Renga Fluff But I Hit You In The Head With The Skateboard Of Angst

17: new friends

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When Reki got off call with Langa, he wandered downstairs and found Georgia making a late night snack. She looked up when he entered the room.

It was strange having an extra person around.

"Hi." She said, looking up from her peanut butter bread for a moment. She was standing on a step stool to reach the counter.

"Hi. What are you doing?" Reki asked.

"Making a snack." She said.

"But we already had dinner?" Reki asked, eyeing her strangely. He hadn't been allowed more food after dinner.

She just looked back at him strangely, "okay... And...? Do you want some?" She asked, puzzled on why she wouldn't be allowed to.

Reki looked surprised, "we're allowed to?"

She almost giggled, "yeah? I'll make you a piece."

Reki walked over while she did so, "did Bill and Cindy go to bed?"

Georgia shrugged, "I think they're watching a movie." She said as she handed Reki the slice of bread with peanut butter on top.

"What have you been up to?" She asked, going to sit on the couch with her peanut butter bread.

"I was on call with one of my friends from where I used to live." Reki said, bringing up his past for the first time.

"And you shaved. What's your friend's name?" She asked innocently.

"Langa." Reki said, smiling slightly at her comment on his now smooth chin and lip.

"Did you have any other friends in your old town?" She asked.

Reki grimaced, immediately thinking of the boy who used to be his best friend. He quickly tried to push the thought away and think of Miya, Joe, and Cherry instead. He even kinda considered Shadow a friend.

"Yeah, I guess I did." He said softly, blinking tears out of his eyes at the sudden swell of how much he missed them, "how about you, do you have any friends?"

Georgia shrugged, "talking to people is hard. But you're pretty easy to talk to." She said, taking another bite of her peanut butter bread.

Reki smiled a little, "well we can be friends." He said, "are the people around here nice?" He asked.

Georgia nodded, "yeah. They are."

Reki nodded silently, trying to imagine his first day at a new school in a couple days.

He was going to keep his sexuality a secret. No matter what it took. He wasn't going to put himself through another series of what happened at his old school.

No way.

A couple days later it was his first day at school. He had his schedule. He knew where his classes were.

He tried not to be nervous, but he barely ate the day before. He barely slept the night before. He had a nightmare about the boy. About the bullying. The slurs.

He had spiraled, tangled in his bedsheets in the pitch black of his room, sobbing loudly.

Georgia had woken up down the hall and gone to get Cindy and Bill, who sat with him and reassured him that this school would be nothing like his old school until he stopped crying and felt calm enough to at least lay down.

Georgia found him afterwards, laying in bed mindlessly scrolling through Instagram to try and get his mind off of everything. He felt like utter shit.

"Are you okay?" She asked innocently, peeking her head in his bedroom door, knowing he wasn't asleep.