Genevieve let out the longest sigh as she stared at her phone screen, grinning softly as she looked at the lock screen background. Every time the display dimmed, sheâd press the lock button again so she could see the picture of her and her son. Summers were awful for her, since Felix went to his dadâs for the whole break. A lot of mothers would jump at the chance to let their kids go away for awhile, but not Gen. Not when Felix wanted to go to the local public school and not be homeschooled by her anymore. Not when she and his dad carefully picked out the top private school in the area they could find, and then visited it, all for Felix to say âNahâ and vote for public school. Public school! The very place where she wanted to shield him from. Yes, all kids in school were mean, but public school contained far more children than the private ones did. Felix was tall, Felix was sensitive, Felix sang show tunes with his Auntie, boxed, and was racially ambiguous, all things kids could pick on. Felix wasnât ready for real school. Glee didnât change a damn thing, kids were still mean and her poor baby was going to be eaten alive.
âHeâs so excited for this public school thing.â Genevieve bit her lip nervously as her sister walked into the living room. âHe thinks itâs going to be like the movies. His dad is pumping him up. Of course he had a great time in high school, he was popular and mean as shit. FelixâŠFelix belongs in a nice soft environment. Something gentle. Portland Pines wouldâve been such a great place for him but nooooo, he wants to go to Lincoln fucking High. They donât even have four stars, Eevee! They have three point eight!â She let out an exasperated sigh. âI know some parents treat bullying as a rite of passage, but itâs not. Itâs evil and Felix is not gonna make it. There. I said it. Me? Iâm tough! Iâm from the streets.â An exaggeration, but it might as well be true. Her mother made her stay outside tilâ the lights came on. âFelix was raised on Bringing up BĂ©bĂ© and organic foods. He. Will. Not. Make it.â
Honestly the only reason Eevee had come downstairs was to get a snack. She'd been perfectly happy sitting up in her room listening to the soulful melodic tones of the Pointer Sisters with her headphones in and trying to ignore the cramps that seemed to be inflicting pain onto her body, but the growl of her stomach had been growing harder and harder to ignore, so she sucked up the energy that she had and made the trek only to be immediately combated with Genevieveâs chatter and silently cursed the gift of gab they seemed to share in their DNA. She loved her sister but between the talking, the hunger, the pain in her side that sill hadnât subsided despite painkillers, she was not in the mood. Instead of relaying any of this to Gen however she listened as she made her way into the kitchen and quickly grabbed a bag of pretzels and sat down on the couch, before shoveling a few of the salty treats into her mouth and savoring their goodness as she chewed.Â
â The streets? â Eevee couldnât help but echo back mockingly a few chuckles escaping her lips as she gave the other woman a look. â Girl, bye. The streets. HA! â She teased openly before tipping the bag toward her and offering over the pretzels. â You are cracked right now. First of all.. well no, second of all, cause first of all was the streets, â another mocking tone came with the two words that were clearly a figment of Genâs imagination, cause where she came from was not the streets. It was not that kinda struggle and they both knew that.  â So, second of all, let Felix live. He's not delicate. Heâs not gonna break. He doesnât need to be protected in a bubble, he needs you to get on board and support him and respect his decision and his choices. By choosing Lincoln High, heâs telling you he wants to be normal. He wants to grow as a person try new things and be around different people which shows how strong he really is. Heâs braving the unknown and that is his choice. You should be proud, not scared for his life. Heâll be fine. â Eevee both pointed out and reassured that best that she could. â Besides if you really wanna know how the kids at that school are why not just ask Eli? Heâs a sub there. A sub who by the way, has not one, but two masters degrees in two different subjects, that he earned at the same time, and who turned down three Ivy League colleges to go to Northwestern University, where, may I remind you, before you say something snarky, I also went --Go Willie the Wildcat!-- Itâs a top 10 college in the country, Miss This High School Only Has Four Stars. Donât insult teachers you donât know. They work hard regardless of where they teach and it probably has four stars because they donât get the budget they deserve. Youâre judging this school before heâs even had a first day. You need to relax. â Eevee continued to inform her sister in a sugary sweet tone so she wouldnât get offended and would indeed calm down and see reason.Â