Paradise Blvd. Year One

Chapter Nineteen

Saturday

"Hey, Marion!" Marceline snapped her fingers in front of his face. "What do you mean he won?"

Marion put the jug of orange juice down. He noticed that Marceline had refrained from getting some after he sipped out of the jug. He turned to Tulip. "It's not my place. Are you okay?"

"I don't know."

"This doesn't make any sense," Lucia remarked. "I don't wanna pry too much into something like this, but it doesn't make sense. Yesterday, Lucien was going on about how he didn't rape Tulip because she was her girlfriend and now he's turning himself in?"

"You're right. Lucien is a very entitled person and he seems like the type who'd feel entitled to Tulip's body," added Troye. "Something smells fishy."

"Can we please stop talking about me?" Tulip said down. "I don't need your attention right now."

"You need our comfort," Marion suggested.

"I don't need any of you!" Tulip cried out. "Please, just leave me alone."

"Normally, if you wanna be alone, you storm-" Troye started.

"Troye, shut the fuck up!" Forest hissed. "Let's just go."

Marion was the last to go to the backyard. He waited until everyone else was gone before placing the jug and a small glass at Tulip's feet before leaving. She couldn't help but smile a little as he tripped and almost fell while walking out.

"I did it," said Forest as soon as everyone but Tulip was in earshot.

"You did what?" Marceline asked him.

"I made Lucien turn himself in."

Lucia frowned. "You made him?"

"Lucien knows," Forest stated. "He knows about all of us and what we can do. He's like us, he's one of us."

Marion shook his head. "He's not one of us."

"Either way, he sees the things we can do whenever we do them," Forest explained. "Every time I read someone's mind, it's like he reads it too. Every time you rewind time, he sees what you're erasing." He turned to Lucia. "Every time you move something with your mind, he sees it." He turned to Marceline. "I'm willing to bet he saw you burn Esau." Lastly, he turned to Troye. "Every plate you've broken on your head to test your invulnerability, he's seen it."

Troye shrugged. "Too bad for him, I've done stuff-" Everyone gave him a look. "Sorry. Not to him, though, he deserves it."

"Okay, we get it," said Marion. "He's still not one of us."

"He's my brother," said Lucia in disdain.

Marceline patted her shoulder. "And for that, we feel sorrow for you." She turned to Forest. "You shouldn't have done what you did."

"Well, I did and there's no going back," he replied. Marion was about to make a remark when Forest cut in. "If there is any going back, I'll just do it again. He deserves it."

"He deserves to learn that what he did was wrong and to accept punishment for it," said Marceline.

"What you're saying is he deserves punishment on his own terms?" Marion asked her.

"It doesn't matter how he gets punished, he deserves worse than what I've given him," said Forest.

Marion shook his head. "You've given him mercy, he's won."

"We still don't know what you mean by that," Troye stated.

"If any of you haven't realised it already, we live in a system. What are the chances that Lucien gets actually punished?" Marion asked. "He'll be branded as disenfranchised or mentally ill and he'll basically get help. He won't get punished, he's going to be helped. They're going to try and make him better as if there's any going back from something like that."