Love and Family | Port Orthos 4

chapter 1: fern's best friend

 chapter 1: fern's best friend

~fern~

       Even though I know I shouldn't be running through the school hallways, I do hurry through them, hoping I can find my best friend at his locker. If only my twin sister wasn't at an early morning volleyball practice. I could have looked for her too.

       I hurry up the stairs to get to the second floor of the school. Kiro's locker is close the the stairs and thankfully, he's right there, getting out his notebook and textbook for first period. I quickly hide behind him, feeling very grateful that he can shield me because he's a lot taller than me. "Kiro, you have to hide me," I say.

       "Hide you?" Kiro asks. "What's going on?"

       Before I can even reply, I hear some footsteps walk over, and I know it belongs to the person I'm hiding from. "Kiro," Charity says. "Do you mind stepping to the side so I can talk to Fern?"

       Kiro doesn't need to fully understand why I'm hiding from Charity to try to protect me. "Fern?" he asks. "Fern isn't here. She stayed home sick from school."

       "No, she didn't," Charity says. "Look at my school uniform. Look at the coffee she spilled on it."

       "Fern doesn't drink coffee," Kiro says. "I don't know how she could have spilled coffee on you."

       Charity sighs heavily, and I think she's getting irritated by Kiro refusing to let Charity talk to me. It's probably obvious that I'm hiding behind Kiro, but he's not one to give up so easily. "She bumped into me and caused me to spill my coffee," Charity explains. "So I would really appreciate it if you moved out of the way so I can talk to her."

       "Like I said, she's home sick," Kiro says. "Are you sure it wasn't Harlow that bumped into you? She and Fern are twins. You probably mistook Fern for Harlow."

       "They're fraternal twins, Kiro," Charity says. "I can tell the difference between them, and I know that Fern was the one who bumped into me. So can you please step aside so I can talk to her for bumping into me?"

       "Did she bump into you?" Kiro asks. "Or did you bump into each other? Because I'm pretty sure that if you saw her coming, you would have moved out of the way. I'm pretty sure you're not completely blameless here."

       Charity scoffs before I hear footsteps receding. I peer over Kiro, seeing Charity and her friends walk away. I release a sigh of relief, thankful that my best friend was able to talk Charity out of talking to me, probably to yell at me more. 

       "Thank you," I say. "I swear, I didn't see her when I bumped into her."

       "Well, it's like I told her," Kiro says. "She would have moved if she saw you, so she's just as much to blame as you are." He closes his locker. "I wouldn't worry about her. She's the type of person to find someone to blame than to take responsibility for herself. But as long as we are friends..." He wraps his arm around my shoulder. "I won't let her put blame on you for anything."

       "What if I accidentally hurt her?" I ask. "Like I bump into her and make her fall, and she tried to move out of the way because she saw me but she didn't move fast enough?"

       "Then I'll saw Harlow did it. That's what twins are for. To take blame for each other."

       "What? No. I wouldn't make Harlow take the blame for something I did."

       "I'm kidding. Besides, we're talking about if Charity is partially at fault, or fully. If you truly did accidentally hurt her, I know you would own up to what you did and do whatever you can to make up for it."

       The first bell of the day rings, so Kiro and I head to first period together. He's in all but one of my classes this semester, but my sister is in that one class so I have someone I know in all of my classes. 

       It's a good thing to because a lot of the classes have partner work, and there's no way I would be able to comfortably work with someone I doubt know well when I can barely speak in public. The school does know about my autism and most staff tries their best to accommodate me, such as always making sure one person I am comfortable with is always in my class.

       Unfortunately, there are a few, limited, amount of teachers who don't accommodate me. Thankfully, Kiro and Harlow always stand up for me and if it gets worse that my parents need to get involved, my dads won't stop until accommodation is guaranteed.

       I'm grateful I have family and a best friend who try their best to understand my autism the best they can.

        When lunch rolls around, Kiro and I decide to head off of campus to find something to eat. The cafeteria has an abundance of food choices, but it's normally very crowded and loud, so it's easier for me to eat somewhere else.

       Kiro always lets me choose where we go out for lunch. I try to tell him he can choose, but when he does, he ends up choosing what I just so happen to be craving that day. He just knows me so well.

       After school, Kiro and I head outside to the parking lot to meet my younger brother so Kiro can drive us home. Harlow is the only one of the three of us with a driver's license since I'm not comfortable driving yet and Forest is too young, so there are times Kiro has to take us home because Harlow has to stay after school for one of her many sports team practice.

       Kiro decides to hang out at my house once we get home, like most days. He mainly only goes home if he has to watch his younger brother but sometimes, his brother will just come here too. Reuben doesn't mind. He loves all the animals we have.

       Kiro and I get to my bedroom and I immediately lie down on my bed. "Is it bad if I sleep instead of working on my homework?" I ask.

       "Nah, we don't have much homework," Kiro says, sitting on the bed with me. "We can do it later. You're not usually tired after school. You okay?"

       "Yeah, I just struggled to sleep last night," I say. "It was windy outside and loud."

       "You could have called me," Kiro says. "I would have come over, or at least stay on the phone with you."

       "But you need sleep too."

       "I can function on, like, two hours of sleep if I need to. I don't mind staying up with you if you ever need me to. You know that."

       I smile at my best friend. "I do know that." Kiro really is the best friend I can ever ask for. He just understands me so well, and he's always willing to put me over himself, even if I try to tell him not to. But he's stubborn, sometimes in a good way. Once his mind is set to something, he'll go through with it, no matter what.

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here it is, the first chapter of the second generation of port orthos! i can't believe i'm already on book 4 of the series, and i only just started it about a year and a half ago.

i'm so excited to write about the twins as teenagers. i love them so much. (and harlow will definitely take the blame for something fern accidentally did tbh). this is a conversation that probably happened once:

kiro: fern didn't do it. it was harlow.
harlow: yeah it was me. we're twins after all. you mistook us.

fern protection squad fr.