View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
Bella moves. It's uneventful. She's not thrilled with the rain.
New kid shows up at the high school the next day. Hello, the high school. Hello, the students in the high school.
Hello, Jessica.
Jessica's very talkative. It's almost hypnotic.
"So what's Arizona like?"
"Well, sunnier."
"I bet! Wow, have you ever seen snow before?"
"On TV."
"Ha ha ha! Oh man is everybody really tan? Do you hang out at the pool all year round ogling boys?"
"I'm a little too gay to ogle boys."
"Oh! Oh wow. Okay. So um, I know this is a really small town, but guess what?" says Jessica.
"What?" asks Bella.
"We actually have a lesbian here! HEY SOLVEI!" Jessica hollers across the entire cafeteria.
+ Show First Post
onceandforall
thisbrokenworld
Which means no people which means nobody threatening her which means nobody to beat up which is a good thing, right, she doesn't need somebody to beat up, no matter how satisfying it would be, no matter how good it felt to be so completely herself for once in her life, no matter—
She wishes she could talk to Solvei again, but no, bad idea, that's what got her into this mess in the first place. Just because school lacks the specific threat of Ghyslaine doesn't make it a safe place to let down her guard. If she finds somewhere quiet to sit and collect her thoughts and ask herself for advice, who knows who'll decide to bother her next. Nowhere and nothing is safe.
She wishes she could talk to Solvei again, but no, bad idea, that's what got her into this mess in the first place. Just because school lacks the specific threat of Ghyslaine doesn't make it a safe place to let down her guard. If she finds somewhere quiet to sit and collect her thoughts and ask herself for advice, who knows who'll decide to bother her next. Nowhere and nothing is safe.
onceandforall
She has her after-lunch class with Bella, who is also her lab partner, and therefore the one deployed to find her.
"Um - Solvei?"
"Um - Solvei?"
onceandforall
"Well, I don't have anything else to call you, and it seems risky to pick the habit up even if you want me to begin addressing you as Candy or something. Should I tell the bio teacher you are having feminine problems?"
thisbrokenworld
"Sure, go for it," she says. "My actual problem is that I was an idiot and went off to a quiet corner to talk to myself, the trouble with corners being that people can corner you in them, and Jack found me, and he kept trying to touch me and I freaked out and punched him in the face."
onceandforall
"Okay. Uh. Do you want to come over this afternoon and talk to yourself in my house?"
thisbrokenworld
"Probably better than anywhere else I could try it," she says. "Thanks."
onceandforall
"Okay. If you can stomach it, going to the nurse to lie down would probably shore up my story."
gloriousdawn
She pulls herself together enough to go to the nurse, who will not notice if her cover is imperfect; then she pulls herself together a little harder, and calls Ghyslaine to say she'll be visiting Bella tonight.
Ghyslaine asks her what's wrong.
She tries to laugh it off, but Ghys is concerned, and of course Solvei wouldn't keep this sort of thing a secret from her beloved aunt, and Ghyslaine cannot be allowed to suspect anything. So she preserves the bare bones of the story and downplays both the violence and the strength of her reaction, and emphasizes that she's fine, really, it only shook her up a little, she isn't hurt and there's nothing to worry about.
And then the call ends and she has plenty of time to fret about her beloved aunt's potential reactions before the last class of the day finishes and she can go home with Bella.
Ghyslaine asks her what's wrong.
She tries to laugh it off, but Ghys is concerned, and of course Solvei wouldn't keep this sort of thing a secret from her beloved aunt, and Ghyslaine cannot be allowed to suspect anything. So she preserves the bare bones of the story and downplays both the violence and the strength of her reaction, and emphasizes that she's fine, really, it only shook her up a little, she isn't hurt and there's nothing to worry about.
And then the call ends and she has plenty of time to fret about her beloved aunt's potential reactions before the last class of the day finishes and she can go home with Bella.
onceandforall
Bella collects her from the nurse's office.
"How are you holding up?" she asks, once they are safely in her station wagon.
"How are you holding up?" she asks, once they are safely in her station wagon.
thisbrokenworld
She scrunches down uncomfortably in her seat.
"Nowhere safe to sit and think, and I had to do a perfect Solvei anyway to call Ghyslaine and tell her I was going to your house, and I was too rattled to be an un-rattled Solvei so she noticed something was wrong and I had to tell her that a guy was bothering me and she wouldn't leave me alone until I told her his name and I did my best but she's certainly thinking about murdering him and for all I know she might actually do it, and he doesn't deserve that just for being a creep, I almost murdered him when he had me cornered and wouldn't let me go, apparently that's what I'm good for when I'm not being Solvei, 'be miserable and nearly kill people', what a wonderful legacy, I hate myself."
"Nowhere safe to sit and think, and I had to do a perfect Solvei anyway to call Ghyslaine and tell her I was going to your house, and I was too rattled to be an un-rattled Solvei so she noticed something was wrong and I had to tell her that a guy was bothering me and she wouldn't leave me alone until I told her his name and I did my best but she's certainly thinking about murdering him and for all I know she might actually do it, and he doesn't deserve that just for being a creep, I almost murdered him when he had me cornered and wouldn't let me go, apparently that's what I'm good for when I'm not being Solvei, 'be miserable and nearly kill people', what a wonderful legacy, I hate myself."
onceandforall
"Being cornered sounds scary," says Bella slowly, since this seems like a safe thing to say even not knowing what she's doing.
thisbrokenworld
"Yes. It is. For both of us. I should never have let myself get that distracted where anyone could find me. Solvei was upset and I was upset and it was just - it wasn't good."
onceandforall
"You can come over as often as you want to have a place to think."
thisbrokenworld
Bella's house contains absolutely no personal-space-disrespecting teenage boys. So it has that going for it.
onceandforall
Bella... goes into the kitchen and fixes up a marinade to get marinating for dinner so that Solvei and whoever lets Solvei live in her head can chat without interference.
thisbrokenworld
Solvei and whoever lets Solvei live in her head collectively find a corner of couch to perch in and curl up very small and close their eyes and have a silent conversation.
"Solvei, help."
"Solvei, help."