Beneficial | ANTHONY VAUGHN

003

Darren and Tori waited for Quinni outside the bathroom. The whole time Tori refused to speak to Darren until they apologised for the pain they had caused her wrists, until Amerie came storming out.

"-look at it and tell me if I have a normal kebab or not. Amerie!" Quinni followed close after. "I love it when toxic bitches enter their flop era." Darren smiled. "You can't say that, that's really mean," Quinni complained.

"She put your flaps on the map."

"Yeah, I know. But Spider told everyone. So he's the asshole, not her." Quinni rebutted Darren's words.

"I believe in equality" Tori spoke up "I think they both can be equal assholes. I mean for starters they're not us so already I'm not rooting for them" Darren smiled, turning to Quinni. "Look we love you, but that girl has literally never acknowledged our existence."

"See that kind of makes me like her more" Tori mumbled, only to get a glare from Darren.

"So? Haven't you ever felt like a complete reject?" Quinni questioned seriously.

Darren and Tori both froze for a second. Though Tori didn't hold much of an urge to fit in socially, she definitely knew what it felt like to feel different. It was scary. But she refused to admit that.

"Come on, we've got maths." Luckily Darren saved her from having to face her feelings. Tori cheered, grabbing Quinni and heading down the hall.

---

Tori lay half on her bed, and half on her floor, staring up at her ceiling. She wasn't thinking about anything particular, just letting the thoughts of the day roll by.

She had tried to do something, whether it was schoolwork or even just drawing, but everything felt too draining. She groaned, pulling her hands down on her face. Why did she feel so paralysed?

Suddenly her phone began ringing, finally snapping her out. "Hello," she spoke not even checking who was calling.

"Hey, Tori...um...can I stay at yours tonight" It was Darren. "Yeah of course" Tori instantly responded. "Ok good, 'cause I'm outside" Tori looked over to her open window to see Darren standing there looking at her. Tori let out a shout, her legs falling off her bed forcing her to do a backwards somersault.

Darren cringed as the girl whined about her injury. Once she had recovered she opened up her window letting Darren slip in. "If you want I can hide from your parents, I know it's-"

"YO MUM, DARREN'S SPENDING THE NIGHT" Tori yelled.

"WONDERFUL, COME DOWN FOR DINNER" Tori's mum yelled back. Tori smirked at Darren. "See they love you more than me" Darren smiled, their once stiff shoulders instantly relaxing as they placed down their bag.

"Thank you Tori" They spoke sincerely.

"It's all good" Tori softened her voice. "Is everything alright?" Darren gave a light smile. "It is now"

Tori gave Darren a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. "Now come on, Neil is gonna want to ask you all about your current outfit"

---

Tori had woken up to a note from Darren thanking her for the place to stay and telling her to meet them at their usual spot. What Tori hadn't expected was for Amerie to be the too.

Tori sat in a shopping cart with Quinni while Darren cut Amerie's hair. "It's bad, isn't it? Like irreversible bad?" Amerie complained. "Nah, I shaved off both my eyebrows and they grew back." Darren shrugged "Nothing can be worse than when Tori tried out a mullet"

"I still think I looked sick in that and you should have let me keep it" Tori pouted. Darren silently shook their head at Amerie who giggled slightly. "Yeah, way less shit." Darren confirmed, putting down the scissors as Amerie looked in the mirror. "More like heaps less shit, thanks."