Chapter Text
It was 8:36 on a beautiful Saturday evening, and Aleia Erikson was ready to fidget out of her skin. Her leg bounced restlessly, and she could only sit back and watch the town fly by as she and her friend Maya headed to a cast party, counting down the minutes till they got there.
Maya, a small, dark skinned girl gave a brief glance at her friend, chuckling and shaking her head before turning her eyes back to the road. It was rare for the quiet, easy going Aleia to be nervous, much less visually so. “What’s gotten into you?” She wondered, almost to herself, but saw her tall, black haired friend shrug out of the corner of her eye.
“There’s just someone I want to see,” Aleia quietly replied. “I want to make sure that they’re alright.” This got Maya’s attention –there was a whole story there, and it was a whole story that her best friend hadn’t informed her of. She turned to give her junior a curious glance when they hit a red light, but was ignored. With a huff she turned forward again, a smile tugging on her lips.
“You can tell me, you know,” she said playfully before honking at a driver in front of her on their phone that hadn’t seen the light turn green. “People are morons- that asshole is gonna get someone killed. Anyway, I won’t tell anyone. You know I won’t.” Aleia shrugged at the reflection in the window.
“I know,” she finally replied. The dark skinned, freckled face and amber eyes of her reflection blinked back at her before she tilted her head against the glass, her mind pulling her back into the memory of little under a week before.
~ ~ ~
Aleia was not a forgetful person, and yet here she was, trekking back up the stairs to her scenic third floor locker. How did she manage to forget her chemistry homework? Even when she forgot things, she never forgot homework, especially when it was due the next day.
She sighed, brushing her curly black hair out of her face as she rounded the corner to the back hallway where her locker was located. Shrill voices brushed over her and she looked up as she walked, seeing a group of four girls in a semicircle near her locker. She recognized two of them from her art class, but the other two were girls she hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t until she got closer that she realized there was another girl, cowering against the wall.
“What an ugly fag,” the girl in the middle of the semicircle was sneering, reaching out to grab the cowering girl’s hair. Aleia drew herself up full height and elongated her stride as the middle girl continued. “You’re disgusting, dyke. But you probably like this, don’t you? I see the way you look at us. It’s gross, like you’re obsessed. You should kneel and beg our forgiveness, you sickening lesbo.” The harasser held up a fist, but before she could bring it down, Aleia grabbed her wrist and pulled. The girl, a sophomore named Grace, looked up at her with wide, surprised eyes, hands falling from the other girl’s hair, before her face slipped into a sneer. Her friends turned to glare at the upperclassman as well.
“You should be begging her forgiveness, Grace,” Aleia stated, held tilting as she stared blankly at the sophomore. “The only disgusting thing here is your judgement.” The sophomore let out a shrill laugh.
“You’re defending her? She’s a dyke! If you don’t watch out, she’ll be obsessing over you!”
“Unless you’re a lesbian, too,” The other girl from her art class piped up. Aleia shot her an even look, watching the girl flinch.
“What would it matter to you, Allison?” Aleia asked quietly, voice stern. “It’s not like it’s your business. And, for the record, if I was attracted to girls, none of you would have to worry- bullies aren’t my type.” She let go of Grace’s wrist, giving each of the girls a challenging look before she continued. “Now. Apologize to her.” The sophomores spluttered indignantly before Grace composed herself and stepped forward, chin tilted up to meet Aleia’s eyes.
“No. You should have stayed out of our business,” she grinned menacingly. Aleia just raised an eyebrow. “And don’t try to tell anyone about this, or I’ll ruin your life.” She turned away from the upperclassman. “Let’s go, girls. Scum.” It was addressed in a condescending voice to the girl on the floor, and before Aleia could stop her, Grace gave a hard kick to the still cowering girl’s shins. The upperclassman sighed, plopping down next to the victim when the four were out of sight.
The girl was short and chubby (fluffy, Aleia thought with a gentle smile, cute) with honey blonde hair pulled back into a bun on top of her head. The upperclassman noted with regret that it had been destroyed in the poor girl’s rough handling, but was pulled out of the thought when the girl looked up. Her upturned green eyes were red rimmed and glassy as tears spilled down flushed cheeks, and she wiped harshly at them.
“I’m so sorry about that,” the blonde whispered, voice thick and hitching with sobs. Aleia felt a painful twinge of sympathy in her chest. “You didn’t need to get involved.”
“You’ve done nothing wrong. No one should have to be judged for who they love.” The smaller girl gave a hopeless shrug at Aleia’s answer.
“Doesn’t seem to stop us from being judged,” she replied bitterly. The two fell into an awkward silence, Aleia rolling the words over in her head, the blonde simply sitting with her eyes closed, head on her knees. The quiet was punctuated with sobbing breaths. “I’m sorry, that was unnecessary,” the girl finally said, looking up at Aleia and sniffling.
“Don’t be sorry,” the brunette replied with a shrug. “It ain’t right, but you’re not wrong.” Another awkward silence.
“I’m Annie, by the way,” the blonde informed quietly, looking shyly down at the floor. “Annie Hardings. I’m a sophomore, and I’m in the school play. I see you working in the booth sometimes.” That piece of information made everything click, and Aleia nodded slowly.
“That’s right, you play Fantine. I’m Aleia Erikson, a junior. I’m on lights. Nice to meet you, Annie.” The blonde gave a small, teary smile.
“Nice to meet you, too, Aleia.” The quiet that followed was easier that the others, natural. The tall, dark skinned girl found herself reaching over, gently ruffling the blonde’s hair. She took a moment to appreciate how soft it was before she pulled away, smiling at the confused look she was given before her expression turned serious.
“Give me your phone.” Annie sputtered indignantly at the demand as Aleia held her hand out. The blackette sighed before elaborating. “I’m going to put my number in. You can call me if anything like this happens again, or if you just need to talk.” The blonde gave a sigh, but smiled softly.
“You don’t really think before you speak, do you?” Aleia shrugged at the question, not putting down her hand. She had often been told she was too blunt, but she just couldn’t see the point in beating around the bush. It was less confusing her way. Annie continued. “You don’t have to worry- I have plenty of people I can talk to.”
“But it doesn’t hurt to have more, does it?” Aleia reasoned, blinking in surprise when the girl next to her began to laugh. “Is that funny?”
“No. You’re just very pushy.” The blonde got out between giggles. Her mirth was infectious, and the black skinned girl found herself grinning. After a while, the younger girl calmed down enough to continue, still smiling. “I don’t understand why you care so much, but here.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocking it and opening a new contact before handing it to the upperclassman. Aleia quickly typed in her information before giving the phone back, commenting on how cute the case was. Annie giggled, thanking her, before heaving herself to her feet, brushing the dust off her clothes, green eyes light and warm as though their rims weren’t still red and puffy.
Aleia thought that Annie was very cute, but pushed that thought away for later as she too stood. “I care so much because no one deserves to be treated like that,” she said, pulling out her own phone and handing it to the blonde who, standing up, only reached her shoulder. Cute. “And I care because I’d like to be your friend.” The blonde blinked once, twice, as she handed the upperclassman her phone now updated with her own contact information, before she broke into a wide grin.
“Okay.”
~ ~ ~
“’Leia?” Maya’s concerned voice brought her out of her trance. She looked out the window to realize that the car was parked in a driveway, the engine no longer thrumming, and she groggily turned to her friend. The shorter girl chuckled. “Were you going to tell me or not? I’m not going to be offended if you say no.”
Aleia shrugged, giving Maya a half grin. “I just don’t think it’s my story to tell.”