Another Way | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Three)

2

Harley could lie on her bed for hours, just thinking. Thinking about life, the universe, and everything. And she thought more people ought to think about that stuff and spend less time contemplating things that didn't matter. The clothes they wore, or how they looked, or a bad a hair day. She always had a bad hair day, but never complained about it. She thought about more important things instead.

This time, as she traced constellations with her eyes, connecting the glow in the dark stars stuck to the ceiling with invisible lines, she thought about life more than the universe and everything. People coming and going and how easy it was, and how easy it was for her to be the one coming and going.

She got bored of people quickly. She didn't know if admitting that she got bored of people was a bad thing to admit, but that was the truth. She'd just never made friends that she could relate to very easily, and those friendships were always short-lived and fizzled out.

Her longest friendship was with a boy called Holden. She thought about him a lot too.

Harley met Holden on her tenth birthday. She had that birthday at a bowling alley. It was a small party with just her parents, Emerald's mom who had never remarried after Emerald's father left, and a few kids from school. She'd made the birthday invitations all by herself, spending hours at the kitchen table with colourful paper and markers, and wouldn't let her parents see them until they were done. She handed the invitations out at school the next day proudly, but only about half of the invitees showed up when the big day came. She didn't care; she was too excited to get worked up over the number of people there.

She remembered seeing this scrawny little kid a few lanes over with a mop of dark curly hair and one front tooth missing. 

Holden was bowling with his grandfather like he did every other Sunday, but he wanted to join the kids at the party and play against someone who hadn't bowled every other Sunday for the last 20 or so years. Maybe then he'd have a chance to win a game, and even make some new friends.

It was when the kids gathered around a table and started singing Happy Birthday that he couldn't help himself anymore.

"I'll be right back, Gramps," he said, then ran off toward the group before his grandfather could even reply. He hung back until the song was over, then as Evelyn cut the cake and put the slices on rainbow paper plates, he stepped in front of Harley.

"Um, hi," she said, furrowing her eyebrows when she noticed him standing there, swinging his arms. She scanned the kids around the table, wondering where this one came from.

"Hi. Can I have some cake too?" he asked.

He was confident she would say yes. She looked too nice to say no. She wore pigtails. He thought only happy and nice people wore pigtails, so of course she'd say yes.

"Well, I don't know if I can give birthday cake to strangers," she said. "People who aren't strangers can have a piece."

"Well, then, my name's Holden," he said, and stuck out a hand.

Harley didn't even think twice. She shook his hand. "My name's Harley."

"Now we're not strangers," Holden said. "Can I have some cake now?"

"Mom," Harley called in her mom's direction, "can Holden have a slice too?"

Evelyn looked over the table of kids saying, "Oh, did I miss someone?" She took another paper plate off the top of the stack. "Who's Holden?"

"This is Holden," Harley said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "He's my new friend, so I think he should be able to have some cake too."

That made it official. Or maybe it was made official when Holden finally took that first bite of his piece of cake and grinned at Harley with frosting on the tip of his nose. Either way, they were friends.