I'd rather be me and you

The Idea

Two things:
1, I am well aware that this chapter is a mess but it makes the next one make sense and we have to have something interesting happen.
2, I'm most likely going to post chapters in pairs from now on as I am almost completely finished writing this fic.

Enjoy!!!

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It was like my conversation with Tina Fey had flicked a switch in my brain, suddenly I could feel myself opening up more and my walls beginning to come down. It was surprising to everyone but mostly for me because I had never expected to get better. Not really.

My anxiety didn't change, it was always going to be bad, I knew that but Taylor assured me that there wasn't anything wrong with me. She said I couldn't change who I was and that I shouldn't be ashamed of that because there were people out there who loved me. People like my mum, Damian and my little Marlene.

My time at the Home was slowly running out and unbeknownst to me my brain attempted to prepare itself mentally for going into Junior year, something I was more then determined to do. That meant planning things with Damian and maybe more than just a few surprises.

The lamps were off again, but the fairy lights weren't, me and Damian were huddled on his bed under the covers watching a movie on his laptop. I let him pick after a long dispute over which one of us actually had better taste in movies, he told me watching horror movies all of the time probably wasn't acceptable but I fired back by saying only watching musicals wasn't either, so of course we ended up watching a musical.

It was a Saturday, the day after what would have been both of our middle schools graduation ceremonies, the ones we hadn't been able to go to the year before, because of our residence at the Home or the fact that we never finished our time at there. My 15th birthday was also coming up and I began to realise that I wouldn't be going into sophomore year like everyone else, It just wasn't possible, my mother had promised me that I'd be back at Northshore for Junior year but I didn't care,it was only hitting me now that I'd missed graduation and that bothered me.

"Dame?" I whispered over the movie.
"Sweets?" He replied gently, sensing the sadness in my voice.
"How many kids here would have been going into their Sophomore year this year?" I asked, not revealing my true intentions of the question.
"Um...There would have been you, me, Macnamara, Jackson, Benny and Remmy ,why?" He listed out all of the kids and my heart sank, that was at least half of the kids at the Home, all of which had missed their graduation and would never get to celebrate. Me and Damian were two of the youngest in our year and were also two of the youngest at the Home, I had spoken to some of the older kids about their graduation, they'd all been able to go.

"Sweets what's this about?" Damian sounded worried and I realised I had zoned out again.
I sighed, "Doesn't it bother you that we missed Freshmen year and that we didn't get to graduate from middleschool properly?"
Damian hummed in understanding, "I guess a little, but there wasn't really much I could do about it. Just like there wasn't much you could have done about it."

"I could've killed Regina George." I muttered darkly, causing Damian to snort into his water, "Would have solved all of my problems."
He patted my leg, "Babe what have I said about plotting murder?" He asked in a chiding voice.
"It's not a healthy pastime and I mustn't do it." I muttered, giggling as he mouthed the same thing. It was a running joke we created after I told him my story, because he'd been mad as well and had wanted to kill her. We both agreed that was a bad idea though.

"I just think it's unfair that we don't get to celebrate our achievements just because we're here." I explained once we had stopped laughing, "I mean we should at least throw a party or something."
Damian sat up a little straighter, "I've never thought to ask about a party. Do you think they'd let us?"
I shrugged, "Think about it if we get Barrett and Grey on-board there'll be no stopping us, they run the house."
"It could work." He nodded, pausing the movie and turning to me, "It's a good idea. If you really want to."
"I defiantly do!" I felt my heart rate pick up in excitement, "I just don't think we should have to miss out because of where we are. It's not fair on any of us."
"Then let's do it girly!"

The next day was impossible, me and Damian rushed through our schoolwork as a way to get Barrett and Grey alone quicker but whenever we attempted to find them we would get stopped by Kate or Ashley, both of which were beginning to get annoyed.
"You two know you're supposed to be working!"
"I know but we've finished!"
"Even so, some of the others haven't, back to your room."

By lunchtime we had gotten no further and we knew we had group after lunch so we were running out of time.
"How are we going to do this if they won't let us talk to anyone?" I moaned pacing the room and running a hand through my thick hair as I did so.
"Maybe we can get them to come up here. I mean if we break a window or a lamp or something they'll have to come see whats going on!" Damian said, oblivious to the sheer craziness of his idea.
"Damian?"
"Yes sweets?"
"No. They'd kill us. I don't know about you but I actually want to make it to Junior year." I could hear how snarky I was getting and hoped he didn't take offense to it because I wasn't trying to be rude, it was just happening.

There was a knock on our door a few minutes later and Erika poked her head round, a disapproving look on her face, "Kate just told me that you two are being pains in her neck."
Damian stood and pulled her into the room shutting the door, "We just want to talk to Barrett and Grey but she and Ashley won't let us."
Erika raised an eyebrow, "Why do you want to talk to them?"
"We can't tell you." I blurt out, not realizing that it probably made us sound really sketchy.
"Oh yeah?" Erika asked with her hands planted on her hips, a playful smile on her face, "And why is that?"
"Um...Damian?"
"We...want to help with the chores a bit more!"
I mentally facepalmed at his excuse and bit my lip, watching Erika and knowing that she didn't buy it.
"Yeah right. What do you really want?" She asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Oh what the hell." I sighed, "We want to see if they'll help us plan a party."
Erika looked momentarily stumped, but then her face broke into a smile and I let go of a breath I had been holding since she walked in. "You're trying to plan a party and you want Grey and Barrett to help help you?"
I nodded, "They live here. It made sense. In my head at least."
Damian nodded along, "We want to surprise the kids who missed their middle school graduation."
"That's really sweet guys, you want a helper?"

We both stared at her for a moment but then grinned, "You want to help?"
"Yeah sure! It'll be fun. Besides you kids deserve something nice every once in a while." Erika laughed as both me and Damian tackled her into a hug at the same time, both screaming in joy.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" We cheered as we bounced on the balls of our feet with wide grins.

It was time for the best party in the history of parties!