The Devil Child

Chapter Fifty-Two

 School was strange now that Polly was a 'celebrity'. After Tanner had gotten big because of the election, so had she. And so had her sexuality.

"Hun, you don't have to go if you don't want to," her aunt said to her the morning after a rather huge speech from Tanner the previous night. Polly didn't dabble on social media, but her younger cousin had promptly shown off her twitter feed. It had been full of people commenting about Polly.

"No fair!" Jenny complained from her seat at the table. "Why do I have to go? I'll probably be bullied too."

Polly's aunt gave her daughter a dark look. "Jenny, if you keep this up, you'll be grounded. You understand? I'll have you walking to and from school, and I'll have you locked up in your father's office with nothing but homework. You are not going through what Polly is going through. Stop trying to pretend you have it bad, because you don't."

Jenny looked down at her plate of food, sullen.

"I'm fine. I don't mind going." After all, this was what Polly signed up for. So what if she was out of the closet? She was strong minded, and a little bullying was not going to destroy her. Especially if Kenzie had anything to say about it.

When she arrived at school, she expected stares and hushed whispers, but so far things were fine. And when she got to her locker, Kenzie was already there waiting for her, a smile on her face.

"You're chipper this morning," Polly observed, opening her locker to grab a textbook for first period.

"I'm ready to lay it on some people if they have anything to say about us."

Polly couldn't help but laugh. "You're always ready for a fight."

Kenzie flipped her purple hair over her shoulder. "Of course I am. And if anyone has anything to say about you, I'm here to help. Trust me, you and those animal shirts are non-threatening, but I'm definitely scary when I want to be."

It was true; Polly didn't really have a violent bone in her body. She was like a rug that people walked all over. Kenzie, on the other hand, was strong and fierce.

When she shut her locker door, Polly reached for Kenzie's hand. "Well, I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I guess. We've missed a few days of school, though. Do you think anyone noticed?"

Kenzie beamed. "Well, my absence was definitely noticed. But, you're not as big of a deal as I am. Sorry, babe. You're dating a star."

Polly grinned at the joke, immensely thankful for Kenzie's sense of humor at a time like this. She'd been expecting rumors and rude comments when she entered school that morning, but so far, all she'd had to deal with was Kenzie.

When she rounded into her first period classroom, things were continuing on an upward bound. There, sitting in class, was Minny. Grinning. He wasn't in a uniform, and he wore a backwards baseball cap on his head. Completely and utterly Minny.

She squealed, forgetting the other students in class. "You're here? Why are you here?"

She swung into the seat next to him, ignoring her usual seat in front of him. The girl who usually sat there paused when she entered the classroom, as though she didn't know where to sit, and then slid into Polly's old seat.

"I quit school. I don't live with my dad anymore, and he can't control me. Anyway, he was using you as a reason to not fight with him, and everything is out now. He holds nothing over you, and nothing over me."

Polly reached out and hugged him tightly. "I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad."

He laughed, releasing her from the hug. "You won't be fighting this alone. I'm here for you; we all are. Tom too."