Stephanie bounded excitedly to the park where the city had agreed to let the group host their fundraiser. The pink haired girl claimed the lemonade stand as her work place, while the other kids were divided into their own stations.
Energetically, the children all smiled and kept their chins up as they sold their last cookie. Ella turned to Stephanie, grabbing the other girl's hand. "We did wonderful today! I didn't think this many people would come."
The other girl nodded in agreement as she gazed over the crowd of people at the park. One of the parents had brought in a bouncy-house, and others had provided the tables, equipment, and the small open tent that kept the children from becoming sun burnt on the hot day. "Me either!"
What she didn't know was that when Sportacus had told the mayor about the fundraiser, he had made a public announcement to the city to make sure the kids raised enough cash.
As the day dragged on, the parents began to notice the youngsters' declining zest and issued a break for them; one that, of course, consisted of eight excited kids hopping around in the bouncy-house. Once the group departed, they all seemed reborn with energy.
By the time the sun was starting to set, the kids all began to pack up with help from their parents, when Ella spotted Gabe's ex-friends out of the corner of her eye. She nudged the boy beside her and he visibly shuddered.
"Not them again." The boy groaned, dreading what was guaranteed to happen now that the two caught the boy's eye. Swiftly, the duo started to march their way over to the group, when suddenly, a woman came up to them and dragged one of the boys away, forcing the other to stop in his tracks as he stared after his comrade.
"Whose that?" Stephanie asked Gabe, who shrugged and glanced over to her.
"Tristan's mom. She's kinda nice." He tapped his fingers together. "She's the one who hosts all those anti-bullying poster contests in school."
Ella nodded and watched at the remaining bully nervously glanced after his friend and back to the group. Once Tristan was out of sight, the boy made his way over to the club, abashedly knitting his fingers together.
Paul stopped when he reached the group. "Um, I don't really like sweets, but can I give you guys a donation?" He held out two dollars to Gabe, his eyes glued to the ground.
Ella and Stephanie glimpsed at each other, staring the boy down. "…Sure." Ella said, gingerly plucking the money out of the boy's finnicky hands.
Determined, Stephanie leaned over the table and rested her head upon her fist. "What do you really want? Did you come here to pick on us again?"
"Or did you come to try and steal Gabe from us?" Stingy huffed, his hands sliding onto his hips.
Gabe gave the boy a cautious look. "Yeah, Paul, why'd you come over here?"
The boy inhaled a sharp breath and released it, his eyes still on his shoes. "I…I still want to be your friend, Gabe."
A bit surprised, the former bully peeked at his pals and gave them a lop-sided grin. "Let's take a walk." He said dryly to his old friend, who nodded and joined the other's side.
Once the two were out of ear shot of the group, Paul turned to his ex-friend. "I miss being your friend." Gabe just stared blankly at the other. "Tristan is no fun to be around. He picks on me, and he picks on you…"
Rubbing the back of his neck, Gabe sighed outwardly. "I've…had a lot of fun being around those other kids," he jabbed his thumb in their direction, "but of course I missed hanging out with you. Tristan has always been…a bit pushy, but you were always there for me."
Nodding along, the other boy tapped his fingers together. "We were best friends, Gabe. We've known each other forever. I don't want that to all be thrown away because of how I acted."
Gabe smiled slightly, slinging his arm over the other's shoulder. "Awh, it's okay, Buddy. I forgive you." Paul relaxed a bit against the touch and gave his friend a small grin.
"You seem to have a lot of fun with those other kids… and I don't want to be around Tristan at all anymore. My mom says he's a bad influence on me and he tried getting me to smoke after school the other day."
Gabe furrowed his eyebrows together in apprehension. "He did…? That's awful, Paul. Maybe we should tell his mom. I know she would flip if she found out."
Shaking his head, Paul leaned against the other for support. "He said he would beat me up and tell everyone that I'm gay if I tell anyone."
Huffing out of his nose, Gabe shook his head as well. "He's not going to touch you. And he needs to grow up…being gay isn't a bad thing, ya know."
Swallowing the lump in his throat, Paul continued on. "It isn't..? Hey, um…when I asked my parents what it meant, they wouldn't tell me. What does it mean to be gay? They just said it was gross…I know it describes people, but…"
"Well, ya know how people get crushes, right? It's when a guy gets a crush on another guy, or the other way around with girls. There's other words, too, but I'm still learning them."
"Like… a crush guys usually get on girls?"
Nodding, Gabe barely noticed as his friend's face shattered, as if all the air was knocked out of him.
The two walked in silence for another minute before Gabe stopped. Once Paul realized, he turned around curiously.
"You should join the club with me."
A bit taken aback, Paul stepped forward, laughing awkwardly. "I dunno, my mom might not let me, and I don't think your new friends would like me."
Gabe grinned and grabbed his friend's arm. "Ya kidding? They'd love ya, as long as you apologize. And about the whole mom thing—my mom doesn't even know I'm in the club. The other kids understand how important it is for us to learn about other people and they helped me go behind her back."
Paul nodded along, jogging over to the group with his friend at his side. Once in front of them, Gabe patted his friend's shoulder, urging him to speak.
"Hey, um…I'm really sorry about how I treated you guys." The boy rubbed the back of his neck. "Would it be alright if I joined? I want to learn more about this stuff."
Stephanie smiled and shrugged. "Alright. Well, if you're joining, please, call me Stephanie." She reached her hand out and shook the boy's hand, followed by the rest of the group's members. The pink-haired girl told Sportacus the news, who gleefully welcomed the boy, followed by the rest of the parents.
Sportacus let the kids all play on the bouncy-house one more time before they tor it down, as the parents packed up the last of the tables and supplies.
Wanda, Leia, and Richard offered to clean up the inflatable, and in return, Sportacus dropped off their children.
Within a week, Paul had integrated into the group the same way the Gabe had, the kids all looking up to the slightly older boy. Unlike Gabe, Paul's parents didn't pressure him into joining multiple clubs and teams, and the boy was only on the soccer team and in the LGBTQ club. He gleefully introduced the group to writing poetry, and helped the kids all write poems for their next fundraiser, which would be a poetry slam at the local café.
Sportacus sat down at the table with the children as they wrote out their poems, glancing around at them. "So, what are you all writing your poems about?"
Stephanie clapped excitedly and started out. "I'm writing about being a girl and how my parents took it." Sportacus gave the girl a gentle smile and ruffled her hair.
Trixie took over. "Um, I'm writing about being a lesbian," the girl said quietly, causing the kids to all turn to her. Right away, she tensed up slightly, continuing on. "I'm having my moms help me write it. It's a gift for them."
After Trixie finished, Stingy cleared his throat. "I'm writing about being a boy on the cheerleading team."
"I'm…I'm writing about being autistic," Pixel voiced out slowly, keeping his eyes down. It wasn't something he was used to talk about, but he had been growing more confident in his identity.
Tina took over when he finished. "Gina and I are writing one about being twins. I'll say it out loud and she's gonna stand next to me and sign it." The group applauded them on the creativity and moved onto Gabe.
"I think I'm going to write about feeling unappreciated by my parents." The boy said, a wry smile on his mouth.
Next, Paul took over. "Mine is going to be about how I'm a bit of a pushover." Gabe snickered and elbowed his friend in the side. Lastly, eyes fell on Ella, who stiffened in her seat.
"I think…I think I might write mine about losing my dad."
The group awkwardly glanced at each other, not knowing what to say to the girl. Finally, Paul spoke up.
"That's a hard thing to write about, Ella. But when I lost my dad, I first started writing poetry. It can really help it hurt less. If you ever want to talk to a kid who went through the same thing, I'm fine with chatting." The kids all went back to their own writing, leaving the two children with a missing parent staring at each other from across the table.
"That'd be nice sometime." Ella said after a long minute, returning to her writing before Sportacus pulled her aside.
"Ella, does your dad know what you're writing about?" He asked softly, leaning over slightly to be at a better eye-level with the child.
Shaking her head, the girl stared at her shoes. "Not yet. I was going to tell him during dinner tonight."
Sportacus nodded. "That's a good idea. It's important that he knows." He gave the girl a final grin before standing up and motioning her back to the table.
When Ella went home that night and her and her father sat at the dinner table, digging into their tv dinners ungracefully. Once they were both done and Robbie had plopped down on the couch, flipping the television on, Ella tiptoed over to him and hopped onto the cushion next to his, leaning on him.
"Everything okay, El?" The man muted the television and turned to face his daughter, who stared down at her lap.
Nodding, she played with her finger nails nervously. "Can I read you my poem so far?"
Shrugging, Robbie leaned his back onto the sofa and smiled. "Alright. Let's hear it."
Ella stood from the couch and picked her notebook up, clearing her throat and standing in front of her father. With a deep breath, her eyes scanned the paper. "People always say 'it gets better.'" She looked up at her father, who watched in anticipation. "And to an extent, that's true. And to an extent, it's not. It's true that the pain lessens and time helps wounds seal up, but still, scars are left behind. Just because you don't think about the pain every day doesn't make it any less real. It doesn't go away, because when someone dies, it's like stepping on a piece of glass. The longer you walk, the deeper that glass is going to go. While you can't see the glass much anymore, your foot still aches and sometimes it bleeds, and eventually, it scars. That's what losing someone you love is like. You ache, and sometimes you don't feel it, but the hole that person left behind is still there, and no amount of time will fill it up." She looked up from her paper, her lip trembling slightly. "That's all I have so far."
Robbie stared past his daughter as if she wasn't even there, nodding slightly. He patted the spot beside him, urging his daughter to sit next to him again. Once she was, Robbie pulled her head to his chest and kissed her forehead sloppily, rocking her slightly against his shoulder as if she were an infant. Ella knew he figured out what it was about.
After a few moments of holding his daughter, Robbie released the embrace and held the girl's hands in his own. "You're very talented, Ella. I want you to know that you make me very proud. Dad would be very proud of you, too."
Ella nodded, feeling tears prick her eyes like thorns. She smiled wiped her tears away. "I know, Dad. Thank you for being here for me." She felt the tears fall a little heavier, and her father pulled her back into his arms.
Once she had dried herself up, she glanced at her paper from across the room and gave her father a smile. "Dad, will you help me finish it?"
The man met his daughter's hesitant eyes and slowly nodded, bringing the notebook to her.
Soon enough the night of the poetry slam had arrived, and the kids all straightened their ties and dresses out and wore their makeup proudly. The kids all practiced the parts of their poems they were nervous to say aloud to each other, building their confidence up like Lego blocks.
Ella stood nervously next to Stephanie, skimming through her poem, bouncing from foot to foot as she glimpsed in the crowd. She spotted her father and clung to her friend even tighter, surprising the other girl a bit. "What's wrong, Ella?"
"I'm just a little nervous again."
Paul, who had over-heard, made his way over to the girl. "Once you get out in front of that audience and you start speaking, you just don't stop. Just start speaking."
Ella smiled and nodded awkwardly, sighing deeply.
She watched as Sportacus went onto the stage and called out into the crowd that the LGBTQ club would now recite their poems, and the audience applauded. He skidded back to the kids and glimpsed over all of them. "Who wants to go first?"
Right away, Stingy raised his hand excitedly. "I'd love to go first, please." He set his hand down. "My dad can't stay the whole time, and I want him to hear my poem before he has to go."
Sportacus nodded and escorted the young boy to the stage. As if he had been doing it his entire life, the boy stepped up onto the podium and delivered his poem magnificently, pulling a few tears and cheers from the crowd.
The boy bowed graciously and hopped off the stage, racing to his father and jumping into his arms. Soon, the boy's father left and he joined the group again as Gina and Tina took the stage.
With only a few slip ups, the twins finished their poem, the crowd applauding as they finished. The two returned to the other club members as Pixel nervously skidded onto the stage. As he was speaking, his voice started to shake and he began to feel a bit overwhelmed, but he finished his poem with a small smile before making his way off the stage.
Gabe took the stage next, and after him Paul took his turn. With Stephanie's encouragement, Trixie went next and delivered her ballad-like poem to the crowd, which ended with both her and her mothers tearing up. Near the end of it she clearly mentioned how she herself liked girls, which brought a little shock to her friends, but it was soon overshadowed by acceptance.
Ella was set to go next, but she became frightened and gripped Stephanie's hand in hers, begging her to go first. The girl cheerfully listened and strode to the stage, silencing the audience with a determined glare. Once she had finished her poem, the girl dropped the microphone dramatically and skipped back to the group, tugging on Ella's hand energetically, urging the other girl to make her way onto the stage.
Nervously, the girl took slow steps onto the stage, lifting the microphone into her hands gently, taking deep breaths before composing her poem. She started out slow and graceful, but as she continued the words became more intense and powerful, and her voice shook and hollered, and when she finished she was sweating and crying. The crowd erupted into applause, and the girl couldn't help the smile that flew onto her face.
She peeked to her father in the crowd, who was standing and still clapping. She felt her eyes watering again and made her way back to her friends, who all congratulated her and looked over to see their donation box filling up generously.
Before the group could depart homewards, a woman from the newspaper took the crew's photo promising it would be in one of the papers. Once the woman had a smiling photo of the kids within her camera, the kids were all taken home.
The next day during lunch, the kids glance dup from their food to notice a young child with long blonde hair approaching them. Stephanie nudged Trixie and the group all looked up at the kid, who confidently approached them, a cape flying behind their back.
Right away, the child sat at the table with the group across from Stephanie, as if they belonged there. "I saw you guys at Lorietta's last night. I loved your poems." The kid pulled out their lunchbox and unpacked it, revealing multiple snack cakes. Munching into a swiss roll, they puffed their cheeks out and grinned. "My name's Izzy, by the way. But please, call me Izzy the Great." When the other kids stared at them strangely for that comment, they shrugged. "Or just Izzy."
Stephanie glimpsed at her friends and shrugged d as well. "I'm Stephanie. It's nice to meet you."
The rest of the kids one by one introduced themselves to the new child. They tore into the honey bun in their lunchbox and grinned like a chipmunk again. "My mom is the woman who took your picture. She works for the newspaper. You guys are in a LGBTQ club, right?" Ella nodded slowly. The other kid continued on. "Can I join?"
A bit taken aback, the kids all glanced at each other for an answer before Stephanie took over, shrugging. "Sure, that would be fine."
"Thanks!" The kid cheered, setting their current snack back on its wrapper. "Hey, Stephanie, your poem especially got to me. The whole being trapped in a body that doesn't like you thing was really good. I'm a boy, but everyone insists I'm a girl." He rolled his eyes. "That's why my hair is still long like this. I don't like it. It makes me look like a girl, I think."
Stephanie grinned slightly. "Why don't you cut it off?"
The smaller child lit up at that. "I never thought about that. I'm not good at cutting hair, though. Do you think during recess you could chop it off for me?"
A bit surprised at the sudden idea, Stephanie stared at him in shock before replying. "Well, sure. That would be fine." She set her arms on the table. "But I dunno where we'd get any scissors at recess."
A small grin on her face, Ella leaned forward. "There are some in Dad's supply closet. We could give you your haircut in there and sweep it up, too."
Stingy propped his head up on his chin. "We won't get in trouble for doing that, will we?"
A devious grin on her face, Trixie shrugged. "I doubt it. Only if they catch us."
Slightly unconvinced, Pixel leaned forward and looked at Ella. "There isn't a camera in your dad's closet, is there?"
Ella shook her head. Pixel gently set a hand On Stingy's hand. "See? We won't get caught." The other boy seemed to sigh in adoration, causing Trixie to roll her eyes and lightly kick her brother under the table, who snapped out of it right away with a glare.
Stephanie tapped Izzy's lunch box slightly, causing the boy to glimpse up. "Hey, Izzy… do you like your name?"
Solemnly, the child sighed. "Not really. It's really girly, but…I haven't found any other one that fits me yet."
Stephanie grinned slightly. "Maybe we could help you find one."
Izzy grinned softly at that. "Thanks. I'd appreciate that…" he looked up. "How'd you find your name?"
Stephanie shrugged. "I didn't want my name to be super different from my old one, but I needed people to think I was a girl when they heard it. Stephanie was really close to it, so I chose it."
The other child nodded in thought. "That sounds cool. I hope my new name will be cool, too."
"I'm sure it will be!" Stephanie assured, twiddling her fingers happily.
Sighing nervously, Izzy glanced up at the pink-covered girl. "What was it like using a new name? I mean, I know I want a new name, but…is it hard to get used to?"
Shaking her head, Stephanie leaned her head into the palm of her hand. "A little bit. But eventually you just stop thinking about your old name. As long as enough people help you, it can even be easy. And we'll all be happy to call you by a new name."
The group agreed and caused the child to smile profusely. Once the bell rang, the squad raced outside and into their little hide out, where they set the boy in a chair and wrapped the front of him up in Stingy's jacket and the back in Pixel's. Within a few moments, Stephanie and Ella had began to snip at the back of the boy's head with the scissors ununiformly. Yet again the bell rang, and the children tossed their scissors back into the bin they were taken from, hurriedly cleaning the hair off of the floor and the jackets.
Soon, the children raced back outside and into the lines to go back inside. They exchanged glances and couldn't help but smirk and giggle until one of the teacher's noticed the change and loudly gasped. Right away, she approached the boy and put her hand behind his head, guiding him in front of the other students. Right away, Trixie jumped into action.
"What are you doing?" She piped up, causing the teacher to turn her attention to the pouting child.
"I'm taking her to the office. She shouldn't have cut her hair like this!" She turned away, taking the kid by the hand and dragging him inside, leaving the other kids staring. Right away, Stephanie turned to her friends.
"What if he gets in trouble with his mom? I didn't even think about that." She hummed nervously. "I don't want him to get in trouble because of us."
Trixie placed a comforting hand on the other kid's shoulder. "It'll be fine, Steph. If his mom is the woman who excitedly took our picture yesterday, she's probably accepting."
Still a bit anxious, Stephanie knit her hands together. Stingy put his hand on the girl's free shoulder. "We did the right thing, Stephanie. That's what matters."
Nodding slowly, Stephanie accepted the information as the group slowly shuffled inside.
The next day at lunch time, the group spotted Izzy and instantly stood up and approached the kid. Upon close inspection, they realized that the boy's hair was now even, and he was grinning proudly.
"What happened yesterday? Did you get in trouble?" Pixel asked softly, studying the boy's new hair.
Izzy chuckled. "No, not at all. My mom is my best friend in the entire world." He started to walk back to the table with the other kids trailing behind and alongside him. "When I told her that I'm a boy, she freaked out a little bit. She started crying a lot and had to sit down. She doesn't usually cuss, but I think I heard her saying a few bad words under her breath, too."
Gabe couldn't help but frown at that. "That doesn't sound good. But I'm guessing she fixed your hair."
Nodding, Izzy continued on. "When she was done crying, we sat down and watched a few videos about boys like me who are born being called a girl. She cried some more, but she said she was just happy that I told her and that she's going to try and help me the best she can." He pointed to his hair. "That's why she cut my hair. She said if I was wanting to be a handsome boy I would have to fix my hair."
Stephanie grinned at the memories of Bessie helping her fix her own hair. "Yeah, that kinda happened to me."
A wide grin hopped onto Izzy's face. "She also said she's super happy that our school has an LGBTQ club and that I'm joining. She said that she's going to have to learn a lot about how to help, but that she wants to make my life as a boy a super happy one. She said when she gets her next paycheck she'll even take me to get some new clothes!"
"That's really awesome!" Pixel applauded, clapping the other kid on the shoulder. "I'm really happy your mom accepted you so quickly."
A giggle escaped Izzy's mouth. "Me too! I didn't want her to be disappointed in me when she found out. But she was actually really happy! A little too emotional for me to handle, but happy!"
The group continued to chat with each other as they ate their meal.
When the next meeting arrived, Izzy brought his mom and announced that they had found a name for him. His new name was going to be Zigfrued like his grandfather, but everyone was free to call him Ziggy. Excitedly, the group took the news, and left his mother to integrate into the adults' table.
After she introduced herself as Jolene Zweets, the woman immediately sat next to Mr. Spoilero, chatting amongst the group and asking numerous questions to the parents on how to help her son. Once Robbie finished his cleaning for the day and joined the table, she instantly gazed upon him and grinned in awe, shaking his hand and introducing herself. Right away, the look the woman gave him made a shiver run down Robbie's spine. The way the woman stared at him as if he were a meal made him shrink into his seat to the best of his ability.
Richard couldn't help but chuckle as he elbowed the woman in the side. "He's hot stuff, isn't he?" He whispered, and Robbie found himself wishing he didn't have ears suddenly. Sportacus picked up on the flirty duo's words and tone and hurriedly tried to change the conversation for the poor awkward man's sake.
"Robbie, did you like the those cookies I gave you the other week?"
Relieved, Robbie chuckled awkwardly and hoped the two flirty parents would drop it. "Yes, they were really great. Ella loved them, too."
However, the mention of his fatherly side only fueled the other parents' adoration. Both sighed in unison and caused Robbie to tense up more. The duo stared nervously at Sportacus as if begging him not to change the subject again, while Robbie gazed pleadingly at the other man to do just that. Sportacus easily picked the more vulnerable look and spoke up again.
"So, we've been considering taking the kids on a field trip. Does anyone have any ideas?"
Right away, Mr. Simpcan took over on speaking, and Robbie released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding in. He gave the strange blue-splattered man a thankful grin and listened into the office worker's rambling. Apparently, Mr. Simpcan was way ahead of the rest of the group and had already started to plan out a trip to the nearest amusement park. He had talked to the school and they agreed to lend a bus and a bus driver for the trip there and back.
As the adults chatted, Stephanie found herself a bit under-stimulated and bored and leaned back so she could snoop on the adults' conversation. Once she heard the words amusement park leave the familiar office worker's mouth, she gasped aloud, causing the other kids to look up from their coloring pages and at her.
When asked about it, Stephanie immediately started to happy flap and needed a moment to gather herself before she could speak. She leaned forward to try and falter her excited voice slightly. "I just heard Mr. Simpcan say amusement park…I think we're going on a trip to one!"
Right away, this caused Trixie to punch the air jubilantly and hoot in glee. "An amusement park? That sounds awesome!"
Mr. Simpcan whipped his head around to face the kids and glimpsed back to the other adults, shrugging. "Guess we know what the kids want."
Laughing, Sportacus leaned back. "Well, an amusement park it is! What's the name of the one you were thinking about, Mr. Simpcan?"
A small grin on his face, the man pushed his glasses further up onto his nose. "It's called Queens Island, I believe."
That caused Paul and Gabe to cheer loudly. "We went there a few years back! They recently built a brand new rollercoaster!" Gabe pumped his fist in the air the same way Trixie had moments ago. That caused Trixie to do the motion again and excitedly join the boys' conversation about the park's rollercoasters.
Gina, Tina, and Ella gleefully signed to each other about how excited they were for the spinning rides while Stingy and Pixel chatted excitedly over the arcade the park had, leaving Ziggy, and Stephanie giggling over some of the smaller rides and the treats they would surely eat there.
The parents couldn't help but shake their heads and chuckle at the childrens' enthusiasm for the trip.