To Be Alone With You

20. protect

warning: biphobia.

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CHAPTER TWENTY

PROTECT

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"Okay, no. You're kidding, right?"

Zahra sighed. "I wish I was kidding."

"You just— you killed them all?"

"You're not hearing me. My fish's mother ate her babies overnight, but then the mother died because she ate too much, and there were only two of them left. So, we decided to save them, but we had to transfer them into a smaller bowl. So we took them to the bathroom, and I ended up dropping them on the ground, and they died too. I skipped a whole week of school, I felt so bad."

Atreya's eyes widened in horror. "Oh my god."

Stella laughed and said, "She gave the babies names and everything, and then the next morning, they were just gone."

Kaspian snorted out a laugh, despite having heard the story before. "She named three of them Sushi."

"I was ten," Zahra groaned. "I was so stupid."

"Mood, but like present day."

"Phoenix," grumbled North, picking up fallen flowers from the ground. "No putting yourself down."

The group had chosen to go to the park after school, supposedly to study, but that plan failed once Zahra started talking about her numerous pet fish and their misfortunes.

Stella closed her pen, and let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "I hate doing schoolwork in the sun, it always gives me a headache."

"Come here," Zahra said, removing her books from her own lap. "I can give you a head massage."

Phoenix barked out a laugh. "Zee, your head massages just inflict more pain upon everyone, they're terrible. I've learnt to stop asking you for massages when I have migraines now."

"Shut up, you love them. The both of you do."

Giving her a vacant look, Phoenix said, "I threw up because it just left me in more pain than I was in before."

Zahra gave Phoenix a triumphant smirk when Stella placed her head on her lap. "You just have a low pain threshold. And a sensitive stomach. You're always on the toilet."

"That's a fat fucking mood," Atreya commented, drawing a small pigeon in the corner of his page.

"Oh my god, guys, look at this absolute fucking clown shit on my explore page. People are trying so hard to be oppressed these days, it's so funny. Also, it's kind of sad," Stella said, showing them something that she saw on her phone. Kaspian looked at Rowan, who was sitting down on the grass, staring off into the distance.

"Hey. You're being really quiet. Are you okay?"

Rowan looked up at Kaspian, who was on a bench, and gave him a quick smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Kaspian was skeptical of that answer, but he didn't question Rowan just yet. Looking back down at his books, Kaspian continued to read the same page for the fourth time, the information barely processing in his brain.

"God, I hate whites. Especially the Americans. How are we all so fucking brainless?" North questioned, and Phoenix agreed with a laugh. North handed Kaspian a small flower they'd picked up from the ground, and placed it behind his ear.  Kaspian's heart warmed and he snorted, ruffling their hair softly as he diverted his attention back to his books.