The Goth Club

The Goth Club: Introducing the Piaxz Family

             Lyra delicately turned over her paper, trying to make as little noise as possible in the quiet room. It was the last class of the day, and there would only be ten minutes left to do actual school work after her spanish teacher collected the quizzes.

            The time couldn’t come fast enough for Lyra. She couldn’t wait to tell the others that the play had been approved, and that casting would start in a week. Lyra bit the inside of her cheek and looked over at Jeff, sitting on the other side of the room. She could probably catch him on the way out of class and tell him, and then she’d just need to find Jae and Teresa.

            It’d been so easy. Everyone knew Lyra was one of the best writers in the grade, so when she had confronted Ms. Jemput with the script before school, the English teacher had been enthusiastic. On her way to lunch, Mr. Ave, the vice principal, had stopped Lyra in the hallway and kindly told her that her play was officially the school play.

            Of course, there was the concern that the play wasn’t finished yet, but with just a couple more scenes—

            “--BRRRN BRRRN BRRRN”

Lyra filed outside with the rest of her class for the fire drill, tromping down the stairs while teachers screamed for everyone to be quiet.

“Lyra!” Jeff whispered, slowing a bit to walk next to her. “Who’s the guy that wrote <<Bodas de Sangre>>?”

Lyra opened her mouth in surprise, and snapped it shut again. Was Jeff really asking her to help him…cheat? No, no, no! He couldn’t be thinking of it that way. He looked too innocent, too naïve, waiting for her answer.

“I…” Lyra didn’t want to tell him the answer, but she couldn’t bear to see that perfect, angelic expression fall. “It’s, um…you know, the guy we’ve always been talking about in class…”

            Jeff looked confused, but Lyra decided some prompting wouldn’t harm, could it?

            “You know…the answer to all the questions we answered in class…”

            “You mean the guy we presented our project on together last week?” Jeff asked, an adorable little crease appearing between his eyebrows.

            “No, no. Uhm…I’m sorry, I don’t want to directly give you the answer, you know, ‘cause I’d feel bad, but, uh…” Lyra was flustered. This was exactly like those situations that teachers warned about; The guy you like asking you for test answers. But she couldn’t just say no. “Well, his, uh, initials are GL.” Lyra finished feebly. After all, that wasn’t too much, was it? Initials could have been something he’d have remembered, if he had been back in the quiet classroom, thinking about it.

            “GL…” Jeff stayed walking next to Lyra as they lined up with their class outside, the fire drill alarm still blaring. “Garcia…Garcia…Loca? No…Garcia Lorce? Is that it?”

            Dan, another student in their class, turned around. “I think you mean Garcia Lorca,” he commented.

            “Oh! Thanks.” Jeff grinned, relived. Lyra smiled, too, and let out the breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding.

            Lyra kicked up dust as she walked home, grinning. Things were working out great! This would go in her journal as a good day…

            …that is, it was a good day, before she got home.

            “Put away your backpack, and clean your room,” Lyras’ mom snapped, slamming the door just after the last bit of Lyras thick brown hair was out of the danger zone.

            Jace wasn’t the only one with a messed up family.

            Lyra’s mom wasn’t horrible, or abusive, or anything like that. But sometimes…sometimes she just got so angry. Lyra usually hid in her room at times like this, and tried not to attract attention.

            She followed the normal pattern for times like this. Quietly, Lyra shuffled to her room. Usually her dad could calm down her mom, but he was on a business trip until Friday, like most weeks. Lyra was so used to it she barely even noticed when he was gone, but times like this were when she wished he had a job as a carpenter or something and was always in town.

            “Go to your room! I don’t ever want to hear you talk like that to me, do you understand? That is not the way to talk to your mother, and if you don’t stop being so immature I will kick you out of this house!”

            “Who says I want to stay here? You’re just being obnoxious all because you didn’t get one little thing you wanted—”

            Lyra hunched lower in her chair. It sounded like her mom and her older sister, Alyson, were arguing just outside of her doorway…and she could hear every shriek loud and clear, since there was a ‘no-closed-doors’ rule.

            As she heard Alyson storm into her room, Lyra tentatively crept out of her room. “Mom?” She called quietly. She hated doing this, but it insured she’d be on her moms good side as long as the anger lasted if Lyra went to her now and hugged her, and allowed herself to be called ‘the good child’ and ‘the only one that cares about my feelings’ while she screamed inside.

            But apparently it was too soon after the argument this time.

            “Go kill yourself or something, I don’t want to deal with you.” Her mom snarled as Lyra located her in the Kitchen.

            Frozen, Lyra walked back to her room. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. It was like a mantra, swirling around Lyras’ head.

            So, of course, Lyra curled up on her bed and let the tears fall in silence until she fell asleep.

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chapter was a bit of a filler, but I promise the really good stuff will be coming soon.

And for anyone who's wondering, that fire drill scene is exactly what happened to me today with the guy jeff is based off of.

So tell me, loverlies! Whats the best brand of chocolate?