"Leah, Aqours decided to drop by. Come out and say hi."

"'Kay..."

Leah sighed. She wasn't in the mood to talk to people right now. She didn't have a choice, though. If she didn't come down, someone would come up. Leah didn't need anyone seeing her in the state she was in.

Leah glanced at her phone. Another message had been sent. She didn't need to open it to know what it contained. This conversation had been going on for a while now.

What was it about? Someone at school was texting her. About? Leah had trusted this person. So, she had decided to tell them something she had never told anyone else before. She was trans.

However, Leah had misread her. The girl instead had yelled and caused a scene. Other people heard her screaming things about her. Most of the school now knew about her. The few kids that had her number had been texting her. They weren't texting her very nice things.

Leah hadn't told Sarah about them. She didn't want to bother her. She was trying to be independent and deal with it on her own. It wasn't going very well. Leah couldn't take it very well.

She sighed as she got off her bed. She grabbed some tissues and tried to quickly dry her face. Leah glanced in the mirror. She looked like a mess still. She couldn't go out and face them looking like this. It just wasn't happening.

Leah laid back down on her bed. She tried to ignore her phone, but eventually she picked it up and looked at the new messages. Tears pricked her eyes as she read them. It wasn't long before she was crying again. The tears just wouldn't stop.

Leah turned off her phone and threw it to the bottom of her bed. She buried herself under her covers and shoved her head under a pillow. She was trying to be quiet. She just hoped no one would come looking for her. It was late. Maybe they'd just think she went to bed early?

A few minutes passed. Someone knocked on her door. Leah didn't have the energy to reply. She hoped whoever it was would leave her alone. Having herself buried under a pillow made it impossible to identify the voice.

The door opened, "Leah?"

Leah felt someone sit on the bed. Her covers were pulled off. Leah wearily moved the pillow off of her face. She looked over. Sarah was sitting there. She looked at Leah with concern. Leah didn't even bother wiping away her tears. Sarah had already seen them. What good would it do?

"What's wrong?" Sarah asked as she reached over and wiped away some of the tears.

Leah didn't reply. She refused to make eye contact. Sarah didn't like the silence. That just made her worry more. Sarah spotted Leah's phone at the end of the bed. She reached over and grabbed it.

Leah's eyes flashed with panic. She quickly sat up and grabbed for her phone. Sarah held it out of her reach.

"Tell me what's wrong and I'll give it to you." Sarah stated.

"Give it back!" Leah tried to grab it again.

"Leah, I'm worried about you. Please, just tell me what's wrong. Or should I look through your phone for that answer?" Sarah gave her a hard glare.

Leah gulped, "I-I... it's nothing you need to worry about."

"Don't lie."

"It's school things... I can handle it." Leah tried again.

Sarah opened up her phone. There was a reason she made sure to know Leah's password. It was for her own sake. Sarah wasn't going to just sit back and let Leah suffer if she could help it. This was the first time she ever had to do this.

"Stop! Give it back!" Leah yelped.

"Then tell me. If you can handle it, then why won't you just tell me? That's just telling me you know how serious it is and refuse to get me involved." Sarah said.

Leah couldn't find anything to say to that. Sarah was greeted by a multitude of messages as she opened the phone. She read through them. Leah held her breath. She knew this was not something she was getting out of easily.

Leah was worried Sarah would get mad at her for hiding this. It was starting to get more and more out of hand each message. Leah wouldn't be surprised if she had been sent a death threat or told to kill herself by this point. She hoped not as that would make Sarah even more upset.

"Leah... why wouldn't you say anything?" Sarah sighed, "This isn't something you can just brush off."

"I didn't want you to worry..." Leah mumbled, "I just wanted to show you I can take care of myself..."

"This isn't something you can do that with. I'm going to be talking to the principal about this. Block their numbers. If I catch you not telling me about anything else like this, you will be punished." Sarah handed her phone back, "I'm not trying to be mean. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm sorry, nee-sama..." Leah bit her lip.

"Give me a hug." Sarah held out her arms.

Leah hugged her as she started crying again. Sarah held her close. She sighed softly as she rested her head on top of Leah's.

"Please don't hide these things from me." Sarah said, "I'm not going to be mad if you need help."

"I'm sorry..."

"Shh... no more apologizing." Sarah shushed her.

They stayed like that for a while. Eventually, Leah pulled away. Sarah stood up and held out a hand to her. Leah hesitantly took it. Sarah led her out of her room and to where everyone was. Leah hide behind Sarah as everyone looked their way.

"Sorry for the wait." Sarah said as she went and took a seat.

Leah quietly took a seat as far away from everyone as she could. She didn't want to talk to them. They were all talking with Sarah.

"Leah-chan? Are you okay?"

Leah glanced over to her side. Ruby had moved over and sat beside her. She was looking her over with a curious but concerned face.

"I'm fine... don't worry about me." Leah tried to smile.

"You can talk to me." Ruby said, "If you want."

Leah wasn't too sure about telling her. Especially not where the others could hear them. Leah held her phone. She typed out a message and sent it to Ruby.

Leah: I'll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone else

Ruby looked at her phone and then at Leah in confusion. After a minute she nodded, agreeing to keep it a secret.

Leah: I'm trans. And, most of the kids at school found out and are being really mean to me

Ruby frowned slightly. She wasn't too sure how to respond to that.

Ruby: I'm sorry. Are you okay?

Leah: I'll be fine. Sarah said she'll take care of them

Ruby: That's good

Leah: You don't mind?

Ruby: Mind what?

Leah: That I'm trans

Ruby: No

Leah smiled at Ruby. Ruby smiled back. Ruby was called away to contribute to a conversation. Leah was drug along to join the other first years as they talked.

A few minutes in, Leah was smiling and laughing with them. She didn't notice, but Sarah was watching her with a small relieved smile on her face. She had been worried Leah wouldn't want to talk and slink back off to her room.

An hour later, Aqours all left. Sarah stopped Leah as she was going to head back to her room. Leah looked at her.

"Feeling better?" Sarah asked, "You definitely seemed to have been having fun."

Leah blushed in embarrassment, "I... I..."

"I'm glad they cheered you up." Sarah patted her on the head, "Heading to bed?"

Leah nodded, "Y-yeah..."

"Goodnight." Sarah planted a kiss on the top of her head, "I'll talk to the principal tomorrow morning."

"Okay... thank you, nee-sama."

"Anything for you, Leah. Like I said, I just want you to be happy."