Well... Not Exactly

#1: People Think I'm Gay

TW: minor homophobia, implications of parents dying, struggling with your identity, language, implications of car accidents
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Wednesday, September 1st, 2055
5:30 AM

Roman Valentine woke up and jumped out of bed with way more energy than anyone should have at this hour. He quickly brushed his teeth and hopped in the shower.

Roman was a guy who did everything as quickly as possible.... except showering. He had a twenty-five minute long shower playlist that he insisted on listening to in its entirety every morning. And he would belt his heart out on every. single. song.

Twenty-five minutes later he hopped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He went through the rest of his morning routine. Once he was ready for the day, he hopped on the banister and slip downstairs.

"I told you to stop doing that! One of these days you're going to hurt yourself!" his mom, Shannon, scolded him

"Yeah! You have your first varsity practice today! You don't want to get injured before the season even starts!" his dad, Robert, added with a laugh

"It's not my first practice" Roman replied

"Midnight madness doesn't count" Robert jokingly argued back

Roman chuckled and hopped off the banister, opening the fridge and taking out some eggs to scramble.

"So I emailed my counselor, and she said that theatre still has some open spots and it's not too late for me to switch electives" he said as he cracked the eggs

"Sweetie, we've talked about this," Shannon said. Roman rolled his eyes, knowing what was about to come out of his mother's mouth. "I don't want you in theatre! We don't want people thinking you're one of those... homos"

"Mom, I'm 17 years old! I'm old enough to make this kind of decision on my own and I don't care if people think I'm gay!" Roman responded

"Well I do care. You're staying in marching band" Shannon replied

~~Meanwhile, in another part of the same town~~

Logan Rooney-Smalls woke up at the same time he always did and went through his morning routine normally. He brushed his teeth for exactly two minutes, took a quick shower, and then stared at his closet.

He realized that he meant to pick out an outfit last night and completely forgot. He went though his (surprisingly messy) closet and picked out a NASA tee-shirt and jeans. He quickly put them on and hurried down the stairs.

His parents were already up and ready for the day. They liked to wake up ridiculously early every morning to go for a run together, so they were always up much before their son.

Logan ate some cereal and then hopped in the passenger seat of the car. His dad joined him not much later.

"Ready to go, squirt?" his dad asked. Logan nodded

Some people might think it's weird that a senior is still being driven to school by his dad, but when your dad has to get there early to coach basketball and you have to get there early for cheer practice, it just makes sense.

~~Meanwhile, next door to the Rooney-Smalls household~~

Skylar Melon walked into her younger brother's room and flicked on the lights.

"Rise and shine, asshole!" she yelled. Her brother groaned and pulled a pillow over his head.

I wish I could tell you her younger brother's name, but the truth is, nobody knew it. Not even the boy himself. His whole life he had been told his name was Morticia, but he knew that wasn't right. That was the name his parents had given who they thought was their first baby girl. Well, turns out their first-born was a girl and their second-born wasn't.

"Can you not do this so aggressively?" he complained

"If I don't do it aggressively, you don't wake up and you end up being late to practice" Skylar reminded him.

The boy decided his sister was correct and rolled out of bed, going through his morning routine as normal. Before too long, he was ready to go.

"Hey, can you drive me?" he asked

"Of course" Skylar responded. Not every high school senior gets driven around by someone else in their family, but Skylar knew that after what happened to their parents, he was very uneasy about driving, especially in the dark.

When they got in the car, Skylar remembered something that she hadn't thought about in years.

"Dude, there's this really cool band I wanna show you. They were super popular when I was a bit younger than you are now. I think you'd really like them!" She told him, opening up Spotify on her phone. She found a playlist of 'Rage Against The Heart Greatest Hits' and pressed play, letting the sound of Virgil Arachni's voice flow through the small car.

Before too long, they were at the school.

"Have fun at cheer practice! And school I guess" Skylar called after her brother