as amaya reluctantly walked into the maths classroom, what felt like a million pairs of eyes burned into her skin.
"hm, someone's a bit late." a old man cleaning his glasses with the bottom edge of his shirt tutted. he inspected them before balancing them on the bridge of his nose and peering at amaya. "who have we here, then?" he questioned.
"amaya litchman." she swayed on her heels, uncomfortable with this awkward interaction. way to make an impression, she though.
"oh, the new one?" he tilted his head inquisitively at her.
"uh, yeah, i guess." she shrugged.
"i see. well, i'll let you off this time, but don't let this happen again. you don't fancy a detention so early now, do you?" he raised his eyebrows at the girl.
"nope." she was desperate to sit down and be done talking.
"sit down at the back, next to debbie." he pointed to a redhead girl in the back, who looked up and smiled at amaya. she smiled back. "she was held back a year, but she can help you with this class to make up for it." debbie scoffed, unimpressed with her introduction.
amaya breathed a sigh of relief and made her way to a desk on the far left of the classroom.
"hey, debbie gallagher." debbie introduced herself.
"amaya litchman." amaya smiled, dropping her backpack on the floor.
"nice to meet you! it's good to finally have someone to talk to in this class, everyone here is so boring." she rolled her eyes and amaya chuckled. "tell me about yourself! where did you move from? the high school across town?"
"uh no, cincinnati." debbie looked surprised.
"bit of a downgrade, moving to the south side."
"yeah, well, it was social service's decision, not mine." she shrugged. "it's better than home anyways. an alcoholic for a mother was not the best life." she chuckled.
debbie nodded. "well, you'll fit right in here. welcome to the town of shitty parents. bipolar mother and alcoholic father here." she gestured to herself.
"oh yeah? glad to know i'm not the only one." amaya laughed. "who do you live with then?"
"my siblings. five of em." amaya looked intrigued. "it's not all that interesting. there's fiona, who spends most of the time with her fiancé, lip, a recovering alcoholic taking after my father, ian, a bipolar taking after my mother, carl, a convicted drug trafficker who just got out of juvie, and liam, the only non problematic one in the family as of right now. oh, apart from the fact that he took my sister's coke and got her into jail. and there's me, the pregnant one." debbie smiled, unbothered.
amaya was speechless, shocked at debbie's confusing family.
"what about you? who do you live with?" debbie tilted her head.
"my cousin, joey. recovering alcoholic too. no siblings, my older sister ran away to wisconsin with her boyfriend."
"oh, nice. your cousin go to aa meetings?" debbie asked.
"yeah, how do you know about that?" amaya replied, confused.
"lip. he may know him." amaya nodded.
"yeah, i should ask. at least now i know i'm not the only fucked up kid on the south side."
debbie laughed. "trust me, you'll be lucky to find one non fucked up kid here. it'd be like water in the desert, on a planet where water didn't even exist."
amaya covered her mouth, trying to suppress her laughter. "right." she spluttered between chuckles.
"hey, we should hang out after school. i mean, unless you have plans?" debbie asked once they had both calmed down.
"nope. i mean, yeah i'd love to go with you! just no plans." amaya stuttered.
debbie laughed. "okay, great. meet me by the gates after school. oh, and i can meet you for lunch? if you want, of course."
"oh yeah, thanks!" amaya smiled. she was happy to have already found someone to hang out with.
"cool." they continued talking until the bell rang for next period.
the rest of amaya's day was pretty uneventful. she was late a lot, but thankfully no detentions for the 'new girl'. she had talked to a few people but no one as nice as debbie, she noticed. now she was stood outside of the school gates, waiting patiently and looking out for the redhead.
"hey, amaya! over here!" debbie called the girl over to where she was standing on the other side of the gates. "how was the rest of your day?"
"alright i guess, pretty boring." the two girls began walking to debbie's house.
"yeah, well, it won't be boring for long. once people see how hot you are, you'll have them left, right and centre girl!" she nudged amaya on the shoulder.
"debbie, look at you. you're so gorgeous." amaya smiled at her.
"oh my god you're the sweetest person i've ever met, don't get a lot of them on the south side." debbie replied with laughter.
they made their way home pretty slowly, stopping at the kash and grab for candy. as amaya walked along trying to catch skittles in her mouth, debbie nattered on about pregnancy hormones, boy troubles, living with her siblings and whatever else was going on in her life. amaya liked having someone talk to her who actually enjoyed it, unlike her so called 'friends' back in cincinnati.
"well, this is my home." debbie gestured to a large blue house in front of where they were standing on the sidewalk.
"woah, it's big." amaya stared at it in astonishment. she has never seen such a big house, let alone lived in one.
"yeah, well, it's not the most pretty inside." debbie led her through the front door and into the chaos of the gallagher house. as soon as she stepped into the living room, she was hit with a smell of coffee and beer. a red head boy was sitting on the couch next to a taller brunette, and amaya could just see a brunette woman in the kitchen with another guy.
"hey debs, who's your friend?" the brunette on the couch gave amaya a wave. she smiled back.
"lip, ian, this is amaya. amaya, lip, ian." she gestured to the brunette and then the red head boy on the couch.
"hey, nice to meet you." ian said, holding out his hand with a smile. amaya shook it gratefully.
"nice to meet you both too." amaya nodded her head at the two boys before following debbie into the kitchen.
"fiona, this is amaya. amaya, fiona." debbie gestured to the brunette woman in the kitchen. "oh, and sean." she pointed at the guy.
"hey, nice to meet you both." amaya smiled at them.
"yeah, you too. sorry for the chaos, that's what you get with gallaghers." fiona chuckled, smiling at amaya. amaya loved all of the gallaghers already.
"hey, fi, where's liam?" debbie tilted her head questioningly.
"oh, napping upstairs. don't disturb him, he's sick." fiona pointed at debbie with her hand holding a beer. debbie nodded once and took amaya back to the living room.
"we can go up to my room later, but i don't wanna risk getting sick already, when schools just started." amaya nodded in agreement and sat down on the chair in the corner of the room. she made conversation with lip and ian (who she found were incredibly funny) before hearing the back door slam.
"hey, carl, wait a sec. i got another call from the principal this morning. skipping again?" she heard fiona say from the kitchen.
"yeah, whatever. they only noticed i was gone because they had no one in detention." a low voice chuckled from the kitchen before strolling into the living room and stopping at the door. amaya looked up with a smile to greet the final gallagher sibling.
a white boy with cornrows. great.
AUTHOR NOTE
guys sorry about the cornrows but CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IS KEY and i kinda like them lols
🤪 and lip and ian are my faves i love them so much 🫶🫶 also debbie isn't a bitch in this story we love her guys xoxoxo love you all ❤️
