"Alright, students! I'm Ms. Valliere."
The woman at the front of the room pronounced her name like 'valley-er' as if she were a more intense version of a valley. It made Winne smile, but the smile faded quickly. This was a new school and these were new teachers. Something about this school made the 16-year-old girl uneasy. After adopting her seven year old brother Dil, her parents decided to move and get a larger house. They had been meaning to for a while, but the addition of Dil to the family had sealed the deal.
So the two men had uprooted their teenage daughter from her social life where they had been living, -along with the rest of the house too, of course- and moved to an actual house just outside the city. That, unfortunately, meant moving schools as well.
"I'm excited to teach you all this year. I see many familiar faces from the halls last year and a couple new ones too!"
She was far too perky. Winne decided that she already didn't like her.
"Why don't we go around the room and introduce ourselves, okay? Maybe tell us a little about your family too."
Winne's stomach hit the floor. Oh god... She thought. They're all going to know that my parents are two men on the first day of classes... Shit. I have a feeling this school isn't as accepting as my last one...
"I'll start, since you all seem so shy. My name is Ms. Valliere and I will be your Geography teacher this year. I live by myself with two cats and one dog. That's not too hard, is it? Okay, who's next?"
One by one, Winne's classmates stood up and introduced themselves. It was the same thing with every kid. Mother and father, mother and father, mother and father... They sounded proud of it, too. She wasn't really paying attention to the specific details. Her mind was focused on the probable homophobia of this school. She hoped that she was wrong, but she could not shake the uneasy feeling nor the worrisome thoughts from her head.
The eyes of the class were on her. It was now or never. No, it was just now. She didn't have a choice in the matter. At all.
With a sigh, Winne stood up from her seat and looked at her classmates, hoping she could avoid the subject of her dads. "My name is Winifred Delia Howlter, but I prefer Winne. I'm sixteen years old and I'm adopted. So is my seven year old brother, Dilan Striker Howlter. We just adopted him, that's why we moved. We needed a bigger house."
As Winne tried to sit, hoping she had provided enough information for the teacher without talking about her parents, Ms. Valliere held her hand up to stop her. "What about your parents, Winifred?"
"Winne."
"Sorry, Winne. Tell us about your parents? What do they do for a living? Adopting two children is surely expensive, isn't it?
Winne closed her eyes and cursed inwardly. She had hoped to skip this conversation completely. At least for a couple of weeks. "Um, my parents are YouTubers. Both of them."
"Really? How fascinating. Who are they on YouTube?"
Fuck. This woman would not let up. Winne hesitated, then gave a defeated sigh. "They're um... Danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil.."
The air left the room and bored gazes turned into icy stares. You could hear a pin drop with how silent it became. The tension was palpable and as cliché and as it sounds, you could cut the silence with a knife. Winne slowly sat back in her seat, wishing she could disappear.
The silence seemed to last forever. Winne swallowed nervously and sunk into her hoodie.
"Well. That's uh... That's unusual. Thank you for sharing. Who would like to go next?" Ms. Valliere's voice had become monotone and emotionless. Another student stood up after a few seconds of silence and started talking, but Winne couldn't hear the words he said.
The class went by in a blur, and so did every class after. In each class, it was a repeat of Geography. Sometimes there were kids who had already had a class with her and decided to tell her story for her. Every class was the same. Certain words stuck in her head and replayed over and over again. Winne spent the bus ride home staring out the window blankly, and that's when the tears came. There were kids yelling things at her, some even threw things. Things like pens, pencils, and erasers at first. Then notepads and paper wads, textbooks and even bits of uneaten lunch.
Silent tears streamed down the girl's face until it was finally time to get off the bus. As she walked off, the students kept throwing things and yelling names. Winne felt a piece of her die inside. When she stepped off the bus in front of her new house, she just stood there and stared at the ground. After the bus had gone, she ran to the house, flung the door open, and went straight to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.
Winne threw her backpack to the floor and collapsed in a heap on her bed, finally allowing herself to properly cry.
What is someone like her doing here? Fags and their children don't belong here.
"Winne?"
Eww, there's the fag's kid.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?"
That fag-loving freak should just kill herself.
The voices of her fathers were muffled by the door, and she didn't say anything. Sobs rattled her body as she clutched a pillow tightly. The door opened with a soft click as the two men entered her room tentatively.
How the fuck did a kid with fags for parents even get into this school?
Phil walked to the far side of the bed and sat on the edge of it, Dan taking the side nearest the door.
Stay away from her, you might turn into one of them.
"Winne, what's going on?" Phil asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
What a fucking weirdo.
"Bear, did something happen at school?" Dan asked after a few seconds of just sobs.
Fag lover.
"Please talk to us..."
No one will ever like you, no matter where you go.
"Can we help you with anything?"
Psycho, how could you live with those fairies? I'd kill myself if I were you.
"Winne please stop crying for a little bit and tell us what's wrong...?"
Why doesn't she just run away already?
"You know that Phil and I will do anything to make what's hurting you go away."
Seriously, how could she live with fags? They've got to be shit parents.
"You're our daughter, we'd do anything for you."
Bitch. She won't talk to anyone, filthy fags can't even teach her how to have a conversation.
"Was it a bully?"
She must think she's better than us because she has two dads. Well, fuck her.
"Do you miss your friends?"
She's probably a fag like them.
"We'll bring you to see them whenever you want."
Did she say she had a brother? He's gonna be a fucking homo too.
"Winne, just say something."
Someone call NSPCC, no kid should be subjected to that.
"You're scaring us, baby girl... Please, what's wrong?"
I don't want her around other students, she'll turn them all gay!
"Winifred..."
Fags don't deserve kids.
Tired of receiving no answer, Dan lifted Winne up into a sitting position. As soon as she was upright, she latched onto Dan and kept sobbing, now with her face in his chest and her arms around his torso.
"Baby bear, tell us what's wrong..." Dan murmured softly.
"I I keep... I keep hearing their voices... Their words over and over again... L-like some endless loop... From hell!" The girl managed to choke out the sentence between sobs.
"Whose voices, Winne?" Phil had scooted across the bed to be closer to his husband and sobbing daughter.
"Everyone's!" Winne cried out. The stress from the day had worn her down a lot between telling her story and every class and the words (and objects) thrown at her in the halls and on the bus. "Rude and slanderous! Every one of them..."
"The words?" Phil had taken over talking as Dan had taken to just soothing Winne by rocking back and forth slightly and softly murmuring in her ear.
"The people! Nothing but slander and horrid things come out of their mouths."
"What! Why?"
"Because you and Dad are gay." She said softly, her sobs settling into simple and silent tears.
A glance was shared between the two men and almost immediately, a plan was made without a spoken word.
"C'mere, baby bear..." Dan murmured, hugging her close. "Daddy and I are going to make it all go away."
"But how?" the teen asked, pulling away from Dan.
"You're not going to school for a while." Phil told her. At least until we can get everything settled, that is."
"What?"
"We're going to get you back into your old school. Dil as well."
"We won't allow our children to go to such a toxic school."
Wined smiled for the first time since school started. "You guys are the best dads ever. And if all of those assholes-"
"Language!" Phil chided.
"Sorry, Daddy. If they can't see it, then it's their loss. Thank you so much..."
That day Winne that gay dads could sometimes be better than straight parents, and she was glad to have Dan and Phil as her dads.
/ / / / / / / / / ~ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
(i'm so sorry)
At least there was a happy ending, right? Right? Anyone? *sigh* Well I hope you enjoyed that heartbreak. There are happier things coming soon, I promise! (also more sads but let's forget about that for now)
