I sat in the center of the room. We were about to play 'Spin the Ice-E's', but Monster Kid was sick, so our supply of an Ice-E's brand bottle (which their mother buys for them every weekend) was replaced with Susie's Buttercrunch the Butterdragon's Maple Syrup (which doesn't taste like maple syrup at all, tastes like butter. SWEET butter, but still butter).

"Alriiiight! Kris! Your turn!" I spun it around. It landed on Noelle. I smiled. Oh, boy do I HAVE a request for her.

"Noelle, say 'yee-haw' 100 times in one breath."

She looked at me. "Uh... what?"

"Just do it." I smiled, goading her into this. I had to listen to cowperson puns during class for the past 10 damn weeks, my desk isn't far enough from them.

"Uh... o-okay...", she took a deep breath. My smile widened in anticipation... then the door opened, and Monster Kid fell inside. "S-sorry I'm late! The vending machine was broken and some skeleton was distracting my mother with puns... the skeleton that was supposed to fix the machine. So I'm here now!"

"We thought you were sick."

They winked at us. "It was just folly!"

I turned to Noelle. "Continue with your 'yee-haw'ing, pardner."

Monster Kid looked indignant, and sighed. "Really? Kris, I've had a rough week. I don't need MORE cowboys or bad wild west accents."

"As have I, listening to Snowy talk like a cowperson for 10 weeks. At most it was secondhand."

Noelle finished 'yee-haw'ing. She was out of breath and clearly pissed, but she hid that away behind a nervous grin. "My... my turn to spin the... are we still using this bottle?"

"Go ahead. I haven't finished my 'Ice-E's Pepperoni Flavored Juice' yet."

"Oh... alright!" Noelle spun the bottle. I watched it spin, thinking of drinking water soon. It landed on me. I smiled. Noelle's face... became nervous. "O-okay! Kris...! I have a question for YOU..."

"Just throw it in." I'm waiting.

She leaned in close... ooooooooooh, ominous. "Kris... who do you have a crush on?"

"No one. I'm aromantic."

"Wh-"

I spun the bottle. It landed on Monster Kid. "OH... Kris, I-"

"Monster Kid, do you eat gum off of the bottoms of tables at lunch when you THINK no one is looking?"

"Kr... how... th-that was a long time ago, Kris... n-next question!" Their face was red. I laughed internally. These people are so easy to embarrass. It landed on Susie. Monster Kid yelped but suppressed it quickly. "S... Susie... I... I have-"

"Answer's probably 'yes, I have done it'. She smirked."

"Oh... in that case, I... I didn't know you were so... I'm..." He was frightened by a hypothetical? What had Susie so indirectly agreed to. In this case, Monster Kid eventually spoke, revealing the scandalous question. "I was going to ask if you've ever worn someone else's socks without looking."

"WHAT!? N-NO! T-that's... just wrong, man."

Susie spun the bottle, which left a skid mark across the carpet due to friction. It landed on Noelle. "Ah shit... I don't really uh, have much of a question for you... except WHY do you stare at me during passing period?"

"I- wh-well"- her blush is as big as her own face -"I just-"

"Can we ask questions that don't have to do with feelings or mundane boring shit?"

"Kris, shut up! Noelle's-"

"You do realize why I don't show up a lot is because the questions, if both/either Noelle and/or Monster Kid are/is present, I have to sit through waves of 'What did you eat last night?', 'Where were you at 3:45 AM?', 'What is your sock size?'. Seriously, I'm bored of it. Ask an interesting question of Noelle instead of-"

"I WANT to know why she STARES AT ME-"

"It's because she has a 'crush' on you. Simple."

Everyone went silent. Noelle looked gobsmacked. "Spin the bottle, Noelle."

She did so, it landed on me. Oh, shit. What kind of humorous concoction- "Why are you such an asshole, Kris?"

"W-woah, Noelle!" Monster Kid shrunk back.

I don't know. "I'm not sure how to answer that. Why are you teenagers so horny? And, why are you teenagers so filled with lust that sometimes I swear one of you is going to pounce on someone else and it's going to go non-con fast?"

"Kr-"

"No, I'm tired of hanging around people who pretend that it's all just fun and games WHEN IT ISN'T." I stood up. "You never think about those on the receiving end of your lascivious 'feelings'. Only about yourselves. You don't think, 'What if the person whom I'm makin' my 'Ice-E's smooth mooves' on isn't actually interested? What if they're asexual?'." These complaints I've had since I was born, either since I was born or at least since I became self-aware enough to know when I shit myself or that other people were looking at me with their stupid 'lust'.

"Kris, you're-"

"Yeah I'm aro ace. Doesn't stop people from trying. You teenagers disgust me with your popularity contests and games. Treating the world like your backyard because you think of yourselves as the owners of it. You DON'T own the world. Your actions have consequences. I've been believing the 'your choices don't matter' crap for TOO LONG. My choices DO matter." I began to walk towards the door. "Kris!" Susie's vouching for my stay. "Wait! Don't-"

I miss my original adoptive mother. Charlotte.

"Kris! Please! I'm-"

"You've spent most of my early life bullying me due to speciesism. You treated me like garbage because I seemed like an easy target for your issues, for your personal problems. You forced me into positions of apprehension. Do you want to know why I didn't speak?"

Susie's eyes betrayed guilt. "Kris..."

"Do you want to know the truth?"

"... Yes, yes I do."

I smiled. "I never spoke because, when I try, when I am honest, people silence me. So do you realize why I pretend not to care?"

"Pr-"

"Do you really think I'm as cold, heartless as others? When I was agreeable- no, the only one who understood was RALSEI, in the moment I actually managed to talk to him!"

"Who's Ralsei?" Susie glared at Monster Kid, who went silent immediately.

Susie looked up at me, her expression full of bitter anger and regret. "Kris, I...", she stood up, her face obscured by her hair, "... when I was young, I... used to walk to school by myself. I used to be happy and excited about the world", she turned towards the wall, glaring into it, "and one day I was walking to school and suddenly, someone I'd never seen before... threatened me. I was a small child about the height of a dog, Kris..."

"You were molested by a strange monster."

"W-well I was GETTING TO THAT PART!"

This world isn't a dating sim with pastel colors and badly translated Japanese. It's a soul-crushing grind through eternity. But I'm told to smile and go outside. 'Outside' is a prison. I'm not ignorant enough for that.

But sure, let them have their little prison. Stay inside, in your own freedom. In your own room. Locked away from this crap.

"Kris, please stay. I-... I'm sorry I called you an asshole."

"And I'm sorry you're sheltered."

Noelle's eyes were angry but she sighed and turned back to the bottle. "Since Kris isn't going to be playing anymore, I guess I'll spin this..."

I left Susie's house, and I began to trek my way back to my home. Peace and quiet. Freedom.