Suddenly the door slams open, fuck me, it’s Dad…

He meanders in with Naser, following close behind, “I’M HO- oh…OH.”

- - -

I’m so fucked; Fang’s Dad looks confused but pissed at the same time. He stumbles a little more into the house, and we both look like deer caught in headlights as he stares at us. Fang goes to turn off the lights and record the player. When I turn around to look at Fang’s parents again, Fang’s dad stands inches in front of me. Casting a shadow from the overhead lights. I’m about to die… I can feel it…. He looks down at me and then at Fang before walking over to her. I let out a sigh of relief; thank fucking god.

His speech is slurred, and he almost sounds drunk. “Fang… what’s Anon doin in our home….”

Fang stammers before grabbing her backpack and flashing some incomplete schoolwork, “M-me and Anon were just about to do some schoolwork….” Fang’s dad doesn’t look convinced.

Naser asks, “Do you two even know what time it is?”

I glance at Fang, who shrugs, shaking her head a little before Naser checks his phone, “It is currently…11:36 PM.” Naser glances between Fang and me before speaking up again. “Anon,” he gestures his head towards the door, and I follow him. I can feel Fang’s dad staring me down as I get closer to the door. Suddenly I hear a voice approaching behind Naser.

It’s Fang’s mom, “Oh, let him stay, dear; I can make some food for all of us.”

Naser interjects, “No, Mom. Anon needs to get home.”

Fang’s mom looks disappointed, “Oh fine, you get the rest you need, dear.”

I nod before getting in the passenger seat of the NasCar.

Naser glares at me before we drive off, “What the hell were you two doing?”

“Her and I were just slow dancing for a few hours, man chill out; I didn’t expect you three to all be coming home at once. What’s up with your dad anyway? He seemed a bit tipsy.”

Naser glances at me and then back towards the road. “Mom and Dad had a date; I was their designated driver.”

I nod a little bit, “Ah, okay. Also, I never got the chance to ask until just now. What happened after we left the cafeteria?”

Naser is focused on the road, “What do you mean? With Naomi? Nothing much. She just kinda sauntered off with everyone gawking at her. Felt kinda bad, but whatever. Nothing else happened after that. I just ate my lunch.”

Damn now I really feel bad. All I wanted to do was give Naser some company, and I caused that shitstorm.

Glad he isn’t too hurt by it, “So-”

Naser interrupts, “We’re here.” As I open the door to get out, he stops me, “...Thank you.”

I look at him, confused, “For what?”

Naser rubs his neck before speaking again, “I don’t know, I just feel like I owe you. Fang seems much happier in the past couple of days, and Naomi…I don’t even know where to start with that. Just glad you told me, dodged a bullet, that’s for sure.” There’s silence for a moment before he continues smiling softly at me. “You’ve been a bro. Anyway, I won’t hold you from…whatever. See you tomorrow, man.”

I nod, getting out of the passenger side, “Of course, man. See you later.”

I make my way up to my room and enter, turning on my lights. I feed RAYmba a few cornflakes, and he happily sucks them up. As I sit on my bed, I feel my phone buzz, a text from Fang?

“Hate to ask this, but since we got nothing done, I need some help on this homework….”

“Yeah, sure. What do you need to catch up on?”

“Everything.”

Fuck, this is gonna take a while…

- THE NEXT DAY -

I wake up to my alarm going off and check my phone; it’s not turning on. I fell asleep with it on…shit, it’s dead. My alarm clock reads 6:02 AM, plenty of time to charge it. I go take a shower and check my phone percentage, 78%. Good enough. I unplugged it and powered it on to see roughly ten missed texts from Fang. I must’ve passed out on the most challenging part of one of her math assignments. I can’t help but laugh a little seeing her frantic pleas for help on a single question; I send her the solution and turn off my phone.

I eat some cereal and head out the door. Walking to school is usual, and I meet up with Fang on the steps leading up to school.

She glares at me a little bit, “What happened last night?”

I scratch my head, “I passed out, I guess.”

She looks unimpressed, “It was the last question of the study guide packet….”

I gestured toward her phone, “I gave you the answer and how to do it after I got out of the shower.”

She glances at her phone, and a smile creeps over her face before she hugs me. “Thank you, Anon.”

I roll my eyes a little, and we head inside. I wave Fang goodbye as I go to English; I take my seat and glance at Naomi, looking out of a window, not paying any attention to whatever Mr. Tsuki is attempting to say. She looks like she’s in deep thought before she’s asked something by Mr. Tsuki. The rest of English goes by fairly quickly, and the bell rings, signaling time for the second period. As I walk into the class and set my stuff next to my desk, I notice Trish glaring at me. Just as I land in my seat, I feel a wad of paper hit the back of my head… every single time. I turn to see Reed gesturing to come over and Trish still making eye contact, glaring at me. I reluctantly move back to where they’re sitting, and Trish shifts her gaze elsewhere. Weird, but whatever; Reed and I make small talk until Fang comes up.

Reed leans back in his chair, “So, how’s Fang? They looked pretty happy when you talked to them in the lunch line yesterday.”

“She’s doing good. Same old same old. Fang and Naomi had a shouting match yesterday, though.” That seemed to have piqued Trish’s interest as she turned her head towards Reed and me.

Trish glances between us, “Well? What happened?”

I continued, “Well, Naomi and Naser broke up if you didn’t know.” Trish looks surprised, but Reed’s expression doesn’t change.

Trish notices Reed’s lack of surprise, “You knew?”

Reed nods, “Yeah, overheard it the other day.”

Trish looks slightly annoyed, “And you didn’t tell me?”

Reed shrugs, “I thought you would’ve heard about it by now; I just thought you didn’t want to talk about it. Anyway, keep going, Anon. What happened.”

I sigh and pick up where I left off, “So Fang and I see Naser sitting alone, and we both feel bad for him, so we decide to sit with him. After we sit down, we see Naomi coming towards us before getting pissed at Fang for no reason. They start going off at each other. Ending in Naomi sobbing on her knees and Fang and I going up to the roof.”

Trish has a smirk on her face, “Serves the bitch right. She’s been such a thorn in our side since day one. Good riddance.”

Reed sighs, “I don’t know; I feel bad hearing that she broke down in front of everyone.”

Trish and Reed calmly go back and forth about whether it’s right to make fun of Naomi’s predicament until the bell rings at lunchtime. Seems Trish has lightened up a little, at least enough to talk to me. I’ll ask Fang if she wants to go to the auditorium. As I get closer to the lunchroom, I can make out Fang among the fruity pebble-colored crowd and make my way toward her.

I shouted out her name, “Fang!”

She swivels her head toward me and makes her way to me. “How’s your day been, Anon?”

I cracked a smile, “It was fine. I talked to Trish during math about what happened between you and Naomi yesterday during lunch. I think we’re cool now, Trish and I, I mean.”

Fang looks a little nervous, “I haven’t even texted her since I’ve been back, I want to talk to her, but I don’t know what I’d even say to her.”

I think, “We could eat in the auditorium with Trish and Reed. Think about what you want to say on the way?”

She puts her finger under her snout, thinking before speaking, “Yeah…yeah, sure, we can go to the auditorium.”

After Fang and I grab our lunch, we head to the auditorium and open the door to see Trish and Reed eating on stage and talking. As the door clicks shut, both of them snap to the door, and Reed waves. Trish looks surprised.

Fang and I go to the stage and sit with Reed and Trish.

There’s an awkward silence for a moment before I break it, “So…what are you two up to?”

Before Reed can speak, Trish interrupts, “Eating.” She sounds annoyed just by our presence.

I glance at Fang, who just shrugs; I guess we’ll just eat.

Suddenly Trish speaks up again, “Why are you two here?”

Fang talks before I can, “To eat with our friends?”

Trish looks a little on edge like she was expecting something else. “Oh…okay”

Weird…we eat lunch, and I look at Trish with a mouthful of food, “What’d you expect us to say?”

She thinks for a second, “I don’t know…I was expecting you guys to grill me, mostly you.” She looks directly at me, maybe because of Spencers?

Whatever, I go back to eating my lunch while Fang and Trish catch up with each other. Trish seems much nicer… what’s going on right now? Something’s off. I decide not to question it and continue eating until I hear my name.

“Hey, uh, Anon?”

I look over at Trish, who looks sick, “Yeah? What’s up?”

“I wanted to tell you two something about prom. Now that you’re here, this would be the perfect time to do it.”

I glance over at Fang, who looks just as confused as I do, I imagine. “Uh, sure.”

Trish takes a moment, glances at Reed, who nods, and finally speaks, sounding like she just ran a marathon, “Prom night… and how it went wrong,” she starts to tear up…. “It was my fault….” I glance at Fang again, and her expression tells me what I just heard wasn’t just me. “I took the guitars out and the spare strings. I-I thought it would sound better with two basses. I didn’t expect the reaction we got that night… I’m sorry.”

I look between Fang and Trish and see Fang’s expression shifting to anger rapidly, her feathers standing like a cat’s, fuck, why do I always need to be the one to mend things. “Wait, what?”

Trish starts again, “I blamed you so that Fang would be mad at you….”

I can’t tell who is more pissed, Fang or me, but I need to turn this around before it gets out of hand. “Fang, let’s go. Now.”

Fang looks distraught as she follows me out of the auditorium, and I hear Trish say something as we walk out the door. “... I’m sorry….” That won’t be enough, Trish. I’m sorry, not for me, not for Fang. Although…no. Fuck you, Trish; now’s not the time to reflect. What she did was unbelievable.

Fang talks to me as we walk into music, “Can’t believe she would fucking do that.” Fang sits down in her chair and starts ranting. “How could I not have noticed! There’s guitars lining this whole fucking room!” She sighs and leans back in her chair. “Just when I think we’re cool again, she throws another thing right at my face! Can’t believe her…and all for what? To make me mad at you?” She huffs before shaking her head.

Now that I think about it, though, why would she tell us? Trish seemed to have thought that she and I were cool seeing the way she treated me…so why would she tell us something she knew would piss us off? Is she trying to redeem herself? Could what I have said actually reach her? Whatever… The wounds are too fresh to go back to her and ask.

I hear my name, “Anon.”

I look over at Fang, “All this time Anon, I thought she was my friend. I thought she knew better than I did, so I went to her for everything. Everything! After what she said back there, I can’t help but shake this thought that Trish made me the way she wanted and not the way I wanted.” Fang sighs and looks away, “I…I don’t know if I’m me or I’m something that Trish made.” Fang looks back towards me expectantly, with tears rolling down her face.

“Well, Fang, you’re….” I struggle to find words, cmon Anon, you can do this. “I think since we first talked on the rooftop, I told you that you need to figure yourself out. You’ve been doing a pretty good job doing that.”

A slight smile comes over Fang’s face, “Thank you, Anon…and there was another thing that Trish said a long time ago that I think I’ve figured out. I told her I was confused about who I was, and she told me that maybe I was non-binary. Now I know all I needed was time to figure myself out and the right people to be around.” She looks me in the eyes before continuing. “I…I think I’m done being enby Anon.”

I look at her confused, “enby?”

She giggles a little before continuing, “non-binary, dweeb. I’ve decided I’m a girl.”
A tear rolls down her cheek. This seems way more important to her than I think it is, but I’ll go along with it. “So…what does that mean for us?”

“Well…” she thinks for a moment. “It means that you can call me ‘she’ without me wanting to rip your head off.” Fang laughs a little, and I think back to the first time I had science with her. I don’t think she’s joking about the ‘wanting to rip my head off’ part.

I wonder… “So I can call you my girlfriend now?”

She blushes a little and stammers, “Uh, yeah…of course.” Adorable.

I snicker a little at her reaction, and she punches me softly in the arm…