Ages:

Jim - 63
Melinda - 59
Katie - 34
Hannah - 34
Lana - 16
Anaya - 16
Adam - 16
Jenna - 16
Emma - 13

Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.

Lana had lost count of how many times she had refreshed her email but each time she was faced with the same thing: No new emails. She knew she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. She knew that Eva was still mad at her.

"Lana?" Her dad, a tall, well-built man, appeared in her doorway in his hospital scrub. "You better get a move on and drop off Emma at the middle school. Otherwise, you'll be late."

She nodded, distracted by refreshing her laptop. "Right. Got it."

Her father coughed pointedly. Even her parents had started to know that something was up. They kept commenting on the dark circles under her eyes and joking about how she must have been talking with someone special.

"Is it that boy Adam that you're always talking to? Are you two dating?" Her dad asked, and she caught sight of her mom than when she came up beside him.

She couldn't help but snort despite the knot in her stomach at her dad's words. What was she supposed to say? Was she supposed to remind them of the conversation they'd had two years before about how she kind of liked girls? Did he even remember that?

"Jim, don't bug Lana about that—"

"No. I'm not dating Adam, dad," she responded.

Why did parents always have to assume that just because a guy and a girl were friends that they were dating? It was heteronormative and annoying.

"Thank god," her dad said. "I don't like him."

Lana laughed, shaking her head. "He's not that bad, Dad." She said, defending her friend's honor. She couldn't help but feel bad for Adam. He had always been polite to her parents, albeit a bit goofy, which caused a rift between him and her father. She didn't understand it.

"No, Dad. I'm emailing my friend," she sighed, shaking her head. "Do you think you could bring Emma to school? That way I can stop and get myself an iced coffee?"

"I suppose," her dad shrugged. "You better leave soon. Mom already left and I'm heading out here now." With those words, her dad turned and left. "Emma? I'm taking you to school."

Lana shut her laptop, pushed back her chair, and got ready for school. A quick glance at her phone showed her that if she didn't hurry up, she'd be screwed. Thank goodness she already brushed her teeth and did her hair. Hastily, she pulled on a dark purple top with black jeans and tennis shoes. She grabbed her backpack and practically flew down the stairs.

"Bye Dad!" She shouted, unsure if he was even still there, before exiting the house.

Her car was sitting in the driveway behind her dad's truck so he must've been, and she tossed her backpack to the ground of the driver's seat before hopping in and driving off.

Thankfully, Anaya and Jenna lived right down the street and while Adam lived a bit farther away, it was no more than a five-minute drive. She pulled into Anaya's driveway and the dark-skinned girl immediately hopped into the passenger seat with a smile.

"Hey, Lan!" Anaya said, way too energetic for a Monday.

"Hey, Nay," she chuckled as she backed out of the driveway and headed two houses down to Jen's house.

"Did you see what happened on Twitter last night?" Anaya asked as they waited for Jenna to come.

"Nope," she said, tapping her hands on the wheel. "And besides you're obsessed with that thing. It's really not healthy."

"Oh, please," Anaya retorted. "You're one to talk Miss Stays At Home on the Weekends."

At that, she rolled her eyes. "I get out," She protested.

Anaya shook her head. "Does Lana ever go to parties with us Jen?"

"Um, not since she drank all of those Mike's hard and puked all over her mom's backseat while trying to act sober," Jenna said, sliding into the backseat.

"Ha, yeah. I was grounded for two months and had to pay to detail her car, so never again," Lana said as she pulled away from the curb. "So what happened on twitter?"

"There's a huge house party at Joe's tonight. His parents are going out of town and his brother is back from college for some reason." Anaya said, pulling up the tweet on her phone camera roll. "They bought a bunch of booze and even have a hookah machine. We should go!"

"Woah, woah, woah. Joe Bassett?" Lana said, feigning disbelief. "I thought you were done with him."

"That was before he saw the error of his ways and apologized," Anaya protested.

She and Jenna both laughed at that. "Whatever. This is the fourth time you've caught him talking to other girls. Let him go already before he really breaks your heart."

"Well, it's my choice." Anaya huffed.

"Let's just get Adam and get our coffee." She sighed and took a left turn.

This had become something of a tradition for them- Lana would pick them all up and they would go to the local coffee shop for food and drinks before heading to school. They continued on their way to Adam's house in silence until it was broken by Jenna leaning forward to turn on the radio.

They jammed the rest of the way to Adam's house to the newest Post Malone song. It was only a moment after she'd pulled up when the boy came running from his house.

"Did you hear about what happened yesterday?" Adam asked as he got into the back seat.

Lana couldn't help but sigh.

"No, listen!" Adam said excitedly. "Jane Knight and Paul Nikos were caught in the locker room together. She was giving him a handy."

"Who was caught doing what?" Anaya demanded, turning around.

Jenna's face morphed into an expression of disgust as he told what happened. "That poor janitor. He has to deal with a ton of shit from the students and now this? He really needs a raise."

She cackled, "Or an HPV vaccine." They had reached the coffee shop and Lana maneuvered the car into the drive-thru line. That was the best installment of the Village Java reconstruction. "What does everyone want?" She called out.

"Regular iced coffee," Anaya said.

"Banana muffin and water," Jenna responded.

"A regular coffee please," Adam said. "But replace the sweetener with-"

"-Honey," Jenna finished, turning her head to look at him.

Adam blinked at her in surprise as a smile spread across her face. Something shifted in the air, something that Lana couldn't place. Adam and Jenna had always been a bit hostile to each other but recently the wall they had built up began to crumble.

They only had to wait a few minutes before their order came.

"Thank you," she said, shooting the worker a smile and leaving a tip in the jar before driving off.

Anaya reached across her to turn up the radio. The song playing had a good beat and catchy lyrics and all of them couldn't help but dance a bit in her seat. In the backseat, Jenna was doing some dance moves that looked like a cross between the robot and the sprinkler. Anaya was giving it her all too, as much as one could when you were trapped in a car. Almost a total opposite, Adam merely moved his head and shoulders, smiling anytime Jenna bumped into him.

Today was going to be a good day.

Lana ducked her head as she made her way into her house. The door was locked, both of her parents were most likely at work, her dad would not be back anytime soon because he was working a double shift, but her mom would be home soon after picking up Emma from her violin lesson to get started on dinner.

That gave her more than enough time to shower and get cleaned up.

Her jaw ached from where she'd been knocked into her locker, her eyes raw from all the tears she'd been able to keep at bay. She wanted to break down and cry, scream at the top of her lungs but she couldn't. She wouldn't give them dumb bitches the satisfaction.

Lana locked the front door and jogged up the stairs, heading straight for the bathroom closest to her bedroom. She frantically ripped off her clothes, wanting to rid of them and all the memories of today it held.

She pulled her black hair back and out of her face. Lana did so, all the while ignoring the splatter of blood that stained her favorite white and black striped shirt. Tears threatened to fall down her cheeks when she saw the ruined fabric. It had been a gift given to her on her fifteenth birthday back before Christmas break.

And now it was ruined and she couldn't keep herself in line like her teacher had begged her to do. Ms. Price's words came right back to as she thought about it, and how the woman had fidgeted with her golden cross that hung on her neck like she was silently judging her for her supposed sin.

I wouldn't want you to make any hasty decisions, Lana. You may be too young to know yourself and what you want when it comes to… that kind… of lifestyle.

Lana stepped closer to the bathroom mirror, attempting to avoid looking at her running black make-up, her faded lipstick covering raw bitten lips. She eyed the bruise darkening her jawline, wincing when she recalled how it felt when her face collided with a locker door.

Something wet slithered down her cheeks and she looked away from her reflection, stepping out of her clothes before entering the shower, turning up the heat as much as she could without burning herself. As the water rained down on her, she allowed herself to believe that it wasn't tears running down her cheeks.

Lana knew coming out wouldn't be as simple as adding bisexual babe to her Twitter and Instagram profile and while her family had always been accepting of her, coming out during high school never would have been easy.

After thoroughly cleaning herself, she stepped out of the steamed shower, gripping the walls to keep herself upright as she cursed herself for not opening a window. When the dizzy spell faded, she wrapped a towel around her body, dumped her clothes in the laundry basket, and padded to her room, all the while helplessly wiping away the endless tears.

The silence of the house seemed to amplify her pain, reminding her just how alone she really was. She wished for the days when Mackenzie had still been at home and when she could annoy her until she would color or do something with her. All Emma did anymore was practiced her violin pieces.

She didn't feel like she belonged here or belonged anywhere. And Carrie knew that and had used it against her today. No one wanted to hang out with a kid that was into both sexes because everyone thought it should just be as simple as choosing one of the other.

The only thing she liked about being at school was the theatre department, but even then, she was unsure of her place with the people there. No one really talked to her outside of class or rehearsal if they didn't have to, and the ache it caused stayed buried somewhere deep inside of her.

She didn't know if it was just her or if there were any new and different rumors she didn't know about. There was always something floating around the school about Lana Clancy. Whether it was hearsay boy gossip where they lied about how far she'd gone with someone or about someone seeing her talk to herself.

Lana had talked to her siblings about being contacted at school and none of them had been bothered as much as she seemed to be since she joined Grandview High. It wasn't always easy to ignore someone yelling at someone to listen to them, even in the loudest part of the lunchroom or courtyard.

Yet she hadn't told anyone this, not even her mother, and she didn't know if she could.

She was just about to slip her shirt over her head when she heard tires squealing outside. Her heart leaped to her throat, her body tensing, waiting for the subsequent collision. However, instead of the sound of metal crashing into metal, the sound of their front door bursting open echoed through the house.

"LANA?" Footsteps thundered up the stairs followed by her big sister Katie's voice. "Lan! Where are you?"

She remained frozen on the spot, positive that her mind was playing tricks on her. Why would Katie be looking for her if she didn't know what had happened?

Tears trailed down her cheeks as another voice along with Katie's continued to echo through the house. It was Hannah's. She heard her sister's friend clomping up the stairs, heard them arguing back and forth that she was there because her phone location said she was.

Her bedroom door was pushed open and Lana bit down on her lip to keep her sob in at the sight of who greeted her.

"Oh, Lan." Katie sighed, that same troublesome look her mom gave someone on her face.

Both women rushed over to her, arms from all sides wrapping around her, sandwiching her between them.

"I heard from someone in the senior class about what happened," Katie told her. "We came as quickly as we could."

She was unable to voice her surprise and the millions of questions currently running through her head. Had Katie told their mom about what happened? Did the entire school know already? But all her mind would really do was scream their names over and over as to reaffirm their presence to her.

"Hey, it's okay. I got you, little sis." Katie said into her ear and that only made things worse. "Just tell me what happened."

A cocktail of emotions exploded with her. The toll of today. The memories it had conjured up. Everything seemed to hit her at once. Her arms moved to grip onto them, fingers clutching their jackets.

"I—I—I t—t—tried to ask this girl if s—s—she wanted to come over for a movie night. We ha—had been working on this project together for theatre," she tried her best not to stutter as she let her tears escape, but it wasn't easy.

"Okay, just breathe. It's gonna be okay." Hannah informed her gently.

"And when I did that she shoved me into a locker and told me she wasn't gay so I shouldn't talk to her about going on dates," she told them. "It only made things worse when Ms. Price made it out to be my fault… she said I shouldn't make such drastic choices… that I am making it worse on myself by choosing this lifestyle."

"Mrs. Price said what to you?" Hannah asked.

"Hannah, don't," Katie muttered, shaking her head. "It's not good to mix your personal feelings about Ashlyn to Lana. She is her student.

"So what… I'll take care of Ashlyn if she's gonna be bringing her stupid red-hat mindset into Lana's school life like she already has." Hannah replied.

"Ms. Price was a trump supporter?" She asked.

Lana was a bit confused by all of this information, and now she could see that this was upsetting Katie too.

No one ever liked to talk about politics too openly in her family, there was enough of that out in the world and it didn't need to be brought in the house too was the family rule.

However, she knew where her parents sat on that spectrum when it came to the belief system they instilled in her and her siblings. They were open-minded and accepting people, and their political views reflected that.

"Hannah," Katie groaned, rubbing her forehead as she pulled back from the hug. "I told you not to. Now, look what you've done."

Hannah looked at her as she spoke. "I know I shouldn't tell you this, but that woman is a terrible person despite being a good teacher." Hannah scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Gotcha," Lana said, sighing. "I kind of got that when she was talking to me. She just kept playing with her cross necklace and it just felt like a lot of judgment… and she used to like me. I used to have an A in that class and now I can't keep higher than a C, but I don't want to be that person."

"Lana, if she is affecting your grades because you told her you are bisexual than we need to do something about this," Katie told her, placing her hand back on her shoulder. "On top of the bullying at school, this needs to be addressed. I haven't told mom or dad because I came straight here, but I will if you don't and I have to."

That jerked her back to herself. "No!" She pulled away, red eyes staring at Katie incredulously. "You can't do anything. It will only make it worse. I didn't even specifically tell her anything about being bisexual… I just said that I was curious about exploring my friendship with someone, and she told me I would be better off not exposing myself to that lifestyle when I am so impressionable."

"She said that you?" Katie asked her, her tone darkening.

She bit her bottom lip, nodding.

Jaw clenched, Katie, and Hannah shared a glance before her sister turned back to her. "Hey." A hand cupped her face and looked up and met crystal blue eyes. "We won't do anything just yet, okay? But mom is going to be home in ten minutes and she is going to see your face."

The relief claimed Lana anyway, her shoulders visibly slumping. "I think it's come to the point where I have to tell her anyhow." She sighed.

"Good," Katie said, looking visibly relieved. "I am glad you didn't make me have to tell her for you."

"You got that checked by the nurse before you left, right?" Hannah asked her gently, eyeing the bruise as she nodded. "Good."

When the front door opened again, she groaned. Lana wasn't ready to have to tame her mother's reaction to all of this.

She knew Melinda would want to stomp down to the school today, but she was thankful to have Katie here. She could talk her mother down and into waiting until at least tomorrow, maybe even next week, but that was hoping for too much.

"Katie? Is that your car out front?" Melinda called out.

Her sister looked at her friend, having a wordless conversation with one facial expression before her lips curled up into a smile. "I'm on it. I'll deal with mom and fill her in. Expect her to be up here soon." Katie leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her cheek before turning around and leaving her room.

She groaned and pulled a pillow over her head. She wasn't ready to deal with all of this yet.