- Adrenaline -

Chapter 11: Sweater

The morning is so cozy. The light shines through my window but it doesn't bother me, as my head is ducked beneath my red comforter. I'm so warm, even my clothes feel perfect against me in this moment. The post buzz, the clear mind, the soft, cloud like state that my body is in. I hope no one bothers me right now, I just want to enjoy this.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. AGH!!!

I burry myself deeper into my blankets. Only one person can be at my door right now, and it's better not to scream at her.
"Yes mom?" I call out, projecting my voice in the hopes that I won't have to repeat myself.
"You awake baby? Can I come in?"
I groan and sit up. My eyes adjust violently to my surroundings, but something is different. There is no contrast from my dark blue sweater against my red blanket. Oh, that's because suddenly my sweater is also red- ah, shit.
"One- one second! I need to put a shirt on!" I shout, scrambling out of bed and throwing open my closet door.
"Oh, did you overheat again, sunflower?"
"Uh, yeah! Last night was rough!" I turn bright red, throwing Johns sweater off my body and deep into my closet. Yeah, it was rough all right.
I grab the first shirt in front of me, a black short sleeve that I don't normally wear- in fact, I haven't worn a short sleeve shirt since last summer when our AC broke. Even then I hardly left my room.
The fabric is cool from sitting stagnant, before throwing it against my body. I run over to the door, slowly opening it, revealing my concerned mother. She walks in carefully, almost gliding into my room. "Let's sit down, baby," she says to me.
We both take a seat on my bed. My legs are crossed and my hands are folded together, as I stair at the floor, anxiously.
"I wanna talk about what you had asked me a couple a' days ago."
"Y.. yeah..?"
Her dark skin glows under the morning sun light. Bertha has always been a very pretty lady. Dark brown eyes light up like amber as she looks at me. For a moment she looks down, maybe at my shirt, then back up, meeting my eyes again.
"Baby, liking boys ain't a problem. I've liked boys my whole life!"
My lips string tight together, I'm holding back an eye roll.
"I was tryna lighten you up. I'm just saying that if you like boys, that ain't a problem. It's perfectly normal to like people. And boys are people, like girls are, and like everyone else in between or out between or whatever is."
I nod slowly. My breath is shaky. There's a million things I want to say, like how this is so new to me, and I'm still so confused.
"I will always love you. You know why?" She pauses, as if waiting for an answer. "It's because you're my son. 'N I don't care who or what you're a clone of, because in my eyes you're more than that. You're my little Vincent, my sunflower, and nothin' will ever, ever change that."
Tears start to well up in my eyes. I throw myself at her, forcing her into a hug as I start to cry into her shoulder. Crying was all the response she needed to know what she said really meant something to me.
She rubs my back, kisses my cheek, and tells me to rest up before leaving my room, closing my door tight.
I take a deep breath, wiping the tears from my face, and deciding to paint. Moving to my work station, I catch a glimpse of something in the mirror- something my mom was obviously staring at. My breath catches in my throat.

You're fucking kidding me.

I pace back to my nightstand, grabbing my phone and opening up my messages. Taking a picture of my neck, I quickly send it to John.

Me, 9:01 AM
John!!!! What the hell is this!!!!

Stupid Jock, 9:02 AM
uh a hickey??????????

John sends a picture of my blue sweater on his bed.

Stupid Jock, 9:02 AM
u also left your shirt here bro

Me, 9:02 AM
I know! I accidentally took yours!!!

Stupid Jock, 9:03 AM
u can keep it :) i have another

Me, 9:03 AM
Well you CAN'T keep mine!! It's my favorite, I need it back!!!

Stupid Jock, 9:04 AM
sounds like ur just gonna have to come over and get it sometime ;p

God!!! What an asshole!!!!

Going back to my closet, I find a yellow turtle neck that my mom got me for Snowflake day last year. It's nice and warm, and I think I've only worn it a couple of times. Well, until I figure out what to do, I'm going to be wearing it pretty frequently.

~*~

"Hey Vin!" Joan smiles at me, walking beside me through the morning halls of Clone High. "You cold or something?"
It was getting closer to late November, the temperature decreasing with the count down to New Years.
"Yeah, I've been freezing since last night." I lie through my teeth.
"Man, I feel bad for you. They're not gonna let you wear that in gym tomorrow."
My eyes go wide and I can hear every thought in my head shattering into a million pieces. "Y-yeah, I might just have to sit out."
"Why? Van, did you..?"
I knew what she was referencing. "No, I haven't! It's- it's something else. Um,"
I look around, too nervous to speak out loud. Instead, I grab her arm and pull her to the side, where I would be hidden from the other kids line of sight.
"Jesus, Vincent, what's wrong?"
"Listen, I trust you, I trust you so much, and me having my trust in you means you can't tell anyone about this or I will, in fact, fucking die."
"That's fine, are you gonna tell me what's wrong or not?"
My teeth clench, eyes breaking contact and looking down. I hook a finger around collar of my turtle neck and pull it down for a second.
I hear her whisper oh my god. This is probably the most embarrassing thing I've had to put myself through. If it weren't for John, or me ever going to that stupid party two weeks ago, I could still be the old me, the one who doesn't drink or smoke or get hickeys from stupid idiot boys!
"You've really... matured, Van Gogh."
"Don't call me that."
"Mature?"
"Van Gogh."

Joan takes me to the girls bathroom, the one no one uses or even comes near. It's in the freshmen hall, and since all of us are either juniors or seniors, it's practically abandoned. New clones are made all the time, but the age process is sped up, to keep them aligned with their peers.
Joan washes the area with cold water, before pulling some bottles I haven't seen before.
"What's that?"
"Makeup." She says, calmly. She starts with using color corrector on the spots, and blending it in.
"You're sure that this will hide it."
"As long as you don't wash it or sweat it off, sure."
"I feel so embarrassed..."
"Don't be, Vincent. I was all on my own when I got my first hickey-"
I cringed hearing her say that,
"- but I'm here for you, right?"
"I guess so."
By the time she was done it was like I never met John in the first place- it was like magic!
"So, who gave those to you anyway?"
I stiffen. John wants to keep it a secret, and I do too. It's better with no one knowing about us at all.
"Uh, no one important. It was just a.. fling, I guess."
"Well, look at you, Mr. All-Grown-Up, having flings and stuff."
My face turns red, and she immediately cuts it out. Joan hands me over the corrector and concealer. "Here. You can keep them."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," she shrugs, "I get paid soon, I'll just buy more."
Just then the bell rings. I had gotten early to school to work on some reading before class, but I guess that's out the window now.
I tell Joan thank you, stuffing the new magic items into my back and rushing off to first period with Mr. Hemingway. I am so lucky to have Joan as a friend.

[[ sorry this is kind of boring!!! It's really just a filler! Do you guys have any ideas for what should happen next?? It's supposed to be more of Vincent and Johns "fling" but the slowly fall in love ;;w;; and I need some help figuring out what to do next. Thank you so much for 500 reads btw!!! You guys are awesome!!!!!]]