After three years Tina had gotten used to the size of Huxley High. Freshman year it seemed enormous. She got lost going to every class and cried at least fifty times that first day. Now that she was a senior the building seemed so small. Senior year was off to a promising start. Brooke was in three of her four core classes. She was taking honors English while Brooke was in a regular class. They had different electives. Brooke was in chorus and band. Tina was creative writing and drama. Dillion was in drama and her science and history class. Susmita was taking all AP classes. Thank God her college advisor recommended she take a creative elective, and Tina had swayed her into creative writing. By a shear miracle the four all ended up in the same lunch period. It was only the first day, but a table was already placed at the entry to the cafeteria inviting Seniors to sign up for the various committees offered to make the last year great. Tina signed up for the song committee. She was hoping to get the title track from the last ever Boyz 4 Now album "Last Chance Summer Romance" selected. Even though most of her classmates now considered Boyz 4 Now to be uncool. She still had to hold onto hope.
"T-Bird! Over here!" Zeke called.
"Zeke?" Tina gasped.
Zeke had abruptly left school about halfway through the last semester of Junior year. The rumors spread like wildfire. Everything from he had been kicked out of the house and had to quit school. To he got expelled for putting the economics teacher in a full nelson and was now in jail. Brooke kept her lips sealed. Saying he had something with "his other family." Which didn't make sense. Zeke's family was his dad, his stepmom Cheryl, Brooke, and his baby half sister Olivia. His grandmother died just before winter break of their sophomore year. There was his cousin Leslie, but he was still in Seymour's Bay. Then over the summer Tammy claimed she saw him in the park with a little boy. Granted Tammy wasn't a reliable narrator, but Tina still wondered. Could Zeke have a child? As far as Tina knew he had never had a serious relationship.
"Zeke? What are you doing here? I mean when did you come back to town?" Tina questioned.
"Got back around July. I wanted to see ya, but Brooke said yer grandfather had died and you were out of town. I'm sorry for yer loss." Zeke apologized.
"Thanks, he had Alzheimer's, and he just went downhill really quick." Tina replied.
"That's rough." Zeke sighed.
"So, what happened to you? I mean where have you been?" Tina asked, hoping she wasn't overstepping any bounds.
"Tina" Brooke whispered.
"Nah it's OK. I've heard the rumors. 'Ts time to put em to rest." Zeke sighed. "My stepdad died last spring." Zeke explained.
"Oh, I am sorry to hear that." Tina apologized.
"Don't be sorry. Ain't nobody gonna miss that miserable old bastard. I actually feel sorry for the devil havin' to have him in Hell." Zeke scoffed.
"So, if you weren't close why did you disappear for so long?" Susmita inquired.
"I promised my mama when she was dyin,' I'd be there for him. Even though he was the one who threw me out cause he didn't wanna raise no more kids. I still packed up and went to the funeral when I got word he had passed away. Though part of me did it to dance on his grave." Zeke explained.
"Why did you stay?" Tina asked.
"Wasn't gonna. Was gonna go to the funeral and be back the next day, but I get to town and find out my dumbass stepbrother got another kid he won't take care of 'cept this time the girl too busy doin' drugs. The bastard was supportin' the kid financially to keep up the image, but he didn't care. They wanted to put him in foster care. I spent four years in the system. I wasn't about to let the same happen to him. So, I stayed back and took care of him. Believin' that, that dumb fuck was gonna get his head out of his ass and start carin' bout his kid. Finished Junior year online. Thinkin' I was doin' right. Bastard Junior decided I was adoptin' his boy and skips town. I realize I can't be raisein' a kid at seventeen. I call child services and the state takes custody of the boy." Zeke explained,
"God, Zeke I am so sorry. That is horrible but I am glad to know you stepped up." Tina apologized.
"Thanks" Zeke sighed.
"So, who was the kid Tammy saw you at the park?" Susmita asked.
"That was Evan my step-bro's kid. After everything that happened. My cousin Leslie decided to take him in. Him and his wife Gloria have been tryin' as long as they've been married and that's nearly two years." Zeke explained.
"Well, I'm glad he's still in your life." Tina commented.
"Me too, Evan is a great boy. He can't help who his parents are. None of us can. Least my dad and Cheryl got it together 'nough to raise me, Livy, and Brooke." Zeke sighed.
"I guess I am pretty lucky." Tina whispered.
"Are ya kiddin'? Ya won the lottery when it comes to parents." Zeke sighed as much as he loved his dad and Cheryl. He was a little jealous of what Tina and her siblings had.
"I hope I can be a good parent one day." Tina murmured, shuddering at the memory of the pregnancy scare she had last spring.
"I see ya with Gene and Louise. Ya will be a great mom one day." Zeke assured.
"Just thankfully not any day now. Like we thought it was gonna be." Susmita laughed. Like Tina, Susmita was autistic and also tended to not think before she spoke.
"Do what?" Zeke gasped.
"I had a pregnancy scare while you were down in Alabama." Tina confessed.
"What? J Ju and I had a huge fight the night before my stepdad died! We haven't spoken in six months." Zeke cried.
"That was the night it happened." Tina whispered. Her math wasn't the best but that was the last time Jimmy Junior and her were together in that way.
G.G. shuffled awkwardly though the lunch line. For the most part Huxley High was an extremely progressive and accepting school. They were among the first schools in New Jersey to have a gay/straight alliance and they had paid for G.G.'s headphones. When they realized that they struggled with sensory overload. Unfortunately, any bushel had its bad apples, and the bad ones were rotten. They had come to their locker after second period and discovered a hideous word that began with an "F" carved into their locker. Their guidance counselor had offered to send them home and the discipline office had already reviewed the camera and nabbed the kids responsible. The situation had been handled but that didn't mean the hurt was gone. As they shuffled through the cafeteria. They wished that they had gone home. Peter Pescedero was in a different lunch period; they hadn't had a chance to see Courtney before school but so far, they had no classes together. Alex was in all their classes and thus had the same lunch but, well, Louise wasn't the only Belcher child to be ghosted by a friend over the summer.
"Gene!" Courtney called.
"Courtney! Thank God!" G.G. cried.
"How was your summer? Mine was amazing!" Courtney cried.
"OK except my grandfather died." G.G. replied.
"Your dad's dad or your mom's?" Alex asked sitting down.
"My mom's." G.G. muttered.
"Well, he had been sick for a while, hadn't he?" Alex asked.
"Alzheimer's" G.G. sighed.
"That's so sad." Courtney replied.
"So how was you guys' summer?" G.G. asked.
"It was weird. My parents finally got divorced." Alex replied.
"I thought they worked it out." G.G. commented.
"They did but then my mom really doubled down on the healthy habits thing. My dad finally had enough, and we moved out in June." Alex explained.
"I am sorry." G.G. apologized.
"Honestly we are all happier than we have been in years." Alex replied.
"That's good I guess." G.G. replied.
"My turn! It's my turn! My summer was amazing! Alex and I are dating! His dad put him in the Children of Divorce United! The same group I am in!" Courtney cried. Courtney's parents had separated after sixth grade when Doug cheated.
"Yeah, uh we started talking after group one night. Then we went to the wharf and had our first date at the Wharf of July Festival." Alex explained.
"That's great but why didn't you tell me?" G.G. asked.
"Gene, we only got together on July Fourth. Then I left for a month to be a C.I.T at my aunt's summer camp. When I got back in August, I had to spend the rest of the summer in Maine with my mom at this ridiculous camp place that was supposed to detox us from technology." Alex explained.
"Oh OK" G.G. whispered. "Uh I am not hungry." They then lied.
G.G. picked up their tray and once again found themselves shuffling through the cafeteria. They could not believe this was happening. How could they have missed so much? Grandpa Al had died on June twenty ninth, but he had gotten sick about two weeks before. Grandma Gloria had called in mid-June and informed them that she suspected he was nearing the end. Linda, Gayle, and them immediately flew down to Florida after getting the news. While Bob had stayed back home with Tina and Louise. In their haste G.G. had accidentally left their phone sitting on their bed back home. By the time they got back Alex and Courtney were already a couple unbeknownst to them.
"Mind if I sit here?" G.G. asked upon coming to the first empty seat.
"Only if you answer these riddles three." A lanky boy with olive skin and shoulder length black hair laughed. He was the most attractive person G.G. had ever seen in their life. Too bad he was a jerk.
"Oh" G.G. muttered utterly defeated.
"Hey take it easy. I was just kidding." The boy apologized.
"Sorry I don't always understand when people are kidding." G.G. scoffed.
"Oh, shit you are autistic! My nephew is autistic! I should have known. I am not autistic. I am just stupid. I am so sorry." The boy rambled.
"On second thought. I feel sick." G.G. replied.
G.G. tossed their tray in the nearest trash can and raced for the nearest bathroom. The bathrooms by the cafeteria were notoriously skeevy but the girl's room was slightly better. For that reason, they ran into the girl's room. They hunched over the sink splashing water over their face. What was happening? Why was their heart racing like this? They had had crushes before. They had even dated Courtney three times. Twice in sixth grade and again in eighth, but they had never felt anything like this. Were they in love? They wished Tina were in their lunch period. Tina was an expert on love, and they were not sure they could wait until the end of the day.
Louise threw herself into the furthest, most isolated seat in the cafeteria. She had been dreading lunch all day. For the first time in her life, she had nobody to sit with during lunch. When she first came to Wagstaff she sat with Tina and Gene. She was in third grade when Wagstaff changed the grade structure and added fourth grade to the middle school level. So, until last year she had Tina and/or Gene with her. In fourth grade she stepped out of her comfort zone and befriended Rudy, Jessica, Megan, and to an extent Millie. Millie turned in the sixth grade and Kayley transferred schools last year. Last year she had Rudy, but this year she had nobody. Her stomach was churning, and her lunch looked even more disgusting than usual. She hawked into the nearest trash can.
"You know Louise. You would get curves and grow if you ate something. You might even hit puberty, but I guess that is your plan. If you keep looking like a baby. Nobody will question you about your hat. Which by the way is getting rattier by the day." Chloe taunted.
"Shut up, Chloe! Puberty is gross and I am glad I am a late bloomer!" Louise snapped.
"Baby, baby give me your answer do." Chloe sang.
"Doesn't even make sense." Louise spat.
Louise stormed out of the cafeteria. She really wanted to stay on Frond's good side. She had just finally been dismissed from extra counseling last spring and there was no way she was going back. She ran down the hall to the nurse's office. Part of her wanted to go in faking a stomachache and go home but she had avoided the nurse's office at all costs since fifth grade. She had escorted Jessica to the nurse after she got sick in art class one day. She hated herself for joking about kissing Jessica on the lips and catching what they at the time thought was the flu. She was so innocent back then. Speaking of Jessica. Where the hell was, she? She was supposed to come back to school this year. For a moment she wondered if Jessica was in another class. Until she remembered that Wagstaff only had one home room for each grade level. Maybe she hadn't kept up with her work in the hospital and had to repeat the seventh grade. No, she had assured Louise that she would be in eighth grade. She had even given her, her locker number.
Louise had never been more relieved to hear the bell ring. How on Earth was her second year alone at Wagstaff worse than her first? Oh yeah because this year she was totally alone. She ran home as fast as she could. Grateful Bob had given them the first day of school off or so she thought. Why were Tina and Gene in the restaurant? Why did she care? Maybe her siblings were suckers but she was definitely going to take advantage of a day off. Then again, she did want to take over the restaurant one day. If she didn't start pulling her weight. Bob may just change his mind. Even though he had unofficially promised it to her in the fourth grade. Gene would run it into the ground and Tina would start selling burgers shaped like butts. Both of which made her equally sick. Sighing, she opened the door and stepped inside. The restaurant was weirdly quiet and not just because they were in the slow period between lunch and dinner. There was actually nobody inside besides the Belchers. Not even Teddy or Mort. Mort was keeping kosher since his mom moved in with him last year, but Teddy was almost always in this time of day.
"Teddy and Kathleen are wedding planning." Bob muttered.
"They may be by later. Linda added.
"God, Louise I am so sorry." Tina apologized.
"Sorry about what?" Louise asked.
"Well, the thing. Is…. Oh God! I can't do it! I can't break my baby's heart! You tell her Bobby." Linda sobbed.
"Louise remember this morning? How you were asking about Jessica, the thing with that is. I am sorry I can't do it either." Bob whimpered.
"Louise, Jessica was not feeling well the other day. Her parents rushed her to the hospital in the middle of the night. They ran some tests. Louise the leukemia is back." Tina explained horrified that she had to break her sister's heart in such a way.
"What?! No! That's impossible! She had the bone marrow transplant! That was supposed to cure her! I could not fucking see her for a year! Because the God Dammed bone marrow transplant was supposed to fucking cure her! So how the God Dammed, hell is the mother fucking cancer back?!" Louise snapped.
"Cancer is a beast, Louise. A relentless beast that does not care who it hurts." Bob replied.
"So, what now? She goes through more chemo to get another bone marrow transplant? And I have to endure another year without her and just pray that it works this time?" Louise demanded.
"Louise, cancer is growing way faster this time. It's already stage four. Jessica is too weak for anymore treatment." Bob explained.
"What does that mean?" Louise asked.
"Louise, Jessica is dying." Tina informed,