head. "Oh no, I-I'm not up here for anything."
"Then why exactly are you in my office?" He raised one of his bushy eyebrows.
"I was escorting Billie here."
"I-... you know what, never mind. You're a good student, so it's fine. What class period do you have right now?"
"US History?"
"Okay, good. Will you sort through these folders for me? Ms. Devlin quit Friday, and I've been too busy to do it myself. I'll give a note to your teacher to excuse you for the rest of the block. You'll have to go to your fifth block though." He explained.
Ms. Devlin was the assistant principal here. She was an old, mean lady. She looked as if she about to fall over dead! She should've quit her job years ago, but I think she likes torturing innocent high school kids for fun. She once got angry at a freshman because of the way he tied his shoe!
"Yeah, sure. How do you want me to sort them?" I asked, looking at the three huge stacks of different colored folders.
"We'll see how they're all different colors? Just sort them into different piles based on their colors. Just take them into that room and do it. Billie, you can sit in there with her while she does it. I don't need you in here while you wait on your referral to come in." He pointed to a door that lead into a smaller room that had a table and a few chairs in it.
"Will you help me carry the folders in there?" I asked Billie.
"Sure thing, mamas." She smiled. We both grabbed a stack of folders and brought them into the room, setting them on the table.
"I'll get the other stack and you can go ahead and start sorting them, okay?" Billie asked after she set her stack down.
"Okay."
I started off by making different piles for each color. I made a pile for red, blue, green, and purple. I laid the folders on top of their correct colors. Billie walked in with the third stack and set it down.
"Thank you, by the way. You didn't to do that earlier." I mumbled.
She shook her head. "Don't worry about it Hope baby. I don't mind it. Hell, I enjoyed the whole thing."
I laughed a little. She is way to good to me.
-
Sorting the folders took the rest of fourth block, but me and Billie still got it done. Mr. Howard didn't send Billie's referral to the office yet, so she's still stuck in there.
I walked into my fifth block, which was reading. I smiled as I saw Jaelyn sitting in there. I walked over to her. "Hey! I didn't know we had this class together!"
"Yeah, me neither!" She smiled.
I sat down in the seat beside her. I don't know who sat here, but they can give their seat up. And if they've got a problem with that, they can suck my fucking dick.
"I forgot to ask earlier, but we should number swap! I'd like to hangout soon!" I said.
"Oh, sure!" We both pulled out our phones and switched them, putting our numbers in them. I put my phone back in my pocket.
"Do you think you could give me Devon's number?" She asked shyly, her cheeks becoming pink.
I smirked and wiggled my eyebrows. "Looks like someone has a crush."
"I-I do not! He just seemed pretty cool. And he's pretty cute." She mumbled.
"He is a cutie, huh? But yeah, I can send you his contact." I sent her a smile.
-
"I'm home!" I called through the house. Aidan and Josh was out somewhere, so the only other person that was home was my mom.
She didn't answer. I knew she was locked in her bedroom though. It's November third, meaning that Sunday would be five years since my dad passed away.
Mom always got distant around this time. She usually don't come out of her room unless she absolutely has to. I hate seeing her like this, but if I was her, I'd probably do the same thing so I couldn't really say anything.
I missed dad too, but I didn't push myself away from everybody around this time. When someone passes away, you can't just mop around the rest of your life, missing them. No. You've gotta move past it. Yes, you can still miss them and think about them, but you can't just let it consume you.
I dropped my bag off by the door and ran upstairs to my room. I grabbed a t-shirt and some sweat pants, along with some underwear, and made my way to the bathroom. I quickly showered and went back to my room, plopping down onto my bed. Today had been a long ass day and I was just ready for it to be over already.
^ Delilah Hamlin as Jaelyn Gray
A/N I was laughing my ass off writing Billie's little rant or whatever. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it
Okay, since it's been a while since I've asked, who's your favorite character? Lmk 💞
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