All Which Remains

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Farrah

I went to school for the first time the next day. Abyasa wished me luck, but he had to leave before I went to school. We had gotten a uniform for me, so I got dressed in it. I was nervous about going to school but excited at the same time. I was also happy that I had patched things up with Arron. I was scared that he would be mad at me, but it seems like he was thinking about it, too. I grabbed a carton of milk out of the fridge and left to walk to school.

It was pretty easy to find my classroom. I was in class number 2002. As I walked in, all of the girls stopped talking and looked at me. I blushed and quickly found a seat at the back of the class. A girl came up to me and sat down backward on the desk in front of mine. She was wearing a short skirt and a large sweater, which made her look like she wasn't wearing anything underneath her sweater, but you could see the edge of the skirt sticking out a bit. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail. It was dyed pink (I didn't know that we were allowed to dye our hair). She had about ten piercings on her ears. Four on one side and six on the other. Her socks touched above her knee and she was wearing pumps. She stood out among all of the other girls.

"Hey, new girl. What's your name and how old are you?" She asked, looking me straight in the eyes. It felt like she was looking into my soul.

"Ah," I said, fumbling over words, "my name is F-Farrah... Eka. I-I'm sixteen years old. Um, what's your name? And age, I guess."

"Hi, Farrah. My name's Sandi Budi. I'm seventeen. I have a feeling that you and I are going to become good friends." She shook my hand. Right after that, the teacher came into the room and started to call the roll.

Sandi and I ate lunch together. I could tell that she was an outcast. No one tried to talk to her, and since she talked to me first, no one tried to talk to me either. It was like Sandi had claimed rights to me.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to say this when I introduced myself. I use the pronouns they/them."

"O-okay.." I said. I couldn't think of anything else to say. I felt like an idiot for assuming that they used she/her pronouns. I felt like a jerk. Instead of saying anything else, I just ate my lunch. When we finished, we went back to the classroom. There was a bunch of trash on Sandi's desk. They picked up the trash and threw it away. Some of the other girls started to giggle.

"Sorry, we thought that was the trash." A girl said. Another girl came by and spilled milk all over Sandi's head. They just brushed it off and sat down at their desk. I went and sat down behind them. The teacher came in and told everyone to sit down. She didn't even acknowledge that Sandi was covered in milk. I sighed, I guess everywhere you go, there's always something that's corrupted to the core. If I interfere, I'll only end up like Sandi. Just another cog in the wheel. I'll just end up helping it to grow. The best thing this far into the bullying would be to not do anything. To support Sandi while they go through this, but not to do something about it.

Still, it's sad to watch a friend go through something so horrible. Somehow, within the last forty minutes that I'd known Sandi, I'd decided that they'd be my friend. Someone I want to protect. Maybe I should invite them over after school? I tapped them on the shoulder.

"Hey, Sandi, do you want to come over to my house after school?" I whispered, smiling at them. They turned around.

"Sure." It looked like they were pretending to be okay. "I'd love to." Then they turned around to pay attention to the teacher.

After school, they stuck around and waited for me to finish packing up.

"Thanks for waiting, Sandi," I said, grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

"Anytime." They wouldn't look at me, they just gripped their bag.

I lead them to my house. When we reached the door, Abyasa stepped out and pulled me into a gigantic hug.

"There's my girl! Going to school for the first time. She's so brave." He swung me around.

"Abyasa, stop," I said, but I couldn't stop laughing. "I have a friend over." He stopped and looked behind me.

"Oh, oops. I can't believe you made a friend so quickly, that's amazing."

"Hah, thanks. This is Sandi. They're a friend that I made this morning." I said, gesturing toward Sandi.

"Hi, Sir. I'm Sandi Budi, and my pronouns are they/them." They said, not shy at all.

"Hello, Sandi. I'm Abyasa Astuti. I'm Farrah's guardian for the time being." He said, patting Sandi on the shoulder. "Glad to meet you."

"Alright, enough. " I said, grabbing Sandi's arm and dragging them into the house. "Sandi and I will be in the living room. Please don't bother us."

"Okay, I'll be in the kitchen making dinner. Sandi, do you want to eat dinner with us?" Abyasa said, closing the front door.

"Sure," Sandi said, letting me lead them toward the living room. Abyasa gave us a thumbs-up and walked into the kitchen. We sat down on the couch, and I turned on the TV.

"I'm leaving," Sandi said, not looking me in the eyes. "It's all too much for me. I can't handle it anymore."

Instead of saying anything, I just hugged them.