Please enjoy and point out errors as usual. Thank you ❤

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Her fingers brushed against the rough paper of the book as her blue eyes traveled through the seemingly endless streams of words that came one page after another. Her mind painted pictures of the characters as they acted out the scenes, she could almost see the fictional people in her room as they battled against the antagonist of the story who had been causing them trouble for the entire series. She felt a faint smile cross her face as she ran her fingers along the edge of the page in order to flip it and find even more words to greet her with their arms wide open practically begging her to keep reading them and find out if the protagonist would be triumphant in his battle.

In real life, a protagonist such as the one in this story would never have been able to take down a god like he did. He was weak, no, he was underpowered compared to the antagonist who could easily end his life with the snap of a finger, but that was what Allura liked most about books; they weren't real. Anyone, even a pathetic human being who had gone through life being weak compared to others, could find their inner strength to bring down the thing that kept them chained up to the social norms that were being pushed against them.

She would do anything for that life, a life with purpose.

"You know, this isn't actually too bad," Katie said from Allura's desk as she quietly fixed her broken computer with skills that probably shouldn't belong to someone of her age. "I really thought that we would be at each other's throats, but we're just doing our own thing so, not that bad."

Allura looked up from her book and smiled, "I think I may actually agree with you Katie," She stated and turned the page of her book before placing her bookmark in it and closed the cover. "So what exactly are you doing to my computer?" Allura inquired as she got up from her bed and walked across her shaggy white rug in order to stand above the sandy brunette with her brows raised in curiosity.

"Oh," Katie looked up and shrugged, "Since the disk tray was your main issue with how it would get stuck or just wouldn't close, I decided to fix that issue and upgrade your computer as well."

Allura found herself staring at Katie with confusion, "What upgrades?"

"Well to put it simply," Katie adjusted her glasses and smirked, "I'm getting you virus protection because you had quite a few on here, I'm making it so that your computer will never have any more disk troubles, and maybe a couple of illegal things, but I wouldn't worry too much about it."

Allura's blue eyes nearly popped out of her head as she listened to Katie. Everything sounded cool except for the illegal bit, what if they got caught? The political career she always dreamed of would be stripped away from her all because of the midget fiddling with her computer. "You can't get illegal stuff! What if it gets traced back here? If you couldn't tell, my uncle and I aren't rich and I'm on a scholarship, so we can't bribe people!"

What was wrong with the place she lived in? Well she lived in her uncle's home right above his garage where he fixed cars for reasonable prices for the highest quality service you could ever have. Their home wasn't special; it had one bathroom, two bedrooms, and a kitchen. Literally nothing else. They struggled to keep up with bills every month and it was why Allura worked a job while she tried her hardest to get perfect grades, even at the expense of her social life. She tried so hard every day of her life so that her uncle would be happy and just so that she could get a taste of a normal life. She did a lot of things to feel normal...

"I was joking princess; don't get your panties in a twist!" Katie laughed in amusement as she tinkered with one more thing before she tapped the side of the computer triumphantly. "She's all set and ready to do research papers!" She stated pride fully.

"Thanks Katie, you're a life saver," Allura sighed in relief as she walked back over to her bed in time for her smartphone to go off unexpectedly.

She checked it and felt like dropping the thing into a bottomless pit just so that she didn't have to see it ever again in her life. It was her tutor asking if she wanted to bump their meeting to Friday after school, if it was even up to her, Allura would have said no, but sadly she didn't have a choice. She agreed to it and put her phone away before she played with her tie quietly as she frowned.

"Is this a photo of your parents?" Katie asked quietly as she held a picture of a very young Allura being held up by her parents, while her uncle Coran snapped a photo with part of his face in the corner as he tried to squeeze into the frame.

Allura felt a deep sense of guilt slap her across the face as she stared across the room at that once happy family smiling gleefully. She lowered her head and stared at the hem of her skirt as she nodded, "Yeah, back when they were still around at least..." She felt as if this heavy cloud loomed over her, threatening to drop ridiculous amounts of rain on her.

Katie picked up on the girl's discontent as she connected the dots. She gave Allura a sympathetic look before she placed the picture frame down next to the computer, "I lost my dad not too long ago, so if you ever need to talk to someone about it then I'm here for you."

Allura glanced over to see Katie staring out the window with a distant looking smile on her face as if she were remembering something from so long ago. Allura gulped as she became uncomfortable with the silence; silence meant that she was alone with her thoughts and that was never a good thing for her. "How does this gender dysphoria thing work?" She asked suddenly.

Katie looked taken back as she looked over at Allura, "Wait you're actually interested in my problems?" She sounded astonished that Allura even had interest in her life.

Allura really didn't care much about Katie's problem, it didn't change the way Allura saw her, but the senior didn't want to talk about how her parents passed away. "Well I mean we should get to know each other right? I don't know what gender dysphoria is exactly, but everyone knows what dysthymia is."

Katie pursed her lips slightly before nodding, "To put it simply; I haven't truly ever felt comfortable in the gender I am. I mean, I rocked dresses, but they never felt right on me, I don't feel comfortable with having feminine body parts... and the whole once a month thing, that makes me extremely uncomfortable to the point I'm anxious if people find out I'm even on it," Katie turned red in her cheeks as she quietly mumbled why she had gender dysphoria. "I got diagnosed with it last year, but I'm not going to do any changes until I'm an adult just so I know that I do really want to make the irreversible changes to my body."

Allura raised her eyebrows, she never really thought there was much to being a transgender person, but Katie made it sound way more complex than Allura had once thought before. She placed her fingertips together and leaned forward slightly, "I always thought being trans meant you didn't like wearing the clothes that matched the gender you were born as, or that you didn't like the gender roles society has set for us. You make it sound like it's more than just that and to be quite honest," Allura softened her gaze a little as she looked at Katie, "I could never imagine you rocking a dress."

"I can totally rock a dress!" Katie said in confidence, "And no, that's gender nonconformity. People seem to be getting gender dysphoria and gender nonconformity mixed up lately due to mainstream media but, I can always teach you the differences if you want to understand me and the other transgender people more."

"I would love that!" Allura announced as she jumped up from her bed in excitement. She loved learning about social issues simply because when she would start her career in politics, she would deal with these issues almost every day in her life. Best to start learning as much as she could at a young age before it was too late. "Oh and," She placed her hands on her hips and yawned loudly, "I'm really hungry, want something to eat?"

"What?" Katie looked totally shocked by Allura's statement. "You already ate an entire pizza just a few minutes ago when Coran brought us some food. How the in the world can you be so hungry again?"

Allura smiled out of embarrassment as her stomach growled loudly. "I'm just a hungry girl," she laughed awkwardly.

Katie smiled at the senior before she got out of her seat and followed Allura into the tiny hallway where the rooms and bathroom were at before they went to the kitchen and warmed up some left over Chinese takeout. The apartment wasn't anything special, the only decorations inside were the photos lining the walls of the hallway that held a once very happy family in their frame. The further you got in the hallway one could see the transition from a family of four to a family of two where Coran and Allura were the only ones left.

She always had a heavy sense of guilt when she saw photos of her parents; she never stopped believing that the incident that took their lives was her fault, because to her, it was. No matter what the therapists told her when she was younger, she would never stop believing the thoughts in her head that told her every day that if she had never been born into this world, her parents and uncle would have all been happy still.

"Allura?" Katie raised her eyebrow from where she sat at the round kitchen table, "Your microwave just beeped you know," she looked a little suspicious as she stared at Allura.

Allura straightened her posture and forced a strained laugh, "Right, sorry I wasn't paying attention," No kidding.

She quickly got her leftovers and seated herself across from Katie before she started eating again. The poor freshman looked weirded out as she watched Allura, she was probably still wondering how the senior was able to eat an entire pizza by herself and still have room for leftover Chinese food. Even so, Katie wasn't one to pick on others for their quirks since she got enough bullying at school for the fact that she was suffering from gender dysphoria.

"So," Katie smirked and rested her chin on her palm, "What was up with Shiro giving you a ride in his truck?" She asked with a devilish tone.

Allura nearly choked of the piece of chicken she had been devouring seconds before as she remembered what happened in the parking lot earlier. See, she was the student council president at her school and Shiro was one of the members of the baseball team. Normally they would never interact with one another, especially with the rumors about Allura that had been spreading around recently, but while she was hanging up posters for prom, Shiro bumped into her and struck up a conversation and even helped her out. He managed to convince her that she could get a ride from him to the support group meeting since she had been planning on skipping it that day just so she could go home and attempt to study for the English test this Friday.

Allura couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed by the fact that Keith and Katie had seen her get out of Shiro's car; they probably thought the two of them had been up to no good with how they had been looking at her. "W-What about it? He offered to give me a ride and that's all that happened," she stuffed a piece of broccoli in her mouth and tried to ignore the smiling face of Shiro that popped into her head.

"Nothing? Nothing happened, not even a little compliment?" Katie pressed.

Allura swallowed down her food harshly and felt it nearly get stuck in her throat causing her to cough and take a long swig from her water. "Nothing!" She exclaimed and slammed her empty cup down onto the table roughly with large blue eyes taking Katie by surprise.

"Well, since you dressed like a total church girl, it shouldn't surprise me that he didn't even give you a compliment," Katie sighed in disappointment. Did this kid live for gossip? Is that why she was pressing for any information on Shiro and Allura?

Allura thought Shiro was an attractive male of course since he had everything that a woman would look for in the opposite sex; muscular, knowledgeable, sporty, caring, and handsome. She felt herself slipping away into her thoughts of Shiro slowly, but surely, so she shook her head violently in order to completely get rid of those thoughts. She wasn't there to be falling for some boy; she went to those meetings in hopes of getting better.

"You good?" Katie asked with a bug eyed expression on her face.

Allura gave a sour face as she realized how weirded out Katie probably was at this point. "Yeah, sorry. What do you think of those two boys, Keith and Lance?" She asked in hopes of never being forced to talk about Shiro again.

Katie pulled out her phone and frowned as she began to text someone, "Well Keith is definitely gay, and I mean he was staring at Shiro for half the meeting today. Lance though," she looked up and gave a very strained and unsure expression to Allura. "I don't know what's up with him, but he's either into you or Keith. I don't know he's kind of a wildcard."

Allura pressed her fingers to her temple and rolled her eyes, "Oh trust me, I know all about his little crush on me. He stares at me so much," She sounded annoyed as she talked about Lance to Katie, but soon enough they had begun joking about how Keith and Lance would fight over the stupidest things.

Allura was feeling rather content with how she had been spending her time with Katie until the door to the shop downstairs opened and her uncle came into the home with oil stained clothing on. "Allura, sweetie," Coran smiled and waved at Katie, "your tutor is here, he said that you two were going to go out to get coffee and go over the English test. Hurry along; you shouldn't keep a man waiting!"

Coran was the only man in Allura's life she truly cared about. When she lost her parents, he was the only one in the entire family that stepped up to raise her. Everyone else was either too busy with their own lives, used the excuse that they didn't have enough room for her in their home, or just simply didn't want a child that should've been the one to die rather than her parents. Coran had been the only one at the funeral to go up to her and talk to her like a normal child who had just witnessed something so horrid, he had made jokes with her, did magic tricks, anything to make her laugh and keep her from crying. He had been an angel sent from heaven.

He took her in and raised her from such a young age into the young woman she was now even if he did struggle to keep up with the bills to pay for his shop, home, and the medications she needed for her condition. She loved him as if he were her real father.

But, right now, she was just confused as she stared at him with a piece of her food hanging halfway out of her mouth and her eyes bulging or of her skull. What did he mean that her tutor was here? She thought they were going to hold the tutoring session to Friday, not now!

"W-What do you mean?" She stood up nearly knocking over her chair in shock.

Coran stroked his little orange mustache and raised his eyebrow, "I mean he's sitting outside right now, I thought I explained that already but perhaps I wasn't clear enough with my explanation..." He suddenly straightened his posture and nodded curtly, "Aha, maybe next time I should say-"

"Oh god," Allura mumbled to herself and rushed over to her room before closing her door, completely forgetting about Katie.

What was Mr. Lindon doing here at her house? Why did he just show up out of the blue like this? Her mind was racing with different ideas as to why her teacher came over out of the blue as she quickly got dressed into a pair of white ripped jeans and a minty flutter sleeve she wore all the time before she quickly let her hair down and grabbed her phone. This was just absolutely ridiculous and unprofessional on Mr. Lindon's part.

She rushed out of her room and ran over to Coran as she slipped on her white tennis shoes before kissing Coran's cheek as a goodbye. "Um, hello?" Katie stood up and waved her hands in the air, "What am I supposed to do until my brother gets me?" She asked.

Allura froze in place and felt like screaming in frustration as she glanced at the staircase that led down into the auto shop below them. She had to go, but she just couldn't leave Katie alone in her house, what if she really did download illegal stuff onto her computer out of spite?

Coran smiled as he waved his hand for Allura to leave, "I'll let Katie help me fix Christopher's car if she's up for it," He offered kindly.

Katie's entire mood took a one eighty degree turn as she nearly tripped over herself trying to run over to Coran with this huge brown eyes full of excitement, "Could I? I would love to help you fix cars!" She exclaimed. If she were a dog, Allura was sure the girl's tail would be wagging fast enough to create a tornado, she was so amped up.

"Thank you so much Coran, and Katie," Allura began to rush down the steep stairs not wanting to keep her tutor waiting any longer, "We'll go to your house tomorrow and do whatever you want, I promise. I'm sorry!"

She didn't bother waiting for the freshman's response as she stepped onto the smooth cement and breathed in the scent of oil and grease. For some reason she just absolutely loved that smell and it made the stressfulness of this situation seem a little less noticeable as she danced around the two workers who were either pushing a tire towards a car or trying to calm a customer down on the phone. She saw Mr. Lindon outside in his stupid little car she hated being in so much. He was that one teacher all the girls went absolutely crazy for; they would flirt with him shamelessly and purposely drop things in front of him, but Allura? She tried to avoid him on campus at all costs. Why? Because she hated him with every ounce of her being.

He was in his late thirties with ashy brown hair and jade colored eyes that made girls swoon. He had a wife and two kids, but he never talked much about them unlike how he would stroke his own ego 24/7 and try to get the attention of others. He was like one of those characters from a TV show that would get arrested for dating one of his students because he was such a creep.

What had originally started out as a tutoring session for Allura to help bring up her mysteriously poor grades in English became a task to not anger Mr. Lindon as he constantly made advancements on her trying to get their relationship to go somewhere else. She couldn't tell anyone about this because she just knew that no one at school would ever accept her as one of them if the truth came out. The girls would demonize her and label her as a whore for dating the teacher they fantasized about, but in actuality it was Allura who was the victim of Mr. Lindon's disgusting desires.

He smiled at her from inside of the BMW as she opened the passenger door and sat down inside obediently, she was too used to having to do this that he didn't even need to tell her anymore. "You look really beautiful today, Allura," he leaned against the black steering wheel and stared at her with a wolfish look on his face.

She hated him, she hated this damn car that smelt like shitty off brand cologne, and most importantly she hated herself for falling into the trap he had set up for her since the first tutoring session. Being near the teacher made her shiver in fear of what he might do to her and she never ever wanted to make him angry in case he did something to her that was irreversible. He already touched her inappropriately and kissed her in his own home where his wife and kids were in the next room over watching a rerun of SpongeBob while the wife taught their youngest kid how to talk. He was a revolting human being that made her stomach churn just at the sight of his wicked grin.

"T-thank you," She mumbled and quickly fastened her seat belt before pressing against the side of the car in order to put distance between them.

Mr. Lindon sighed as he leaned back in his chair and placed a hand on Allura's thigh, "How does Starbucks sound? I think I'm feeling pretty generous today."

'That better be the only thing you're offering me...' Allura thought to herself bitterly as she forced a smile on her face. "Anything sounds fine to me, Mr. Lindon."

"Richard, please," Mr. Lindon corrected Allura and made her stiffen up suddenly as she realized her mistake.

She looked at the small parking lot outside the window and shivered slightly, "Richard," She said quietly.

She felt the hand on her leg travel to her own hand as he entwined his fingers with hers, "Let's go have some fun then."

If there was a god above her, then why did he make her live through this hellish nightmare?

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Journal entry #1 by Katie Holt:

01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01111001 01100001 00100000 01000010 01101111 01101001 00101110 00100000 (It's me ya boi.)

So today was actually pretty fun, I got to fix someone's car without being responsible if I did any damage to it, which was pretty rad. I did download some illegal things into Allura's computer, but she'll never know.

How do I relate today to gender dysphoria? Well I'm not sure how to relate today to this problem in my life, so I suppose that I actually felt pretty normal and not so out of place like I do at home and school. I mean, there's not much to say since I didn't really do much with Allura, though I'm wondering why she looked so frightened when Coran told her tutor was there.

I have my suspicions that it was actually Shiro and they're actually dating, but just pretending they don't know each other at the group meeting to spice things up. I can totally make this into a conspiracy theory and share it with Hunk and Lance, maybe even Keith since he strikes me as a believer in aliens. Yeah, I'm gonna crack this case as detective Katie Holt.

Look out world and welcome to Chili's.

-cringe lord

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Journal entry #1 by Allura Romero:

*Half the page is scribbled out as if she had been angry*

I don't know how to relate anything today back to my dysthymia... Maybe I can relate the incident at *scribbled out words* no never mind. That was Mr. Lindon's fault, wasn't it? I don't know anymore. Can't I just be allowed to graduate already? I don't know if I can keep up with this anymore...

-Allura

God, I hate writing Richard's character so much he's disgusting. This chapter was a bit awkward with my writing since I haven't written with Allura yet and I don't exactly know what tone I want as her POV like how Keith's is very sarcastic and critical while Lance's wavers between optimistic and pessimistic. Allura is kind of my uncharted territory right now, so hopefully I'll be able to find a good tone that suits her character within the next few chapters.

Allura will be a main character along with Keith and Lance since she will get a tremendous amount of character development if I write her properly. Shiro and the others will be featured rarely but when they are given their own chapter it's important.

Did you like this chapter? Please give me your opinions on Allura's character and leave some constructive criticism if you wish to do so

Have a good night/day!
-Anri