Hi again! I'm glad you're back and are willing to suffer through some more of my story! (I agree, that last chapter was awful.)
N.B. An ellipsis on its own line denotes a brief time skip.
Enjoy!
Luna lay on her back in her bed that night, listening to the sound of her sister sleep-talking.
"zzz... what's the hardest thing about skydiving? ... the ground..."
She couldn't sleep. She was worrying too much about how tomorrow would go. Luan's somniloquating did not help.
I need to calm down, stop thinking about this.
But what do I think of instead?
GOD **** YOU FOR NOT GIVING ME ANY ALTERNATIVE THOUGHT ROUTES, BRAIN
Luna sighed and rolled onto her side, facing the wall.
Why do I love her, anyway?
*FLASHBACK!*
Luna tossed her backpack onto the floor next to her assigned seat and sat down anxiously. She absent-mindedly reached up to twirl a strand of hair around her finger, then stopped short upon recalling that she had cut her hair very short only last week. She settled for resting her face in her hand instead.
Okay, so I found my locker, I found my classroom, and I found my seat. That's good. High school is good so far.
I don't see any of my friends in this class, though.
Eh, most of them are older than me, anyways.
"All right, class," said the tall, greying teacher, "welcome to Civics. My name is Mr. Hart. I'm going to take attendance, then I'll explain to you what this class is all about."
Mr. Hart began to rattle off names from a list. Each student raised their hand and said "Here" as their name was called. Luna looked to see who each person was who spoke.
...
"Kelly Koba?"
"Here," said a thin, dark-haired girl.
"Katherine LoPresti?"
"Here," said a tall, short-haired girl. "And could you please call me Kate?"
"Sure, Katie," said Mr. Hart, jotting down a note on his list. The girl rolled her eyes.
"Luna Loud?"
"Here," said Luna.
"Matthew Ma- uh, Ma-si-joo-ski?"
"It's pronounced 'Ma-che-ski'," said a red-haired boy.
"Tyler Peruta?"
"Physically and mentally here," said a well-dressed blond boy sitting in the back of the room.
"Samantha Pestillo?"
"Here," said a girl with a blue streak in her otherwise blond hair who was sitting to the right of Luna.
"Kathleen Reilly?"
"What?" said a curly-haired girl, looking up from a drawing. "Oh, here. And could you please call me Kate?"
"Sure, Kate," said the teacher. He made another note on his list.
While Mr. Hart was looking away, the tall girl flipped off the doodler, who grinned back insincerely.
Luna fazed out during the rest of the roll call, but she snapped to attention once Mr. Hart began his monologue. "All right, class. Civics is the study of your roles as American citizens. You will learn about how citizens participate in the government, how the government works, and current events and politics. Remember that you can't graduate from high school if you don't pass this class; it is state-required that you pass it."
The blond girl glanced over to Luna, looking eager to tell her something. Luna cocked her ear, and the girl whispered, "I bet Arkansas doesn't require it." Luna snickered.
The teacher continued, "I hope you got all the supplies listed on my webpage for this class, because you will need all of them."
Luna opened her backpack and pulled out a green folder and notebook and a sharpened pencil. Some other kids did the same.
"Now, to start, we're going to play a get-to-know-you game. I want everybody to take out a piece of paper and a pencil."
Luna tore out a sheet of notebook paper. The blond girl took out a mechanical pencil, then turned to Luna and asked, "Can I have a piece of paper?" Luna tore out another sheet and handed it to her.
"All right, class, now I want you to write two truths and one lie about yourself. Also, put your name on the paper. I will read these to the class, so keep that in mind."
Luna thought for a moment, then jotted down her two truths and a lie.
Truth: I wear contacts.
Truth: I can play four different musical instruments.
Lie: Uh...
Jeez. I can't think of one.
Eh. I'll do something funny.
Lie: I have the power to rewind time.
She folded the paper in half and passed it to the front of her row.
Mr. Hart collected the papers, then shuffled through them and selected one at random.
"Samantha, you're up. So I'm going to read through her two truths and a lie, and then you get to guess which one is the lie. Samantha will tell you if you're right."
Samantha nodded.
"1. I write X-Men fanfiction. 2. My brother is in college. 3. I can play "Piano Man" by Billy Joel."
I wish Statement 3 was true.
"Who thinks Statement 1 is wrong?"
Eight people, including Luna, raised their hands.
"How about Statement 2?"
Six people raised their hands.
"Statement 3?"
Thirteen people raised their hands.
"So which one is a lie?"
Samantha spoke up: "Statement 2. My brother is actually a senior in high school."
Mr. Hart set the paper aside and said, "That's good to know. I think I had your brother in my class. His name is Patrick, right?"
Samantha nodded. "Yep!"
Mr. Hart pulled out another paper.
"Okay, Katie, you're up."
Both Kates said "Okay" simultaneously. Then Short Kate realised her mistake and facepalmed.
"Okay. 1. My brother is on the school robotics team. 2. Cake is my favourite dessert. 3. My mother is a paraprofessional."
Five people raised their hands for number 1, seven raised their hands for number 2, and fifteen (including Luna) raised their hands for number 3.
Tall Kate said with a grin, "The cake is a lie."
A few students groaned at the horrid pun.
The teacher put aside the paper and asked, "What is your favourite dessert, then?"
"Ice cream."
Mr. Hart pulled out another paper.
"Okay, your turn, Luna."
Luna sat forward eagerly, responding, "Cool."
"1. I wear contacts. 2. I can play four different musical instruments."
Mr. Hart started to crack up.
"3," he said between chuckles, "I have the power to rewind time."
The class laughed.
"How many of you think that Statement 3 is a lie?"
Everybody raised their hands except for one boy who had put in earbuds and wasn't paying attention.
Mr. Hart set the paper aside. "What musical instruments do you play, Luna?"
"The guitar, the drums, the ukulele, and the trombone."
"Neat," he replied, pulling out another paper from the pile.
...
Luna walked into the cafeteria, looking around for any friends with whom she could sit.
Don't know them, don't know them, LOATHE that guy, don't know them...
Hey! Leni's over there!
Luna started to manoeuvre her way to her older sister.
All of a sudden, she crashed into the blond girl from Civics class. They both fell to the ground.
"Oh, hi!" said the blond girl, getting up slowly.
"Hey yourself," replied Luna. "You're Samantha, right?"
"Yeah, but just call me Sam," she said. "Hey, you want to sit with me?"
"'Kay, sure, dude."
They walked over to an empty table and sat down. Sam pulled out a lunch box and began to eat. Luna looked at her with mock envy and said, "Lucky!"
"What?" Sam replied defensively.
"I never get a packed lunch."
Sam tilted her head inquisitively. "Why not?"
"'Cuz I got ten siblings, and it'd be a pain for the 'rents to make lunches for all of them."
Sam's face took on an expression of surprise. "Really? Ten siblings?"
"Yep. Nine sisters and one brother."
Luna was used to shocked reactions about her large number of siblings by now.
"Holy crap! That must be insane!"
"Eh, if it's what you grow up with, you get used to it."
Sam gazed at the table for a moment, lost in thought. Finally, she turned back to Luna and spoke. "You could always make your own lunch."
Luna nodded. The idea had never occurred to her before. "I guess so. Better get food, though."
She stood up and walked to the lunch line.
When Luna returned, carrying her tray of food (it was pizza day), she saw that two more kids had sat at the table with Sam.
"Hey, Luna!" she said as Luna sat down. "This is Mia." Sam gestured to the Asian girl sitting to her left, who grinned widely and said, "Hey, how's it going?"
"S'all good. Nice to meetcha," replied Luna.
"And this is Jamie." Sam gestured to the tall boy with brown hair on her right, who smiled at Luna. "He's in my brother's band."
Luna raised her eyebrows. "Your brother has a band?"
"Yep! We're called "The Italians"."
Luna nodded pensively. "I think I can guess what nationality you all are."
"We're all Polish, actually. Well, my brother and I are part Italian, but Jamie and Alex are completely Polish."
Luna chuckled. "That explains the blond hair. Love the dye job, by the way."
"Oh, you like it? Thanks! Uh, your hair's pretty cool, too!" said Sam self-consciously.
"Thanks," said Luna, taking a bite of her pizza. "So you play piano, I'm guessing?"
"Yeah, I do. Also clarinet, but that's just for band class."
"Cool! How long have you been playing?"
"Since I was six. And you?"
"Been playing trombone since fourth grade, and I picked up the guitar in seventh."
Jamie piped up. "I play the guitar, too."
"No one asked you your opinion, Mr. Everything-Revolves-Around-Me!" retorted Mia.
Luna asked, "Do you play an instrument, Mia?"
"Yeah, the clarinet. I'm my section leader in marching band."
"Sweet!"
These people are cool and seem really nice! I'm glad I ran into Sam (literally)!
...
It was a few months later, and Luna was relaxing on the chair in her living room. Lynn was flipping through the sports channels until Lola snatched the remote from her hand, shouting, "It's my turn to pick a show now!"
"Try to take the remote from me, willya?" retorted Lynn. "You're gonna pay!"
The sisters began to pummel each other until Luna stepped in and forcibly separated them.
"GUYS! Why can't we find a show you both wanna watch?"
Lynn and Lola were silent for a moment.
"Good point," said Lynn.
Luna picked up the remote from the floor and began to flip through channels. She stopped upon seeing the movie Ice Princess. "Hey, how 'bout this one? It's got figure skating, which means there's both sports and, uh, femininity!"
Lynn and Lola sat down eagerly as Luna turned on the movie. It opened into the scene where the skaters are performing their routines at sectionals.
Luna quickly grew fascinated.
Holy ****...
Those chicks are...
Hot?
Is that the right word?
Nah, they're cool. Literally.
No, no, be serious.
Yeah. Hot is the right word, I think.
What even...?
Why am I thinking this?
Luna got up from the chair and ran to her room. She sat on her bed and tried to think, to put order to her thoughts whirling confusedly around her head.
Okay, okay.
So what was THAT all about.
I felt...
...attracted to them?
What.
No. No.
That can't be right.
You know, women are supposed to be judged on beauty by society? Maybe this was just a holdover from that?
No. That wasn't it.
Stop lying to yourself. You've had these feelings before. You've thought you might be...
May as well come out and say it, now that you know for sure.
No. I...
There's no proof...
But you know now. Was that not proof?
Luna sighed in defeat.
I'm... bisexual.
Luna looked down at herself.
Why?
...
Luna left her harrowing epiphany looking at herself and her friends in a very different light.
No, everything's still the same. It's just me who's changed.
Well, I haven't changed, really.
I just can't wrap my head around this. How does this happen all of a sudden?
Your world turns upside down, without a reason why...
Okay, that would make a good song.
Luna jotted down the phrase in her planner while she waited for Sam and Jamie to arrive at her lunch table.
"Hey, Moon Unit!" Sam said loudly from behind her, making her jump.
"Jesus CHRIST, dude! I'm THINKING!"
"So you brought your axe, right?" asked Jamie.
"Uh, yeah. Right. So you wanted to hear me play?"
"Yeah. So go ahead, then!" he said excitedly.
Luna slung her guitar across the front of her body a bit nervously. "Uh, what should I play?"
"I don't care. Whatever you like."
"Okay. I'll play that solo from "Hotel California", then. I finally got it down just last week."
"Cool." Jamie and Sam sat down and listened eagerly.
Luna started to play. She used the song to release as much of the emotion festering inside her these past few days as she could. She hit a few wrong notes along the way, though.
Oh jeez, she thought upon hitting a particularly egregious one. **** it, they're not gonna think I'm any good now.
She was shocked upon looking up and noticing that they had thrown up the goats. Then she grinned and played with even more enthusiasm.
Luna looked over at Sam.
Man, she's such a nice person. I'm so glad I'm friends with her.
She just...
Wow. The light really catches her hair.
I never noticed how cute Sam was before.
DUDE! SHE'S LIKE YOUR BEST FRIEND! THAT'S NOT COOL!
Luna finished her song and started to faze out, mentally debating.
No, I'm gonna think what I want. I mean, it's 2017. It's not like... people like me are taboo any more.
Yeah, but still. There's gotta be some sort of BFF-code. Like, Rule 1. Don't develop a crush on your BFF.
Well, there's no list out there that I know of, so it's not really against the rules.
"Luna?" Sam waved her hand in front of Luna's face. "This is Ground Control to Major Loud!"
Luna snapped out of her reverie. "Oh, sorry. Just spaced out there a bit."
"You did a good job, Lunes!" said Jamie. "I really feel like learning that solo now!"
"Thanks, bro!"
Luna put away her guitar and opened her packed lunch, feeling disgusted with herself.
*END OF FLASHBACK!*
Luna turned over in bed again.
Well, I've come to terms with me, now.
And at least I'm in love with a nice person.
She wouldn't reject me, though. She's too nice.
I think everything will turn out all right.
She sighed and finally drifted off to sleep.
I hold no grudges against people from Arkansas; it's just easy to make fun of you guys. :)
(BTW YOU'RE THE REASON I GOT A 4 ON MY AP PHYSICS EXAMS)
(JK)
(WE ALL KNOW IT WAS ALABAMA)
I have never played Portal. It does not belong to me.
The movie Ice Princess does not belong to me. I've watched it, and it's not bad, although it's moderately clichéd and has a sucky message.
My explanation for the inclusion of figure skaters was because I had been thinking about gay figure skaters, and my brain took that thought along a weird path, leading us here. I hope the scene wasn't too unrealistic.
Lent is here and robotics is becoming more and more time-consuming, so I will likely not be able to post every week. I will update as often as I can, though. Happy Valentine's day (and Ash Wednesday), and I hope to see you soon!