‘You sure you’re feelin’ better? You still don’t look great. No offence.’‘It’s fine. I just haven’t slept well, that’s all.’‘If you’re sure. I don’t want you to come back too soon and end up worse.’
‘You don’t need to worry about me.’‘Hey, I’d be a shitty boss if I didn’t care about the health of my employees. And a shitty friend.’‘If I thought you were either of those things, you’d know about it by now.’‘Good point!’
‘Anyway, about your vote…’‘C’mon Aria, you already know what it is.’‘Are you registered to vote?’‘Yep. I’ve lived here a while, you know that.’
‘Good… Sorry, I just can’t stand the idea of him winning.’‘Me neither, man. Is that why you’re on edge? At least, it don’t feel like it’s just the illness.’‘…Yeah. Does it seem petty to you?’
‘Petty? What part of that’s meant to be petty?’‘You know, when we were telling people down at the pub not to vote for him, and that Wayne said I shouldn’t treat my dad like that and ruin his chances just because we don’t get on.’‘Hell no, Aria. That guy’s a fuckin’ creep, anyway, I wouldn’t listen to him.’‘I could’ve worked that out when you told me he runs a strip club.’‘Yeah, and from what you told me ‘bout Tate, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was one of the patrons.’
‘That’s a lovely thought, Stan. I’m so grateful.’‘Sorry… Though, uh, I can’t talk. I’ve been before. Not to that one, but a different one.’‘Don’t ruin our friendship like this.’
‘Not for a dance or nothin’ like that, though! And I wouldn’t do it if I was taken.’‘Don’t do it at all. Gross.’‘It was my cousin’s stag. I couldn’t really back out, it was in Italy and I didn’t wanna ruin the night. Anyway, it wasn’t that good. The novelty wears off quickly. Besides, my grandpa came along too.’
‘…Your grandpa went on a stag do? To a strip club?’‘He don’t miss a party.’‘Wow.’’Yeah. And then my grandma told him after if he wanted to see a woman strip, he could’ve stayed home.’‘Okay, I’m gonna stop you there.’
‘Ah, shit, I just remembered. I was meant to be handing in my payment for prom!’
‘We can go before the end of break.’‘I did mine last week. Still need to drag Aria to help me go dress shopping. She’s got a good eye for these things.’
‘Mind if I tag along, or is it a sisters only deal? I don’t ever wear the things, but I figured I should get into the spirit of it. At least, I’m not really the suit-wearing kind of lesbian.’‘No, that’ll be fine. A girly shopping trip is nice now and again.’‘Cool! What about you guys? You got your outfits sorted?’
‘Not yet. I’ll have to get my mum to help. I’m not convinced I can pick out a good suit on my own!’
‘Uh… I don’t think I can make it.’‘What? But you have to go! It wouldn’t be the same without you.’‘Look, I can barely afford the ticket, let alone a suit. There’s no way Mum would pay for it, so it’d come out of my pocket money, and… Those things are expensive.’‘That’s not fair! She wouldn’t do that for you, to have a good time? It’s like our last hurrah. Before real life comes along and kicks us in the face.’‘It’s my mum, Ive. Her budget towards me having a good time is pretty non-existent. I know, it sucks. I really wanted to go.’
‘God… Even Ellis and Aria managed to squeeze some money out of Tate for prom… Though they did go to Roxxi for it.’‘I was gonna say, Tate having a moment of kindness?’‘Too good to be true.’
‘Surely we can find you a cheap suit?’‘I dunno. It might be too late, anyway.’
‘We should find a way, man.’
‘Thanks. It’d be cool if we could. Otherwise, you’re just gonna have to be the cool dude with a girl hanging off each arm!’
‘Hmm, think we can manage that, Raya?’
‘Yeah, I think so… what about you?’‘Sure, why not. But if Heath comes, I guess I’ll have him, and you can get Logan all to yourself!’‘I guess I will…’
‘Or we can just go as a foursome, because nobody actually does the date thing.’
‘No offence, but you three are the last people I’d have a foursome with!’‘Not that kind of foursome!’‘Actually, it’s probably better not to go in couples.’
‘Because I’d have to have you?’‘Hey! You offered to have me!’‘I was being kind to Saraya.’
‘Damn. Hope Heath brought his burn heals to school.’‘You think he’d be able to carry enough? They’d probably be used up by mid-morning…’‘I think you’re onto something there, Raya!’
‘You guys are assholes. No, I meant because it doesn’t usually work out, does it? Imagine if I’d ended up having to come with Lisa. If I do manage to come, I’d much rather not have my memories of it tainted by having a shitty person as a date.’‘Right, but none of us have future sight, do we?’‘Exactly. Better not to risk it.’
‘Aww, Heath! I was only kidding, y’know. You’d make a great date for someone. You’re not giving up on people, are you?’‘For good? Nah. Until we leave school, damn right. I can at least set my sets higher by virtue of not looking for people in this shithole.’‘Valid point, but you’d better not be including us in that!’‘Like I said, the three of you are pretty sexy in your own ways, but my dick’s going nowhere near it.’
‘I think there’s some good people here… But you’ve gotta get the awkward questions out of the way first. If you manage to get past that and it still goes wrong after that, well, that’s life. You can only do so much. Either way, I don’t blame you for wanting to wait. You can start slutting it up when we’ve graduated, right?’
‘Yeah, much as I’d like to imagine that, I’ll probably just be a virgin playing video games in his room.’‘You and me both, buddy.’
‘You two are gonna have an easier time of it than me, that’s for sure.’‘But you’re, um, a good-looking guitarist in a band…’
‘Oh, um, thanks… But you know what the obvious issue is. Y’know, that thing we talked about the other day.’‘Ah… I guess… But some people won’t mind.’‘Yeah, I hope so…’
‘She’s right, my dude. It’ll all work out.’
‘Aria, love, you’ll be late for work. It’s already 8:30.’
‘…I already called in sick.’‘Oh, are you not feeling very well?’‘No…’
‘Oh dear. What do you need? Do you want to come upstairs, or stay in bed?’
‘Edward… Oh God, I’ve done something awful…’‘What’s wrong?’‘I can’t…’
‘How about I tell Ellis to go on and set off without you? Then we can talk upstairs, once they’ve all gone to work and school.’‘Okay.’
‘So, what happened?’‘…Olivia’s dead.’
‘Dead? How?’‘I did it! I killed her by accident!’‘Whoa, whoa, what? When?’
‘Last night! I-I went to the karaoke bar but I saw her going into her place, she lives next door! Then I went in to talk to her a-a-and we got into an argument then I pushed her and she fell back and cracked her head!’‘Hang on, slow down… You went to talk to her? Why?’‘I still had all these questions about what happened in Bridgeport and I didn’t wanna ask you about it!’
‘Oh, no…’‘I’m sorry! I was stupid! I just wanted to know for good why it all happened… and it went so wrong! I didn’t mean to do it!’‘Dear God… what happened after that?’
‘I just left… God, I bet the police are gonna come knocking any minute!’‘…Did anybody see you?’‘N-No… as far as I know.’
‘Right… let’s hope that’s the case.’‘You’re not going to shop me?’‘Good God, no. That’s the last thing any of us want. After everything we've already been through, do you think I want to tear apart this family even more?’‘But I’m a killer…’‘If you’re telling the truth about it being an accident, then it’s manslaughter. Look… anybody else and I would have to report you. But Olivia is no innocent victim, is she?’
‘She said she arranged Tate and Sheri’s marriage as payment for the hit…’
‘…What the…? Jesus, I knew their wedding came quite soon after his death, but I hadn’t realised that was the case…’‘Sheri never knew about any of it. They just shamelessly married her off to her father’s killer! Olivia had the nerve to claim it was better that she was oblivious!’‘That’s appalling.’
‘We were right. She admitted she and Tate plotted it together all along, that Tate had already been a hitman for a while-’‘Oh, fuck.’‘Yeah… So they killed John for his money, and put Miles in a mental hospital against his will. It was all true!’‘Just like we theorised…’‘And I wondered how Miles got her to comply, when he got out, and she said he had demons on his side!’
‘Demons? Did I hear that right?’‘Yeah! She seemed deadly serious, too! I don’t think she was making that part up. And that’s the only explanation that makes any sense!’‘Well, it does if you accept that demons exist… But then, sometime ago I wouldn’t have accepted the existence of aliens either, so…’
‘Exactly… We know about aliens and vampires, so why is that too much of a stretch?’‘You’re right, it’s not.’‘I wish I’d never gone… I wanted the truth, but not like that! I never meant to kill her! I didn’t even think I’d hurt her!’
‘What were you thinking? You should have left it.’‘I wasn’t thinking. I fucked up so bad…’‘Oh, Aria… I pray nobody finds out it was you. No CCTV, or serious police investigation… I certainly won’t be the one to give you up, though. Christ. She deserved it.’
‘What do I do?’‘We do nothing. Was there anyone else living there?’‘I don’t know, but it didn’t seem like it. Nobody else was there at the time, anyway…’
‘With a bit of luck, nobody saw anything and it won't ever be linked back to you.’‘I’m so sorry about this.’‘Good. You should be. And for God’s sake, don’t tell Ellis. Don’t tell anyone, but especially not him. It wouldn’t be fair to put him in that position.’‘Of course… I won’t.’
‘Believe me, you don’t have to convince me to vote against your dad. I’d never vote for his party anyway, whether it was him or anyone else.’
‘Definitely not, man.’‘Me neither.’
‘Thanks. I just wish I could! I’m not eighteen until June.’
‘What’re his chances, realistically?’‘They’re good. Polls seem to be going that way, anyway…’‘Well, let’s hope the prick doesn’t get in.’
‘Yeah. It’s really the last thing we want…’
‘Hey, there’s something I wanna say. I’ve got something to tell you two.’‘Okay?’‘Alright… I’ve known you both a long time now, and I feel like I can trust you. I’m gonna get straight to the point. I’m not biologically male.’
‘You’re not?’
‘No. I guess you could say I was born a girl, but it’s not really the preferred term… Well, it’s not strictly accurate either, because I’ve always been a guy, just not in terms of sex… Sorry, I’m rambling. Does that make sense?’‘He’s transgender. He’s transitioning to male, but it doesn’t change anything, alright? He’s still the same person you’ve always known.’
‘Wow! Sorry, I just never would’ve guessed…’‘No, me neither… I never thought any different.’
‘Heath said you’d talked about puberty hitting me hard over the summer. Actually, I’d just started taking hormones, and it made a huge difference. See, I’d been on hormone-blocking medication before then to prevent puberty. I didn’t wanna have to start having periods, growing boobs and all that.’
‘Holy shit. I mean, no wonder…’‘…It doesn’t bother either of you, does it?’‘No!’
‘No, not at all! Were you worried we’d have a problem with it?’
‘I guess so. I mean, I knew you were open-minded, but a lot of people still don’t quite get it. I don’t expect everyone to get it 100% right, so I won’t be mad if you accidentally say something wrong, but I really want… acceptance, more than anything else.’
‘It doesn’t matter to me, Logan. I’m just glad you felt like you could trust us enough to tell us.’‘Yeah, I do. I kinda wish I’d told you sooner, actually. It does feel a bit like I was lying to you…’
‘It’s not lying. People aren’t owed an explanation. It makes sense to wait for people to prove they can be trusted first.’
‘Heath’s right. I don’t feel like I’ve been lied to. It’s kind of a shock, but it doesn’t make any difference at all!’‘Yeah, you’ve got nothing to worry about.’
‘Thanks, you guys… I really wanna be clear though: I don’t want anyone to see me as anything but a dude. Even if I don’t have the body of one, and maybe never will. I probably won’t ever get surgery. But I want you to treat me the same way you always have.’
‘Got it, Logan. So… how long have you been transitioning?’
‘Since I was eight. I’m really lucky, to be honest. I’d always known something wasn’t right, and any time my mum put me in a dress or got me girly things, I hated it. She figured I was just a tomboy, but it was more than that. And it kinda escalated from there. I told her I wanted to be a boy, but she didn’t take it that seriously at first. I don’t blame her for it; I was still really little, and she was doing her best. But then one day I cut most of my hair off. She took me to the doctor after that.’‘Damn… so then what happened?’‘We saw a specialist. They agreed that I should transition. So, I was fortunate enough to be able to go on the hormone blockers. Mum pulled me out of my old school and sent me to a new one for a fresh start, so none of them ever knew I’d been a girl. We lived a bit further out, so by the time I was ready for high school, nobody here at Sunset Valley High had ever known me either, except for Heath.’
‘Sounds like it was for the best.’‘Yeah… much as I wanna be proud of who I am, I also don’t wanna risk getting shit over it. I like the way things are now.’
‘I’d never blame you for not wanting to be out at school, of all places.’
‘But hey, just because you’re not out to those people doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be proud… Actually, I think it’s really admirable. Living the life you want to, being the person you wanna be.’
‘Thanks a lot, guys. That means a lot to me.’‘See, I knew you had nothing to worry about.’
