Flamboyant

New Beginnings

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Click.

Michael yawned, turning off his alarm clock, and pulled himself out of bed.

Still groggy from sleep, he headed towards the bathroom to take a shower. On his way there, he grabbed a towel out of the linen closet in the hallway.

After living in their new house for a few weeks, he finally had most of the layout figured out. When they had first moved, he had gotten lost quite a few times on the way to his bedroom. The house wasn't even that big, either; there were three bedrooms upstairs, one bedroom downstairs, one bathroom on each floor, a connected kitchen and dining room, a laundry room, and the big living room by the front door.

His shower was quick, and he was in and out in under ten minutes. It was still early; about five fifteen. That was enough time to get dressed, wake up his brother, eat breakfast, and be out the door on time.

The door to his bedroom creaked a bit as he pushed it open, but it didn't bother him. Inside, the room was every bit as bright as his personality. The walls were a soft blue, and his bed was an assortment of bright pastel shades of pink, green, blue, and purple. The colors made him feel comfortable, confident, and safe enough to be who he was.

First things first, He thought, moving over to his closet, Clothes.

A lot of the boxes in his room were still unpacked, and he dug through them until he found the outfit he wanted.

The croptop was sea green, with long sleeves and small white accents. It was just short enough to show his belly button piercing, but long enough that he wouldn't get in trouble. It was his favorite, and fit loosely and comfortably. He paired it with a pair of ripped white skinny jeans and his favorite black heels, which added four inches to his height.

Once he had them on, he went over to his brother's room to wake the younger teen up.

"August." He said in a sing-song voice, patting the boy's shoulder. "C'mon, Auggie. It's the first day of school. I'm willing to bet Mom made pancakes."

August groaned. He kicked out, but Mike caught his foot and used it to pull him halfway out of bed. A scream filled the air as Auggie reached out to clutch the posts of his bed.

"There we go. Now you're awake."

"Yeah, and traumatized." The younger brother replied, rolling out of bed. "Now get out of my room, asshole."

"Watch your language." Mike laughed. He went back to the bathroom to finish getting ready. After brushing through it, he pulled his shoulder-length, multicolored, pastel hair into a french braid. By now, he was an expert at doing makeup, and did his own fairly quickly. At some point, August wandered in to go to the bathroom.

"Get out." The fourteen year old mumbled, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"I'm almost done." Mike finished his look with a pair of dangly earrings. He patted his younger brother's head and left the room.

Downstairs, he found his mother in the kitchen making pancakes, just as he had guessed. He gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, laughing when it left a bright pink lipstick smear.

"G'mornin' Mom." He said.

She rolled her eyes. "Eat your food. You wouldn't want to be late for school, would you?"

"I would." August muttered as he made his way down the stairs. "In fact, I'd prefer not to go to school at all."

"Is that really what you're going to wear, Auggie? It's our first day of school, you should at least dress up a little bit." Mike gestured to August's black shorts, much-too-large spiderman T-shirt (which probably belonged to Mike anyway) and still-untied light purple converse shoes. "You can't match for shit."

"Why would I dress up for something I care so little about? I want everyone at that school's first impression of me to be exactly what I am; a lazy person who doesn't even care. Besides, matching is for humans. Dragons like me don't have to give a shit about that shit."

"Augustine Morgan Taylor. Watch your language." Their mom flipped the last pancake onto a plate and sat at the table with them.

"Sorry Mom."

"Did you even brush your hair?" She asked, bringing a hand up to push the soft black locks out of the boy's face.

"Yes I did. Can I have my pancakes now? I'm hungry."

Mike affectionately rolled his eyes and passed over the plate, and the family continued eating breakfast with a bit of idle chatter. As they were clearing up their plates, Ms. Taylor suddenly gasped.

"Oh, that's right!" She exclaimed. "I forgot to tell you earlier, but Rose called and said she's coming by later today after school is out. She wanted to see how things are going now that she's out of the house."

"Oh. Cool." August said. He seemed indifferent, but they could see the way his eyes lit up at the thought of seeing their sister.

"Alright, off to school then. Please behave, and don't let anyone make fun of you. I love you!"

"Love you too, Mom." They both replied as they walked to their bikes.

Mike's bike was a large Schwinn that he had painted himself to be bright pink and green. Similarly, Auggie's bike was spray-painted pale purple.

It was a quick ride to school, and they locked their bikes into a bike rack before they headed inside. Already the building was swarming with students. For such a small city, there was an awful lot of teenagers.

Mike lead the way to the main office, ignoring the hushed whispers and confused looks sent their way as August clutched onto Mike's backpack hook.

"Hi!" Mike said cheerfully to the woman sitting in the office. He leaned his elbows on the counter, chin in his hands with his legs crossed behind him. "We're new here today. Do you know where we would go to get our schedules?"

"Oh! Um, yes. You're the Taylors, correct? I have both of your schedules right here." She took two slips of paper off of her desk and handed them to Mike, who passed August his.

"Thanks!" Mike waved and pushed himself off of the counter, sashaying away in his naturally flamboyant way with August following. "Toodaloo!"

"Jesus, Mike, you're so fucking extra."