Another Way | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Three)

31

Tuesday, July 27th

A/N: Just a quick note: this chapter is a lot of backstory involving Holden. I hope you enjoy it cause I'm putting a lot of effort into establishing Harley and Holden's old friendship. I swear it's leading to something, so pls bear with me.

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Harley looked at herself in the mirror. Her red hair swept her shoulders, still as vibrant as when Remi first dyed it only three days prior, but dull in her eyes.

Everything was dull.

The night before, she'd been reading The Bell Jar, which Remi had leant her after their evening of hair dyeing. She'd gotten sucked in, read a lot faster than she thought she was capable, and decided to leave the last couple chapters for another time. So, she moved on to doing something else, which led her to finding a diary in one of the boxes of Evelyn's things. She hadn't been able to sleep afterwards. The only good part about that was she hadn't suffered a nightmare. The diary was more raw and honest and outright heartbreaking than any poem Evelyn had ever put to paper in the last twenty years. It was dated between December 2006 and March 2007.

The book started innocently enough with an "about me" section, but everything that followed made Harley feel as though she was deeply violating her mom's privacy. Yet, she hadn't been able to stop scanning her eyes down the shaky script, flipping through the dates, and feeling her stomach sink further and further.

She felt lied to and resentful. She also felt as though the weight of the information withheld from her gave her the liberty to withhold information in return.

"Hey, Harley!" Mikey said, smiling as soon as he saw her walk into the living room. She'd spent a few minutes in the bathroom, gathering the courage to show her face. "Your hair looks awesome!"

"That looks amazing, Harley! When did you do that?" Kristin asked from her place next to Mikey. The two were glued together on the couch.

Harley ran her fingers through her red hair instinctively with a smile. She'd practiced her happy expression in the mirror.

"My friend Remi did it Saturday night. She basically insisted on me letting her," she said.

"Well, she did a great job!" Kristin said.

"Yeah," Harley said, her cheeks slightly pink. She looked around the living room. "Where's everyone else?"

"The girls are with Lindsey in her studio and Gerard is—"

"Gerard's right here," Gerard said as he entered the room behind Harley. He put his hands on her shoulders. "You might be warm today in that hoodie, especially if you're gonna be running around Disneyland."

"I'll take it off later if I'm too warm," Harley said dismissively. She ducked from Gerard's hands and sat in an armchair, draping her legs over one arm. "You know what Remi said about Disneyland? She said it's better than Disney World 'cause it's not in Florida."

Mikey chuckled, nodding, "And Disneyland has the better Haunted Mansion."

Kristin's eyes lit up. "That's so true! Harley, have you ever experienced the Haunted Mansion?"

"I can't say that I have," she said.

"What?" Kristin asked in disbelief. "Well, we're definitely gonna have to change that today."

"Is it scary? Like, actually scary and not just scary for little kids?" Harley asked.

"It's a little spooky, but it was never too much for the girls," Kristin explained vaguely. "They've gone lots of times and they love it!"