"THIS ISN'T HOW I wanted to be here tonight. I wanted to be here as a fan. Our Sunnyvale Devil's and your Shadyside Witches throwing down some good old American football" Will, the Mayor of Sunnyvale started as he stood on the small stage that sat in the football field. The football and cheerleaders of each school stood at the very front of the crowd that was standing in front of him. Band members as well. Parker, Kate and Deena walked through the crowd trying to get up to the front with their school. Simon was all the way at the front, standing close by the small stage, as well as Sunnyvale's mascot. In front of the stage also stood Will's wife with their child on the left and Nick and Talia on the right side.
"Instead I find myself here as a husband, a father, as a neighbor. And yes, mayor of Sunnyvale." The mayor continued. Parker listened carefully as she stood next to Kate, who stood next to Deena.
"And on behalf of all of the people in my town. I say, all of Sunnyvale mourns with you"
"Yeah, really looks like they give a damn. The only Sunnyvaler's who came were the one's who had to. The football team and the cheerleaders." Kate commented, catching Parker's attention. Parker decided to block out the rest of the Mayor's speech and looked over at her two friends. She looked at Deena and noticed as Deena scanned through the Sunnyvale cheerleaders and football players. Already knowing instantly who she was looking for. She saw as Deena froze, noticing a heartbreaking look on her face. Parker followed her stare and saw Sam, Deena's ex-girlfriend hugged up with one of the Sunnyvale football players and Parker looked away uncomfortably, looking down at her shoes and lightly kicking the dirt.
Kate watched as Deena quickly left the crowd, going who knows where with the same colorful box that she showed her two friends in the morning. She didn't say anything and turned her attention towards Parker and looked at the brown haired girl sadly. "It's hard, isn't it?" Kate asked her
Parker looked up from the ground to look at her friend and looked at her slightly confused. "Is what hard?" She asked
"Seeing your ex-girlfriend and the girl she basically left you for" Kate said hesitantly. She knew how bad of a breakup Parker and Deena went through. Well, mainly Parker, Simon had told Kate about how her mental health kind of plummeted. She was betrayed by the person she loved and the person she thought was her friend. Parker had her reasons to hate the two girls, but in the end she didn't. But she wasn't particularly on the best terms with either. "It's not weird as long as they don't make it weird" Parker said back to her
"I'm proud of you Parker. It must have hurt watching someone you once loved, love someone else. But then again, Deena's basically doing the same" Kate commented sending her friend a proud smile before looking back up at the small stage, watching as the Mayor finally finished his bullshit speech. Parker became confused at her comment and let out a nervous chuckle. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh come on, you and Simon obviously like each other. Even blind people would be able to notice it and it's not a bad thing so don't try to deny anything. Because I know for a fact Simon doesn't look at me or Deena the way he looks at you" Kate responded once again and it took Parker by surprise slightly. Kate was right, Parker just hadn't figured it out on her own just yet, until now. Love wasn't exactly the first thing on her mind lately but now, Kate's comment on made her finally open her eyes more. Parker looked away from Kate and looked up ahead at Simon who was standing at the front playing with his broom stick and a goofy smile on his face. She smiled at the sight of him and turned back to Kate giving her a small smile as well.
Then the field lights were shut off, Nick went on to take his brother's spot at the podium after he and Talia lit the candles that they were given before the vigil started. As soon as he left her side, Talia approached the Sunnyvale students since they were closer to her and lit about four students candles before instructing them to light the candles for those around them. "My family's been in Sunnyvale for generations, and now my brother is mayor and I your Sheriff" Nick started slowly watching Talia was she went back to the stop where she was standing and then looked back into the crowd.
"We've prospered here. And yet, I've seen you, our neighbors in Shadyside, suffer tragedy after tragedy. It's easy in times like this to drown in questions of why... why this happened" Nick went on with his small speech looking at the crowd once again before looking over at his lover. Talia was staring down at her candle, watching as it slowly melted. She looked up at Nick and he instantly noticed the tears in her eyes. He knew what was on her mind and it broke his heart as he watched as a tear fell down her cheek. "But I know too well, there are no answers that will provide relief. There's no peace found in the past. We must not fall into darkness, we must look to the light" He continued on with his speech and Talia quickly wiped the tears from her face. Talia then looked into the crowd of students and noticed and Sunnyvale football player in the face of a Shadysider one and from the looks of it, she could tell it was not a friendly interaction.
She literally flinched when she saw the Sunnyvale boy throw the first punch, earning gasps from the people around them. It wasn't long until more of the football player's went at it also, fighting one another. It didn't take long for a crowd to form around them, cheering them on. Without thinking, Talia blew out her candle and threw it on the ground and made her way towards the fighting boys. But Nick was quick to grab her by the waist, pushing her behind him. "Stay here." He said sternly before going and trying to stop the fighting boys himself.
Parker stood in the crowd next to Kate, watching as the boys fought. She watched as the guy she saw hugging Sam on top of one of her classmates, punching him repeatedly and she gripped the handle of her flute case, not knowing what to do. She then noticed a certain witch running up to that same player. Simon yelled as he ran towards the guy, hitting him with the broom stick and throwing the middle finger up at him once he got his attention. Parker made her way towards them, watching as the guy threatened Simon and went to chase after him. But Parker was quick to stop the Sunnyvaler by swinging her flute case and hitting him in the face as hard as she could, knocking him back.
"Suck it in—" Kate's word's were cut short and that caught Parker's attention instantly. She then saw her friend on the ground and ran towards her.
AUTHORS NOTE washing machine heart by mitski reminds me a lot of talia ;( ALSO DEDICATED TO kyleswriting my now 20 year old internet friend, i appreciate you and just love and care for you sm <3333
