Behind Closed Doors

28: Leonard the Lion

The next day, Kaimi told Skyler that she couldn't walk with them to school, forcing Skyler to get a ride from their mom. Getting a ride wasn't the issue. The issue is that Kai wouldn't say why she couldn't walk with Skye, or if she was coming to school at all, which made Skye's stomach churn. They didn't want to go if they were going to be alone, but Bea didn't give them a choice.

"Mom, please, can I stay home? I don't want to be there alone," Skyler pleads.

"You won't be there alone. Kaimi will be there, I promise. She's already there, she needed to get some before-school tutoring, Eva told me," Bea says, smiling.

"Why so happy about Kaimi getting tutoring?" They ask, suspicious at their mother's sudden weird smile.

"Nothing hun, I always smile like this," she insists.

"No, you don't."

"Get out of the car and go to school, please. You'll have a great day, I promise."

"How do you know if I'm going to have a good day or not?" Skye asks. Bea folds her arms and purses her lips together, which tells Skyler that she's not going to say anything more.

"Fine, be that way," they say, getting out and slamming the car door behind them. Bea shoots them a disappointed look, but Skyler ignores her. They head inside the school. Skye's stomach is still unsettled with the thought of entering hell alone. They decide that they'll grab their stuff, so they don't have to go back for it later, and then go figure out where Kai is.

When Skyler gets to their locker, something seems amiss. They can't tell what's different, but they know it's something. All the worst thoughts run amok in Skyler's mind. What if Porter had broken into their locker and filled it with itching powder? Or something nasty that was going to soil them and everything inside the locker as soon as they opened it?

Without Kaimi to get advice from, there was only one thing to do: stand back and open it. Skyler stands as far off to the side as possible, and then flings it open, squinting their eyes shut. But as soon as they realized that they weren't covered in mystery slime, Skye opens their eyes. It turns out they were being paranoid.

They'd been right, there was something in their locker, but it wasn't itching powder or a stink bomb. It was confetti hearts and rainbow glitter. Behind that, a stuffed animal was emerging, seemingly on it's own, which made Skyler want to screech.

When they see the balloons attached to its stomach, they relax. But they're still confused, until there's a tap on their shoulder. Skye swivels around, biting their lip to suppress the shriek that almost escaped their lips. But it was only Kai. She smiles, laughing a little. Like Skye, Kaimi also had glitter in her hair, but she hadn't been standing around for the glitter to reach her until now. She grabs the floating lion before it hits the ground, still grinning like an idiot. She was as nervous as Skyler was confused.

"Hey Skye! This all looked a lot cuter in my head. But...um... here goes nothing..." she takes a few deep breaths before presenting the lion to Skyler.

"I'd be lion if I said I didn't want to go to prom... and I know you don't want to go... but will you? Will you go to prom with me?"

Skyler can see that there are people gathered in the hallway, but none of them are Porter. None of them look like they're making fun of them, either. They're all smiling at the two of them. Some are cheering, others clapping. Some are squealing about how they wish their boyfriends would do something that cute.

Seeing that they were safe, Skye couldn't help themself- they burst out laughing. Kaimi joins in soon after, once she realized it was a good laugh.

"That is the stupidest, yet cutest thing you've ever said," Skyler says, still trying to get ahold of their laughter.