So I suck at developing characters.
This chapter is hopefully one step in the right direction towards developing the secondary characters more.
Another step in the right direction is to go back and fill in the holes and errors of the past. So when I hit 30 chapters I'm gonna go back on an editing binge, and hopefully, it'll be better after that. I think that Luca and Reese and the rest of them have a good story to tell. I just want to tell that story in the best way I can. This, hopefully, will include giving everyone who matters a physical description before 2021. Seriously I don't know why you read this haha, I'm so bad at descriptions.
Also thank you guys so much for pushing me over 50 reviews.
And also I told someone that there wouldn't be much angst in the next part but I forgot the big bit of angst in the next part so I lied. I'm sorry.
Unanimously it was decided that Reese, Luca, and Scout didn't have to go to school on Monday. They'd be back on the horse on Tuesday, but they needed a little break. Wasabi canceled the day's classes for his college students and in the morning took Scout and Luca to get Scout's eyes checked while Reese happily slept in.
They came back a little later with a new pair of glasses for Scout and Noodleburger for everyone. After the excitement of lunch and Scout's new owl-like frames (which Luca insisted made him look dashing), the three teens fell into a bit of a slump. It seemed to hit Luca the hardest, at least openly. Despite his closest friends being with him and Star Wars Episode IV on the tv, he was lonely and bored. He was used to interacting with dozens of people every day, taking a break only on select weekends. He needed a social stimulus. If he were ever forced into self-isolation, he would probably lose his mind. And not a single one of his friends texted to see if he was good. The king of middle school felt dethroned.
Reese was doing okay. Her biggest gripe was that her parents didn't want her playing basketball until her bruises and scrapes healed up a bit more. They'd already contacted her coach who was disappointed but understood. So Reese was a little sulky over that.
Scout had a lot to grapple with. His first night with the Tomagos wasn't that bad. Next week was spring break and they were going to begin the labor-intensive and heartbreaking job of moving his stuff out of his childhood home. Scout still couldn't swallow the fact that everything had changed in a matter of months. When his parents had been locked up, that had been hard. He'd felt pretty empty then, started lying a little more about himself. He didn't want anyone knowing he was that kid, that he was from a home as broken as they came, that he was one step away from prison bars himself. No one really knew him until Luca stepped into the school and made it his mission to care about the people who went overlooked. Even people who were on the football team, with loads of friends who only saw an empty shell of him. No one even knew he was an artist until Luca became his friend. No one but Andrew.
Andrew had been his other best friend. He had to be. He was all Scout had left when their parents messed up. He remembered how vehemently Andrew had cursed out their parents. Andrew was brilliant, he could've gone to SFIT for biochemistry but that had been snatched from him when their parents were locked up. His college fund went into raising his little brother, but Andrew never made it feel like Scout's fault. It was their fault. Andrew loved him. He wouldn't have thrown away his future for that, wouldn't have angrily disconnected from their parents like that if he hadn't loved his little brother.
"We're not gonna be like that, Scoutie," Andrew had promised.
"Of course not, Andy," Scout agreed.
"Promise me! Promise me that you're never going to end up like them."
"I promise!"
Andrew had been so insistent on Scout not going down the same path as their parents, had dismissed their experiments as nonsense and left that as the final word.
Apparently, it hadn't been the final word. Apparently, there had been at least a few more words, and now one more broken Burks was behind bars. His brother, his best friend, had discarded him, had assaulted him. Andrew didn't love him. Maybe Andrew had resented him more than he'd ever resented their parents. Maybe Andrew had never actually believed anything he said about not ending up like them because that's just what happened. And so Scout felt like he was one step away from being the last broken Burks behind bars.
"Hey, Scout, you okay?" Luca asked.
"I could ask you the same." This morning, before Luca had gotten up, he'd talked to Mr. "You can call me Wasabi, or Wesley, or Wes" Tomago privately. He'd asked if he could see Andrew. That apparently had been the wrong question.
"I don't know, Scout. You deserve the chance to see your brother, I know that. But, I don't think it would be good for you, right now, to see him. Not so soon after what happened. Over the break, okay? If you still want to see him, you can see him over the break." Scout had accepted that.
"I'm serious, Scout," Luca insisted, "you can talk to me about whatever."
"I don't want to, Luca. You're my best friend, but I'm not ready to talk. I hope that's okay."
"No, that's fine. Of course. Take all the time you need."
"It looks like something's on your mind, though," Scout acknowledged, "so if you want to talk, I don't think Han Solo would mind."
"I would mind," Reese said with an eye roll, "Go talk about your feelings upstairs."
"Okay. Let's go to our room," Luca said with a sigh. They headed upstairs.
"Spill, Luca," Scout said, dropping down on the couch and patting the spot next to him.
"It's stupid. After everything that happened, taking a day off of school should be good for me but I feel like crap. I miss our friends and no one texted or called to check on me. It's stupid but I spend so much time caring I thought one of them would care back."
"They care, Luca. They obviously care, I mean your closet is stuffed with leftovers from Valentine's day, and that silly dog Nova gave you takes up half your bed-"
"-It's not silly. I like it."
"Yeah, well it proves it. Everyone cares about you. So, chin up. Let's head back downstairs before your sister makes it to episode five." Luca nodded and they were halfway down the stairs when the doorbell rang.
"Luca!" Reese gestured at the door, not getting up or pausing the movie.
"No, don't get up, I'll get it," Luca said with an eye roll.
"I wouldn't dream of it," Reese replied. Luca swung the door open and his eyes widened in surprise.
"You're alive!" Nova Pearson cheered, fussing with their beanie before pulling Luca into a hug, Luca's face flushed and he hugged back
"Yeah, I am alive, thanks for noticing…" Luca said with a stunned laugh as Nova and a dozen other people streamed into the living room.
"What's going on?" Wasabi asked, emerging from his room.
"Some friends came to visit! Dad this is Nova, you've met Zayne and Sara, that's Sadie Beth, Angela, Duncan, Charlotte, Zack with a K, Hunter 2, Hunter 1, Bekah, Finneas, and Parker."
"Nice to meet all of you. I've seen some of you around for headshots."
"We can't stay," Finneas said, "but we wanted to check on you guys."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it."
"Of course, man," Zayne said, "we weren't gonna just forget about you. You're our friend. You're one of my best friends. You too, Scout. You too, Reese." Zayne nodded at Reese, who had been joined by Sara on the couch.
"You're interrupting the empire, Shane!" Reese called. Zayne laughed a little.
"She's gonna come around to me, right?" Zayne asked.
"There's no telling, Z," Luca said with a laugh.
"She knows my real name though, right?"
"I think so… Are you sure you all have to leave?" Most of them unfortunately did. Zayne and Nova hesitated.
"Dad, can Zayne and Nova stay for dinner?" Luca asked hopefully.
"Sure, sure, I suppose. What's our table without an extra plate or two? It's nice to meet you, Nova, I've heard a lot about you." Wasabi shook their hand and then went to make up a different, vegan-friendly dinner plan and warn his wife. Luca grinned, standing there as Scout joined the ladies on the couch, more interested in Star Wars than sentimentality.
"This guy's got the hookup on the art supplies," Zayne said with a grin.
"Is that why you came?" Luca laughed, "To raid my art supplies?"
"I'm just saying, I'm here, and I'm staying for dinner, so I might as well work on your piece."
"Knock yourself, out, man, you know where it is."
"Hey, Nova, you should let Luca draw you. He's great," Zayne said, as he headed up the stairs.
"So I've heard. Would you?" Luca studied them. Nova had chin-length wavy reddish-brown hair that was shaved on one side and occasionally covered their blue-green eyes.
"Yeah. You have a nice face, I'd be happy to draw you." Nova blushed and Wasabi, Reese, Sara, and Scout all had to pretend they weren't listening.
"Thanks again for coming, Nova. I really appreciate it. I was worried that none of you cared, to be honest."
"All of us care, Luca. You care about us, of course we care about you. I almost forgot, here." Nova pulled a wad of folded up papers out of their hoodie pocket. It was pages of signatures and notes wishing Luca and his siblings well. Luca nearly teared up.
"A lot has happened recently," Luca said quietly, "and this means a lot to me. I'm gonna hold onto this forever."
"Never say forever," Nova said with a laugh, "now, show me how great of an artist you are."
"It would be my pleasure," they headed upstairs, Luca glancing back at Nova, "Are you and Zayne…?"
"Oh, no, no, but I'm glad you welcomed him into our friend group, I think he's going to be a good friend."
"Yeah, he's cool. You're cool too." When they disappeared into Luca's room, Reese unpaused the movie.
