Sanders Sides Highschool AU - “Stay True to Yourself”
This story is going to focus on all the sides and the different dilemmas they face. (The dilemmas can reach from school, family, friends to personal identity.)
Characters: Logan, Patton, Roman, Virgil and Remus and Janus.
Summary: Virgil has moved around all his life and never been able to quite settle down. He and his dad have just moved to Florida, and Virgil is super nervous about starting high school. Adding to the already existing fear of going to high school, is also the fact that Virgil always has been picked on in school. He doesn’t know if it is because of his style in clothing, his hobbies or the fact that he is.....well, gay. And he has finally had enough! Virgil decides to put on a tougher persona, so, when school starts he is never letting anyone mess with him ever again.
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Chapter 1
Growing up and figuring out who you are is one of the hardest challenges you can face; Especially as a teenager. You are expected to know what you want your future to look like while you also struggle with grades, family, friends, and all the other things going on in your body. You are no longer a child but also nowhere near grown-up. And the adults in your life will constantly remind you of this. They seem to get to decide when you are old enough to take responsibility and when you are too young to make your own decisions.
And nowhere is this more apparent than in high school.
It is Monday morning and the summer break is over. A small car is driving on the highway with two individuals inside. A father and a son. In the car's backseat, the son, Virgil, shifts his focus from the road to the window, trying to keep himself occupied. The world outside keeps on passing by and the speed is making all buildings, trees, and people look like blurred objects.
Meanwhile, in the driver's seat, the father adjusts the rearview mirror to take a look at his son. Virgil has his head leaned on his palm and is staring out the window, he is wearing his usual striped hoodie, a dark purple t-shirt, and ripped black jeans.
Virgil’s father sights. It’s been two years since the death of his wife and Virgil has been going through a lot. He has lost count of how many times Virgil has had to switch schools because of bullying, and how many times they’d been forced to move because of his old job.
Virgil and his father are new to the city, they recently moved here during the summer break. One of the many reasons for moving was that Virgil's father got a new job and he thought it would be the perfect opportunity to start over.
The light from the sun then bounces off the mirror and reflects onto Virgil. Virgil who is blinded by it turns to see where it came from, only to discover that his dad is looking at him.
Noticing that he’s been caught his dad quickly looks back on the road, embarrassed.
Virgil then sits up and starts to fiddle with his fingers, unable to distract from his thoughts any longer.
'What if I screw up? What if I say something wrong that will make everyone hate me?! Dad would eventually find out and come to the confusion that we'd have to move again. Fuck. Can we even afford to move?! Dad just got a new job. We just got here and now I'm going to end up ruining everything! Why do I always have to be such a pain?!'
Virgil's father tries to call his son's name but Virgil is not responding - being too caught up in his spiraling thoughts.
The car then slows down to a gentle crawl. Virgil's father leans back and gently pats Virgil on his knee. "Hey buddy, how are you holding up?" His touch is enough to snap Virgil out of it.
After a moment's silence, Virgil turns to his dad and shrugs. “I dunno. Fine, I guess…”
“That did not look fine."
“I- I’m just nervous”, Virgil admits, “I don’t want to screw this up.”
"You won't screw anything up." His father's gaze is stern. "You never have and you never will."
Virgil wrinkles his nose and scoffs. 'We all know that's not true'
"Besides everyone is nervous on their first day, you won't be the only one."
"Yeah, but not everyone has anxiety", Virgil mutters to himself.
His father turns his head away, clenching his jaw, not knowing how to respond to that. Instead, they continue to drive in silence.
Virgil is sitting hunched, his body turned away from his dad.
"What I meant to say was… ", his father says, unable to take the silence any longer, "Everyone is starting their freshman year. This is a new school and people have surely matured during the summer. I don't think you have anything to be afraid of."
"I'm not so sure… I mean look at me!" Virgil gestures to himself.
"I am", his father says, "and all I see is a perfectly normal boy."
Virgil snorts. "Yeah right, because a normal boy would totally wear this, put on eyeshadow, and get a crush on other boys!"
"Yes!"
"Normal boys didn't get bullied like me, dad!"
His dad grips the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turn white. Of course, he knows that Virgil has never been like most kids; He was always a little too sensitive and enjoyed things that most boys didn't. However, all that still doesn't justify how other people treated him.
Yes, his son may not be like the majority but so what!? There is nothing wrong with that.
"We're here…" The car, now in the school's parking lot, comes to a stop. Virgil climbs out of the car and grabs his backpack, he adjusts the large headphones around his neck and shuts the door.
His father scrolls down the car window.
"Love you, stormcloud."
Virgil gives his father a small smile. "Yeah, I know dad.."
He tilts his head, a serious expression on his face. "And promise me that you will begin to stand up for yourself."
"...Yeah...I’ll try...."
The window slowly begins to creep back up. "I'm serious!”, he points to his son, “I need to get to work now, call me if you need anything and please, at least try to make some friends. Okay, kiddo?"
Virgil just nods, not willing to make any promises.
The car then begins to drive away and fade from Virgil's eye view. After it disappears Virgil takes a deep breath as he turns to look at his new school, a dreaded feeling in his stomach.
Ugh! He is so tired of being scared of places like this.
Behind this door, anything could happen. His life could finally change for the better; he could meet new friends and make high school the best years of his life...or….It could be another school filled with bullies making him wish he was never born.
Although... thinking back to his earlier school years, Virgil might think of a way to make people leave him alone. In his previous schools, there were always those kids that nobody dared to mess with. They were confident, took no one’s bullshit, and had, let’s just say...a bad reputation. Not even the worst bullies dared to do anything to them.
With determination in his eyes, Virgil flattens his hair and makes his bangs cover his eyes. He straightens his posture, puts his hands in his pockets, and marches towards the school.
“Friends”, Virgil sneers, “Never had them before so why should I need them now?"
'Besides, who would even want to be friends with someone like me…'
-
"Patton!"
"Yeah, mom?!"
"Could you please come down and help me, sweetie?!"
"Of course! I'll be right there!"
Twenty minutes away from the school, in a nice little cul-de-sac, a boy dressed in a cyan-blue polo shirt and grey cardigan bounces down the stairs and walks into his kitchen.
In the kitchen, his mom is standing and preparing lunch while his siblings, Liam and Fiona, are eating cereal by the kitchen table.
Patton gives his mom a huge smile. "Morning, mom!"
She returns the gesture, "Good morning", she says and puts in three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the lunch bags.
Patton looks around, "What did you want help with?"
"Can you take these bags and put them in Fiona and Liam's backpacks."
"Sure thing!"
Patton walks up to his mom, gives her a peck on the cheek, and takes the sandwiches to the backpacks down the hall.
After putting the bags in the backpacks Patton checks to see if his siblings have packed everything; extra clothes; some fruit; a stuffed animal. He just knows they can't bear to be without them.
When he gets back to the kitchen, Fiona and Liam have already put their bowls in the sink and run upstairs to brush their teeth.
Patton is just about to go up and see if they need help when his mom calls for him:
“Patton, honey can I talk to you for a second?” The smile on her face is gone and she is standing with her arms tangled in front of her.
Patton hesitates. Has he done something wrong?
He puts his hands behind his back and twists his body before he makes his way to his mom, eyes looking down at the floor.
She kneels, takes a hold of his hands, and pulls them forward.
"Am I in trouble…?", Patton asks, a lump forming in his throat.
"No, sweetie…", she kisses his forehead, "You're not in trouble. I'm sorry if I made it seem that way."
Patton’s whole body relaxes and he lets out a sigh of relief.
“Your Dad and I have just been talking about something", her smile drops and it turns into a frown. "We are going to be very short on staff at work, both at the hospital and at the residential home. It is going to be very likely that we both need to work overtime. This will affect a lot of things back home, things like picking up Fiona and Liam from school, dropping them off at training, and helping them with their homework." His mom grabs his hand tightly. "I know this isn’t fair - but Dad and I need you to step up and take some more responsibility. Can you do that?“
Patton’s parents both work in service jobs. His dad works as a nurse at the hospital and his mom works at a residential home. It's not the best-paying jobs but they manage to get by and Patton couldn’t be more proud of them and the work that they do.
But there is part of him that is worried about how this will affect school. What if this is going to negatively affect his grades and make him fall behind.
Patton looks at his mom, standing there in her uniform, looking tired and just waiting for an answer. He can’t possibly say something to make her feel bad. He is starting high school right now, he shouldn’t even have any hesitations about this…
A selfless person wouldn't….
Patton puts on his most genuine smile. “Of course. It is about time to practice some...uhh….adultery!”
She snickers.
“I am so proud of you! Continuing to be our happy little boy.”
“That’s me!”, Patton points to himself.
Mom gives him a hug, stands up, and lightly pushes him towards the stairs. “I think it’s time for you to go up and tell your brother and sister that they need to hurry up. The school bus is almost here.”
-
“Beep! Beep! Beep!” Roman groans at the sound of the alarm.
The alarm keeps beeping for a while before he sits up in his bed and turns to the side to shut it off. Roman then quickly yawns and looks at the clock:
It’s 6:50.
School starts at 8:00 so he might as well wake up and get ready. It takes time to look as fabulous as he does every day.
And it's about half an hour's drive from his dad's mansion to the school.
Roman gets out of bed and makes his way to the bathroom. He passes by his brother Remus' room and it's pitch black, he is still fast asleep and snoring loudly.
Roman rolls his eyes and walks up to his brother's bed. He claps his hands and the lights turn on, but Remus just groans. Roman then grabs the covers and pulls them off.
But as the covers come off Roman sees something he wishes he could unsee. "OH MY GOD!", Roman shrieks.
There laying in his bed is Remus; Naked.
Remus stretches out his whole body, sheepishly smiling at Roman. "Morning, Ro. Slept well?"
"Shut up! Where are your clothes?!"
Remus swings his feet off the bed, laughing. "You should know that by now, Roman. I sleep in the buff."
"That is disgusting!" Roman throws a pair of underwear at his brother. "Get dressed."
While Remus puts on the underpants Roman goes to the bathroom to get ready. He locks the door, takes off his pajamas, and gets in the shower.
After washing himself and putting on deodorant, Roman looks at his reflection in the mirror. 'Looking good~'.
He dries his hair, combs it, and finishes it up with some hairspray. And as a final touch, he puts on a light patch of makeup - some baby cream, foundation, and just a small winged eyeliner.
'Wouldn't want dad to make a big deal of it.'
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Roman flinches at the sudden noise. "What the hell Remus?!"
Remus continues to knock on the door."Get out of the bathroom, Ro! It's my turn. You know that there's not enough makeup in the world to improve that mug!"
"WE HAVE THE SAME FACE."
Roman takes his bathrobe and throws the door open. He gives his brother an annoyed glance as they switch places.
He looks at the clock in the hall: 7:15
Shit!!!
Roman ruches back to his room and puts on the clothes he laid out yesterday. After putting on tight-fitted jeans, a white t-shirt, and a red sports-jacket, he runs down the house's marble staircase and into the kitchen.
As Roman enters the kitchen, he sees that his father is in the dining room reading the newspaper with a cup of coffee. Roman hesitates before he fills his bowl with some yogurt and berries, and joins him at the table. His father is wearing his pristine dark blue suit and his suitcase rest beside his chair.
He glances at Roman, eyeing him up and down. “Son.”
“Father.”
Remus arrives just a few minutes later, his hair is wet from the shower and he's putting on socks in a hurry. He's wearing a booger green shirt, black military-printed pants, and a spiked leather jacket. Remus glances at the clock and notices that he has limited time, so he decides to take a banana from the fruit bowl. The atmosphere is uneasy as they all continue to eat their breakfast.
The father then takes a long sip of his coffee before folding his newspaper and leaning down on the table.
“Boys, you are about to move onto the next stage of your lives and I think it’s important that you begin to act your age.” He glares at Roman. “Which starts by quitting your childish hobbies and focusing on something more worthwhile”.
Roman slams his hand on the counter. "But dad!"
"No objections! You are a talented sportsman son, it's about time you quit that girly activity and apply to the school's football team."
He then looks at Remus, who has put the whole banana in his mouth. “And Remus, I don't ask for much, just don't get into a habit of getting into trouble. And please, try not to ruin this family’s reputation…”
“Yes, dad…”, Roman sights.
“Whatever you say, pops” Remus scoffs, why should he care about his family's stupid reputation. It's only a reputation for being boring rich snobs anyway.
Their father straightens his tie, stands up, and grabs his suitcase. "Mr. Sato will drive you to school. I have to get to the airport for my business trip. You’ll be staying with your mom this week, and I’ll see you at the end of the weekend." He puts away his coffee mug and leaves the kitchen without saying anything else to them; no “good luck”, no “have a great day”, or even “I love you”.
Roman can only hope to hear at least a goodbye from his father but knows he is gone the moment the front door slams shut.
The twins then finish their breakfast and step outside, waiting for Mr.Sato to drive the car out of the garage. He opens the door for both of them, respectfully nodding his head to say good morning. Roman returns the gesture.
Mr. Sato is the boy’s personal chauffeur, the one who has taken them to school for most of their lives. Roman really likes Sato, he always listens to him and makes him feel like he can be himself around him. He’s who Roman will turn to when he needs to vent to anyone besides his friends.
Roman’s face lights up as he thinks about them. That’s right, he’ll see his friends today! God, how he’s missed them. Patton’s warm hugs, Logan’s wordplays, their playful banter.
If one thing is certain is that these school years will be just like the rest. Just him, Logan, and Patton. Like it always has been.
Like it always will be.
