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caffeinejournalist23 · 3 years ago

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Rewriting Pretty Little Liars - Part II

I didn't think my original post "Rewriting Pretty Little Liars would get as much interaction as I did (thanks btw! I'm not necessarily writing to get some kind of interaction as much as I'm writing to improve my own writing skills, but getting likes and "reblogs" helps me feel not so alone in the Tumblr community!) So, with that in mind, I thought I'd follow-up with a better fleshed-out explanation - with scenes! This post is gonna be a long one folks, so grab your popcorn and your teA, And pretend the unsAtisfying reveAl in the show never hAppened.

!! SPOILER WARNING FOR TV SHOW & BOOK PLL!!

Hate is not a vice; it's a coping mechanism. Lying is not a crime; it's a game. Mona is not a stable girl, but is her instability more excusable than the evil and torment Aria and Alison chose to exert on their supposed friends?

Allison got in deep shit with members of the N.A.T. club, along with pretty much everyone in Rosewood. The result? Mona hit Allison over the head with a shovel - and Melissa Hastings buried her. But Aria came to the rescue; Aria was planning to say goodbye to Allison before she ran away from Rosewood as Vivian Darkbloom.

"Oh my God are you kidding me?" Allison sulked, dirt staining her yellow top as she held her hands to the sore spot on her head. "Loser Mona?! She really thought she could just get rid of me like that - when I tell my parents our lawyers are gonna make the rest of her life a living hell -" "No, Alli," Aria interrupted sternly, gently wiping dirt from Allison's shoulders as they quickly sashayed through the yard between the DeLaurentis' and Hastings' households. "We can use this, we need someone to take the fall when we take our game for a test run." Allison rolled her eyes. "Jeez Aria since when did you find something to obsess over besides Noel?" Allison asked asked curtly, clearly annoyed. "Trust me on this Alli, this will work. It's what Doctor Sullivan calls 'Refocusing my rage into something productive.' And besides," Aria stared glassy-eyed into the stormy sky for moment, her eyes seeing fantasies she couldn't disclose to anyone other than Allison. "They deserve it," Aria continued. Allison scrunched her lips, not sure exactly what to think. "I like this side of you as much as the next bitch, Aria, but I'm starting to think maybe you're taking it too seriously - it's just a game, and yeah the other three aren't as cool as us but that crazy bitch Mona just tried to kill me!" Allison shouted. "And that bitch took my phone." Aria felt for the pink flip-phone snugly buried in her back pocket before she stopped suddenly and gently gripped Allison's arm, causing her to stop also. "It'll all go according to plan," Aria chided, "and it's gonna be so worth it." A dark car pulled up their street suddenly. Aria looked to try to make out the driver, but it was too dark for her to see who it was - perhaps the driver was wearing a hoodie or something. "Do we know this person?" Aria asked looking between the car and Allison. Allison smoothed down her hair a bit. "Not 'we' - just me; he's a friend," said Allison softly. She turned to Aria, who passed her the brown wig and red coat. "This is where we say goodbye," said Allison. "For now," added Aria with certainty. The two friends hugged briefly, Allison looking at Aria in a similar way she occasionally looked at Emily, then Allison entered the passenger seat of the dark vehicle. Aria watched the car pull away before heading back to the barn. She thought she saw another blonde in a yellow top dart behind the DeLaurentis house, but Aria assumed it was a delusion; she was starting to spiral in her head a little, like another episode was threatening to occur - maybe it was the alcohol, or the stress of watching a psycho loser hit her best friend with a shovel and then watching another friend's older sister bury said best friend. Allison's "friend" sped the car smoothly towards Radley sanitarium as Allison smoothed the brown wig over her throbbing head. "What took you so long Ezra?" Allison spat bitterly to the driver. Ezra Fitz swallowed nervously. "And good evening to you too," Ezra said; nervous and intimidated as he was by Allison, the sarcasm couldn't be helped. "Long night?" asked Ezra dryly. "I told you not to talk to me, Ezra; you do me this last favor, or I shove a sharp third-degree-rape lawsuit up your ass. Not to mention the obsessive stalking." Allison barked bitterly. She thought back to Aria and her obsession with the anonymous texting app they found; Aria had texted Allison a creepy "I'm watching you" message from the app last Halloween as a prank, and ever since Aria was obsessed with how someone could use the anonymous texting app for good or evil. Allison rolled her eyes and shook her head at the silly similarity. "You know, I have this friend - obsessive and a super writer geek. You two would be perfect for each other," Allison says scornfully. Ezra swallowed again. "I doubt she'd be as interesting as you," Ezra whispered, alluding to the book about Allison he had been drafting. Allison thought for a moment, her need to be on top competed with her curious feelings for her female friends. "People can surprise you," Allison shrugged.

So as we can see, Allison and Aria had a dysfunctional dynamic - I guess when you can't fight fire with fire, you make the whole town burn. Soon after Ezra helps Allison hide in Radley (pretending to be Aria), Aria and her family temporarily relocate to Iceland because Byron and Ella Montgomery are warned that the case regarding the death of Toby's mother in Radley has been reopened, and because the time and occurrence correlates with when Aria was there regularly before she convinced her psychiatrist that she's recovering enough to go back to school and "normal" life. Aria's psychiatrist Dr. Sullivan had been worried while Aria was in Radley; she thought that Aria's friend Allison seemed to be encouraging Aria's psychosis and erratic behavior. Meanwhile, Hanna befriends Mona at "fat camp," and together they coach each other to replace Allison - Mona is convinced Allison is dead, so she feels confident replacing her despite Hanna worrying Allison could come back any day. "There'd be hell to pay if Allison suddenly came back and just saw us trying to be her," said Hanna anxiously as Mona curled the ends of her hair. "That's 'if,' Hanna, why would she come back to this godforsaken town," Mona asks passively. "yeah, you're right," Hanna chuckled shyly, rolling her eyes. "I bet she just ran off to a boujie island or something with some hot guy." Mona paused in thought for a moment. "I bet she did." Melissa continues to work with the N.A.T. club - primarily to ensure there was no evidence of her burying Allison's body to help Mona. Mona continually annoys Melissa about it, terrified she will get caught - that it was just an accident and it just happened too fast. Melissa checks the N.A.T. club cameras - cameras secretly placed/tapped into several places throughout Rosewood, funded by Jason's share of the DeLaurentis fortune/stake in the industry company (I can't remember the name of the company, but it's the same one Cece claimed to have used as A). Melissa is certain she literally got away with murder, and fabricates a confession video for Spencer if the investigation got too close to her and she needed Spencer's help to cover herself. Emily continues to grieve for Allison, wondering if she'll ever be found, or if she just ran away with some guy - typical Alli. Spencer feels relief with Alli gone; less rivalry and competition, and the secrets Allison had on her couldn't be weaponized - right?

When Aria returns from Iceland, she's furious to find that the other friends had "moved on" from Allison; Hanna tried to take Allison's place and befriended Mona (who Allison totally despised), Spencer admitted she was relieved that Alli was gone, and Emily dated [that one guy] and disregarded her feelings for Allison. These conditions are the perfect justifications for Aria's torturous experiment; the girls need to remember Allison is still there - one day Allison will come home and everything will go back to how it was, and her friends will be who they used to be before Allison went away. Aria confronts Mona about the night she "killed" Allison, and threatens to bear witness against Mona unless Mona does her bidding. Mona agrees to do whatever Aria asks her to do. Now that "Allison's body" has been found, Aria promises Mona will never be caught for "killing Allison" if Mona uses her wits and skill in her plan to "remind the girls closest to Allison that she's still in charge" - and Mona manifests it into a game.

Who is Mona playing the game against? The N.A.T. club (and Big A). Aria and the N.A.T. do not exactly work together, but they know of each other and compete with each other through Mona. This is why later on the Halloween train members of the N.A.T. club try to murder Aria, as a means to play against the A(D) team (Aria, Mona, Cece, and Allison). Aria had killed Garrett after Allison texts her that Garett realized Aria was A, but Allison actually manipulated Aria to kill Garrett because Garett realized Cece was still feeding them (Allison and Aria) info from the N.A.T. club. Members of the N.A.T. club are slowly killed off by the A Team. Allison kills Ian for moving on to Spencer. Ian was going to make Allison the subject of a movie he wanted to make, but he moved on to Spencer/Melissa as soon as Allison disappeared, which infuriates Allison's self-absorbed ego. Jason is injured by Cece in the elevator because she's pissed he developed an interest in Aria, and he starts connecting dots together between Cece and Allison still being alive (around this time the A Team hits a fork; Cece and Allison versus Aria/Mona)..

Mona is sent to Radley sanitarium after being caught as A by Spencer; Mona thought she could reveal herself as A and convince Spencer to join the team, but Spencer refuses. When every other girl she gets tangled up with (Aria, Allison, and Melissa) is motivated by secrets, Mona assumed that the allure of secret info would be enough to convince Spencer. Mona continues playing the game while in Radley, but she realizes she rather be part of the group than win the game, so after she's released she starts victimizing herself by "A" (her accomplices Toby and Lucas). Aria finds out Mona went behind her back to recruit help for Mona's sake of winning the game and victimizing herself, and confronts Mona at the movies and whispers to her, "you'll never be part of the group, especially if they learn you killed their best friend" - which makes her cry.

After stealing Allison's diaries from Spencer (season 4?), Aria dissects the diaries and reaches out to someone recurring in Allison's diaries; Cece. Aria realizes through Allison's diaries and Cece that despite her unwavering loyalty, Allison kept secrets from Aria - and that just didn't sit right with Aria. Cece is still mad at Allison for jeopardizing her spot in the N.A.T. club - and her relationship with Jason (she was hoping to get a cut from his stake in the DeLaurentis fortune), which motivates her to spill anything she has on Allison to Aria - including Allison's secret relationship with Ezra. Aria visits Allison in Radley, who is anxious to go home, but when Aria confronts Allison about Ezra, she lies, which severs Aria's tie to her. Aria dissociates with her rage and tells Alison she'll never be able to safely escape Radley and go home. After this confrontation in Radley, Allison snaps and has a mental breakdown; she rips off the brown wig and insists she's not Aria but Allison DeLaurentis - the most popular "It" girl in Rosewood. Radley then treats Allison as a "Jane Doe" after confirming with Dr. Sullivan that Aria has been released, and Allison's body has been found so this can't be her. Allison is getting fed up with Aria for stranding her in Radley for years and works with Wren, one of the new hot doctors at Radley, to get fake IDs for her and Cece. Allison continues to pretend to be Aria and visits Mona, asking for all the info she has on the girls and the A game; Allison is ready to take over. Allison promises Cece a cut of the DeLaurentis fortune if she can help her escape. Cece agrees; Allison tells her about the A game, and if "A" kills Jason they can inherit his share of the wealth. Finally Allison can escape Radley for good and steal the A game from Mona/Aria.

Allison and Cece escape Radley and hide in New York [soon] after Mona leaves and steal the game from Mona/Aria. Allison recruits new A team members, including Shawna. Allison as A also inadvertently recruits Jenna, who has no clue A is Alison and Cece. Later, Aria realizes Allison and Cece came back are roaming around Rosewood in red coats and starts the fire in the cabin when she thinks Allison and Cece are nearby to kill Mona - yes, Aria used Mona as bait to bring in Cece and Allison and planned to kill them. She rescued Emily, Spencer and Hanna because to take Allison's place she needs them - the group; Hanna saw Aria in a red coat and an Allison mask. This is why Aria and Cece fight in the warehouse; Cece and Aria used to be chill but now Cece is team Allison (for the money obvi), and Aria tries to save Cece saying she can "be Allison" and give Cece the same money when she fully becomes Allison, but Cece slips and Aria leaves her for dead. Cece resents Aria for leaving her for dead and plays A against Aria.

Allison reveals she's alive to the rest of the girls but she can't come home yet; it's not because of A she can't come home, because as far as she thinks she stole the A game from Aria - she can't come home because of her mom and the family secrets. Jessica DeLaurentis did not want Allison to come home - by assuming Allison was dead she inherited Allison's share of the DeLaurentis company stake, and Allison blackmails Jessica when she learns of Mary Drake - Jessica's deranged twin. To free herself from the restraints her mother poses (she thinks her mother really would kill her), Allison kills Jessica as A. The group is still suspicious of Allison being A, and because she's running out of cards to play, Aria relies on these suspicions to get the game back from Allison.

However, Allison throws a curveball (to Aria) and convinces Cece to reveal herself as A to the girls; Cece is guilty of killing Wilden for Allison and of course Allison has proof. This lands Cece in Radley. Cece learns Allison killed Jessica through the N.A.T. club cameras (because she was allies with Jenna and [Allison's fiance (can't remember his name)] while in Radley), so she threatens to convict Allison with the video footage if Allison does not advocate for her release from Radley. So Allison fights to get Cece released by creating this narrative that they are deranged relatives/half-siblings. Cece is released but Allison hates that Cece has the footage of Jessica's death on her, so she kills Cece. Aria uses this as the perfect means to steal the A game back, but this time she plays it as AD; AD for Alison DeLaurentis, and Aria believes she is Alison DeLaurentis. They play the final game and Aria shoots Spencer near the heart because she's Allison now, and Allison was "heartbroken" Spencer stole Ian from her. Aria/AD abducts and tortures Hanna for trying to take her/Allison's place as HBIC. And the eggs with Emily? That was because Aria was jealous she and Ezra couldn't have kids, and she believed Allison and Emily were supposed to be together in the beginning anyway; Emily did nothing wrong, so Aria's rewarding her by getting her with Alison.

Damn that took me almost 3 hours lmao. Any unanswered plot points this rewrite fixed? Let me know your thoughts! Who do y'all think would've made the most sense to end up as AD? Thanks for reading this far lmao. Wishing y'all the best.

#pretty little liars #aria montgomery #thefinala #whoisad #ariaisa #alison dilaurentis

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isadcrajade · 4 years ago

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💀 * [ barbie ferreira + cis female + she/her ] —— have you met isadora oliveira ? they are a twenty-one year old sophomore currently studying fashion design & merchandising. they live on keating house, and word around campus is that this aries is loyal + warm, as well as self-objectifying + obsequious. i wonder if they’ll make it out alive. chocolate covered strawberries, gothic platforms, lingerie under leather jackets.

hiii bbies it’s me (gabby) finally here again to post this finalized, messy version of isa’s intro! she’s a brand new never-been-played muse of mine so it’s def bound to be a bit more scattered & less developed than ezra’s, but also much shorter? so i mean there’s a bonus lmao alright here we go:

so isadora (also known by many nicknames such as isa, izzy, iz, & dora the explora if ur trying to piss her off vgbjhksjs) was definitely not brought up in a world of prestige and recognition like the one she’s become so accustomed to in attending holloway university

growing up in the small town of lisbon, maine the only reality isa knew during her childhood was that of living as the only child of a woman who was (TW) both a compulsive liar & and compulsive hoarder. their house was floor to ceiling with things her mom collected as well as garbage built up over time- her condition had already driven isa’s father out of the house when she was just three years old, and she never had a relationship with him as a result

she was still fairly young when she realized the true severity of her own situation, just how abnormal it was compared to that of her friends. she missed out on so many rights of passage during her upbringing like birthday parties, sleepovers, etc. for much of her life her own living space / bedroom were just as bad off as the rest of the house, given her mom’s inability to keep from passing her hoarding tendencies onto her daughter. isa simply didn’t know any better at the time. to her, that was normal.

not only was her mom a compulsive liar & hoarder but she was also extremely neglectful, often leaving isa to her own devices in the dangerous environment they called home. as a result of this she (TW ED) developed harmful coping mechanisms surrounding food, regularly overeating to combat negative feelings of loneliness, and this went on from the time she was just a little girl all the way until she was in high school

high school was rough in many ways- she suffered depression, anxiety, experienced bullying at the hands of the more popular kids for her weight & her mother’s financial situation, and was all around extremely isolated from her peers- the only person she really had to depend on was her cousin (WC) . she had so much respect and envy for her cousin, they had more of a sisterly dynamic than anything, she was just so gorgeous and everything she did just seemed so effortless, to the point isa couldn’t help but idolize her and consider her a best friend.

like, remember when spongebob said he hoped that by being in squidward’s presence some of his artistic ability would rub off onto him? that was deadass isa & (WC) in high school jhbksnjs my girl was so sure if she just spent enough time with her she’d inherit some of her pretty & cool

high school was also where she reached a turning point when it came to her home environment, able to put a name to her mom’s condition after years of struggling with her strained and toxic relationship with her mom, and ultimately changed the rest of her life. she stayed the night at (WC’s) one night and after she fell asleep, isa stayed up watching TLC- it was there that she first discovered the TV show ‘hoarding: buried alive’ and realized there was a name for her mother’s infliction- but more importantly, learned that there was help available for her condition

when she went home to excitedly tell her mother that she’d basically discovered a cure, a means to change everything for them... she certainly hadn’t been expecting the reaction that came: her mom, who’d always been so indifferent toward her, so lethargic and uninterested in what she had to say, was suddenly listening very clearly- and she was not happy. isa had never heard her mom scream like that, had never really heard her express any heightened emotion, but it was in that moment at 17 years old, just a few weeks away from her 18th birthday, that she realized what she needed to do. she had no choice but to make plans to leave her mom behind.

the final weeks leading up to the big day she was counting on as a turning point consisted of her cleaning out her own space, little by little, enough that she had somewhere to set up her secondhand laptop and webcam. blowing out the candles on her 18th birthday cake came with wishing for a whole new life, and she was determined to make that for herself by any means necessary.

(TW SEX WORK) isa spent half her 18th year in her room working as a successful camgirl, showing everything but her face, & of course always being careful not to dox herself. she eventually earned enough money to start buying herself nicer clothes, but it didn’t take her long to realize she wanted more from life than just rotting away in her hometown. she bought herself a higher quality webcam to keep making money... and a nice sewing machine, something she’d always dreamed of owning.

all her life she’d been drawing and sketching as a means of escapism, it’d always been therapeutic to her to be creative and conjure up unique designs for outfits in her mind, drawing models in all shapes and sizes to represent her fantasy outfits. but she never felt like a visionary, even though anyone with an eye for fashion who got a look at her work could see that she had the natural talent and potential to be.

isa had been an a straight-A student her whole life despite having almost no support at home from her mother growing up, and with plenty of encouragement from (cousin WC), she plucked up the courage and applied for holloway university, with ivory falls being far enough from her hometown of lisbon, but still in the same state so that she could go and see her mother from time to time (bc although their relationship is quite strained now, she still loves and worries about her)

the next summer she received her acceptance letter at holloway u for the coming fall semester, and the fact that she’d been able to make it into such a prestigious school made her feel so proud of herself that she completely underwent a massive arc of character development; evolving into someone so much more confident. realizing that plenty of people found her desirable as she continued to earn money through cam shows had been part of that transformation, but realizing she was talented enough to get accepted into the fashion design and merchandising program at her dream school had a completely different effect on her.

( TW BODY IMAGE ISSUES ) isa decided that as she entered college, she was no longer going to be the meek, insecure girl constantly playing the role of the doting, loyal fat best friend to the ‘prettier main characters’ she’d always been sidekick to- she told herself that she was the main fucking character in her life from here on, and has spent her entire college experience up to this point just,, navigating as she figures out what that really means to her

still has a terrible underlying tendency to be overly-loyal and a bit obsessive with girls she closely befriends, if she has any kind of jealousy towards them. but ! is a lot more confident than she used to be, and it shows in the way she dresses and carries herself, as well as in her long-term goals (to transfer to FIDM for her final years of university)

( TW ED MENTION ) as a young adult, she’s mostly she’s replaced the compulsion to deal with her body image issues by using food to cope that she had as a teenager... by using sex to cope instead, so she’s definitely a bit promiscuous but does her best to keep that Her Own business

personality-wise she has a massive heart & is loyal to a fault but is also wild AF & loves a good time! never rly dabbled in drugs until she got to college but since then has acquired an interest in trying everything under the sun, even if it’s just one and done. mostly though she just likes to get really drunk & stupid. used to feel like she was constantly living in her cousin’s shadow, & in some ways she still does, but she’s trying hard to make herself believe that she’s reached a place where she won’t be playing second fiddle to anyone, ever again

i’m gonna shut the hell up now & stop pretending i know this character better than i do bc i deadass do not jbhnjss like she’s literally brand new so lemme go head & leave plenty of room for development!

same story as ezra i’ll have a full connections page posted for her soon but in the meantime some ideas i have are: friends, frienemies, ex friends, high school bullies, classmates, old high school friends, people she gets fuckt up with on the reg, people she hooks up with on the reg (any gender, she’s bisexual / biromantic), someone she had a crush on in high school / has pined for from afar maybe?? someone who used to watch her cam shows?? someone she almost kinda dated but Not? someone who she hooked up with while they were dating someone else?? idk that’s what i have for now but there’ll be more where that came from <3 xoxo like this or hmu !

#holloway.intro #this is a hot ass mess #but i'm rly excited to finally play her x

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gravitationallychallengedrabbits · 6 years ago

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The Gay Agenda Ch. 2

Step Two: How to Make Friends With Pretty Girls Without being awkward

So I found out a few weeks later through the normal gossip chains that the girl who my shopping cart had tried to murder a few weeks prior had transferred to my school. Apparently her family had moved here from the upper part of the States to California; specifically to my part of California. Not that I owned a specific part of California, my bank account would laugh at me and jump off a cliff.

The whole school was buzzing; the cheer squad wondered if she was any good at vaulting, the teachers hoped she was a good student, and the boys (those who paid attention or even cared) hoped she was nice to look at.

She didn’t show up until two weeks after the rumor had circulated, which made everyone wonder if that’s what it was - just another rumor. I didn’t really believe it either. Mostly because there was no way that she was coming to our school. At this point, I would have convinced myself that the whole incident at the store was a hallucination, if it weren’t for the huge bruise on my arm and elbow. It still hurt to bend.

Despite that, she didn’t seem like the type to stay in one place for too long. I’m not sure why I knew this, just that I did. There was something in the way she walked and talked and dressed - completely different from this sub-par suburban area.

It wasn’t as if she had been unnaturally beautiful; in fact, she had looked like any other ordinary girl. Dark hair, pretty eyes, darker complexion. She was wearing jeans, green converse, her hair pulled into a ponytail. I had no idea why I couldn’t get her out of my head. I wanted to be her friend. I wanted to gush about her to everyone - but I was sure my boyfriend wouldn’t appreciate that. He was the jealous type.

Why did she even bother me so much, anyways? I shouldn’t have cared so much. I mean, sure, I did crash into her with the dignity of a goose in a windstorm, but whatever.

Back to the rumor thing. Nobody seemed to care after a week or two when she didn’t show up, until the day that she did. Imagine my surprise when I walked into Chemistry to see her sitting up front beside one of the cheerleaders, Chelsea. They were talking, Chelsea gesturing animatedly while Vanessa smiled politely.

The boys, it seemed, had the same idea as Chelsea. Or, roughly the same idea. I didn’t get the impression that she was implicitly into Vanessa, but that might have only been because her boyfriend was a giant and a senior who practically oozed testosterone. All of the boys were giving their best efforts at flirting. Vanessa, on the other hand, didn’t seem to openly realize this. But that only gave them more ammo. It resulted in flexing muscles, jutting chins, and giving her smiles that more resembled leers than actual smiles.

For a moment, I was jealous of their effortless proximity, which was making my face do something weird. It was like I was sucking a lemon. There were so many lemons in my face at the moment. Why was I jealous? Ugh. I had only run the girl over, it didn’t matter. She probably didn’t even remember me.

I shoulder my bag, walking to the front of the class to ask about an assignment I needed to make up, going about my business. As you do. All I had to do was turn around and make it to my seat, suffer through another day of school, and then I could be done.

But when I walk past the flock of boys, she looks up at me, at me, and smiles so brightly that God must’ve used a supernova to create this woman. “Eden Marie Jones.” She says, in that amused tone she’d had at the grocery store only a couple days ago.

“Hi,” I stop in my tracks and wave awkwardly. The boys look up at me like I had grown four more heads, or maybe I had shown up wearing a potato sack as clothes. I hadn’t, had I? A quick pat to the hair insures that, no, I only had the one head, and yeah, I was still wearing my normal leggings-and-sweater ensemble.

Before she could answer me with more than a smile, the teacher claps his thick, beefy hands together. “Alright, alright. Calm down, kids. Take your seats and we can start role.”

The boys give me evil looks for taking up their precious time, Chelsea gives me a cheerful smile, and class disperses. It takes me a moment to figure out what I was doing, but I get to my seat eventually.

Chemistry was usually uneventful, except this was the rare occasion that something new had happened to the school. In this case, it was Vanessa. During what was supposed to be lab-taking and note-writing (when our teacher left the room to go flirt with the married secretary, under the pretense of making copies), the boys left their seats to chat Vanessa up again.

To be completely honest, the lot of them looked like strutting roosters. Ridiculous and awkward. I watch a moment, turning back to my work after a bit. It reminded me of my boyfriend when he was with all of his friends.

However hard they tried, Vanessa was too busy playing on her phone or flipping through the textbook. I admired that. Besides, a lot of these boys had girlfriends, or acted like they owned the world with their snapbacks and sagging pants.

Their antics continued for a while until it was obvious she wasn’t gonna spare them any time or even look up. The class was pretty quiet after that.

At the end of the day I went home and still couldn’t get her off my mind. If anything, her being in the same class as I was only made things worse. I don’t know what it was, but the sheer gravity of her was yanking me in, and I found myself thinking like a desperate kid who wants to be best friends with their favorite singer when they grow up. Except, she was a real person.

Honestly, though, I don’t even know how I’d talk to her. Language wasn’t my thing. That’s why my boyfriend and I got along most times. He talked, I listened, and that was that. Most of the time. I stood up for myself a lot.

However, befriending people was going to have to become a strong suit so I didn’t turn into some awkward, creepy kid who stared longingly at someone and hoping they would notice them. This wasn’t terrible fanfiction written by an emotional sixth grader.

⤐♡⬷

I couldn’t sleep. Tossing and turning in bed was worse than lying awake. For one thing, your body hurts a ton after moving so much. Second, my cat was an eternal flame of anger and rage because my legs were moving and she wasn’t happy about it. For the record, a sore body and bitten toes are not a great way to fall asleep.

Why was I so restless, you ask? You probably already know the answer to that, because my life is full of predictable twists and turns.

I was so frustrated. How hard was it to be asleep? We could think about other things, brain! We can have better dreams, brain! Just go to sleep. Please. Please. I’m begging you. I will do anything.

At this point, I was even willing to go through and silently relive every embarrassing moment I had ever experienced in my short seventeen years of life. There were a lot. Mostly in the middle school department. Really, though, who doesn’t wish they could forget those three painful years?

Unfortunately for me, my mind liked to think more about girls I had mowed over in the supermarket, and the fact that it was weird to think about girls I had mowed over in the supermarket. I was reminded of just how weird it was to obsess over people like this multiple times. After a lot more tossing and turning, eventually I got up and decided to venture down the creaky stairs.

I was hoping maybe I could find some spiritual enlightenment, but Oreos and a Coke sounded pretty rad, too. Either was a better alternative to laying in bed, staring at the sticky glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling and trying to will death upon myself.

To my surprise and slight horror, mom was still up when I made it down the stairs, busily emptying out the contents of the refrigerator. A fresh wave of guilt and something rather uncomfortable replaces my desire for junk food. Could mom read minds? I know that they can see out of the backs of their heads (or maybe my mom just liked to repeat “Eden, Ezra, knock it off!” every few minutes when we were kids).

I chance a look at the clock, hoping it was a reasonable time so that a lecture would be more mild. 2:48 in the AM. Just my luck. I brace myself for the reminder that I had to be up for school in exactly three hours and twelve minutes.

“What are you doing up?” My mother asks. I have to say that I was both unsurprised and silently dreading her next words. She sounded irritated, but her face seemed to be more tired than anything.

Her honey blonde hair was piled messily on her head, streaked with more grey. Her blue eyes seemed to be encased in a few more wrinkles, and even more weighed down with worry lines on her forehead. I think my mother had been pretty, once.

Not to sound rude, or anything! Everyone is pretty in their own way, and all that. She seems like she would be a pretty person. If only it weren’t for the apparent signs of early aging and stress that weathered her face.

For as long as I could remember, my mom had always looked like she was exhausted, just having rolled out of bed. It was almost like the one hangover I’d had in my life; complete with the dark circles and sluggish attitude. My mom had a permanent hangover, but not from alcohol. Just from life.

“Nothin’.” I answer finally, walking over to the cabinet and pulling out a couple packets of mini oreos. When she raises one eyebrow, her mouth twisting at the edges, I add a slightly better explanation. “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d try eating something.”

“Oreos are hardly a good bedtime snack,” She sighs, with no real conviction. By the time my little brother had turned thirteen, she’d given up on trying to police us with things like cheese and celery sticks. This was only a formality.

I shrug. “Yeah, well. Teenager cravings and all that.”

She grunts in reply, blowing a part of her choppy bangs out of her face. I half expect her to say something else, but she turns back to clearing the old leftovers and tupperware from the massive cavity that was our fridge.

“So,” I clear my throat, sliding past her and reaching for a can of soda. “What’re you doing in the kitchen at two in the morning?”

She glances over at me over the rim of her square glasses. “Something smells in here. I couldn’t go to bed with the thought of it in my head.”

This earns a nod from me, and silence for a moment while I busy myself with opening my oreos. “Makes sense, I guess.”

“How was school?” She asks after a moment, pulling out a tupperware and opening it to sniff the contents. Instantly, her face contorts into an expression of disgust.

“It was good,” I shrug, leaning against the counter. “There’s a new girl.” I add, stuffing my face with oreos. My mom gives me a flat look at the lack of manners she had tried to teach me. I smile sheepishly, sure that my teeth are covered in black cookie crumbs.

“Oh, that’s nice. Are you two friends?” She asks, once again huffing softly to blow that choppy section of bangs out of her eyes.

“Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I think. I saw her in the store a couple weeks ago.” I lift a shoulder, popping the tab on the can of Coke. “She’s pretty cool.”

“That’s good.” My mom says, gesturing for me to pull the garbage can over. I kick it to her, wincing when it makes a loud noise. She gives me a look that says what did you think would happen?

I continue after we both are silent. Mom scrapes the nasty food into the garbage can. The grandfather clock in the living room informs us that it’s three in the morning. Distantly, I wonder if I should go to bed, but also I don’t feel like it’s fair to leave my mom in the kitchen alone.

“She’s got this really pretty, curly hair and a little bit of an accent - Mexican, maybe? - and she’s so nice.” I start up again, sipping my drink and coughing when the bubbles go up my nose. “All the boys are trying to get her attention, of course. Which is stupid.”

“Has Nathan said anything about it?” Mom asks, looking up at me, concerned.

I push my hair out of my eyes, shaking my head. “Nah, he’s still away on vacation with his family. I’m not too worried about that.” Not yet, I add to myself.

Don’t get me wrong, my boyfriend is… nice, but he does some pretty questionable stuff when it comes to other girls. There were rumors a few times that he cheated on me, but I’m not sure that I trust rumors. I’ve never asked him because that’s just a fight I don’t want to have.

Really, our relationship was more of an arrangement between our parents. His family goes to the same church as I do, so when he asked me out I kind of felt obligated to say yes. My mom adores him and his parents, my dad is kind of indifferent.

So, dating Nathan has become an obligation and a chore. I should dump him.

This isn’t the first time I’ve thought something like this. The only reason I haven’t yet is that I’m not sure how it’ll impact the family. Tension will definitely tinge my parents’ and his parents’ relationship, and I don’t know that I have the energy to deal with something like that.

“You should probably go to bed, sweets.” My moms voice cuts through my thoughts, and I jump.

“What? Oh, yeah. Probably.” I dump the rest of the oreos into my mouth, chug the rest of my soda, and burp magnificently. Probably an eight out of ten, if I do say so myself.

“Need any help?” I offer, after a moment of giggling at my mother’s annoyed, although fond, glance.

“No, I’m alright. I’m almost through here, and I hear that you guys have a quiz tomorrow.”

“Ugh, mom,” I groan, tossing my trash in their respective bins, but pushing off the counter anyways. “Please don’t remind me. I’m trying to erase that from my mind.”

“Mhmm.” She hums, rolling her eyes. I grin, leaning over and kissing her cheek.

“Night, mom.”

“Night, Eden,” She smiles. “I love you.”

“Love you, mom.”

I start the trek upstairs, my mind finally quiet enough to where I think I could fall asleep. Something in me whispers that it wasn’t going to last long.

Thank you for reading the second chapter of The Gay Agenda! Please give it a like if you enjoy reading this, and reblog with how you found it in a comment or in the tags!

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