(Emily)

On the first day of my senior year, I woke up around five o'clock in the morning. My alarm tone was Sincerely, Me from Dear Evan Hansen. I love the musical too much. I get up and get ready for school after taking a shower. I brush my brown hair, tying it up into a bun. Putting notebooks into my backpack, I mentally prepare myself for the classes I have to take. This year is going to be tough, but it'll help you for college.

I don't know what I'm going to do when I go to college and Sera is still a senior next year. I don't want to leave her; I love her too much.

I can look up any colleges near in Redmond, Washington. I can go to one of those schools and be with Sera. That's a plan.

I text her while putting on my shoes. "You awake, sweetie?" I text her.

"I've been awake," she texts.

"How are you doing?" I text her, debating whether or not I should call her.

"I'm doing okay. My mom took me clothes shopping. She doesn't want me to wear gray clothing all year," she texts. I can hear the exasperation in her voice, I swear.

"Is she trying to make up for the fact that she neglected you when you needed her the most?" I text, knowing the answer.

"You already know the answer, so I won't answer that."

"I know the answer, which is 'yes.' Good choice to not answer that question."

"I'm going to start driving to school now. See you there. TTYL, my love."

"TTYL."

Life has been getting slightly better for Sera. Ever since she got her permit, she can drive wherever as long as she's home before her curfew. She's driving a crimson red 2013 Subaru Outback, which was considered "safe enough" for her.

Her parents picked out the car. Figures.

I eat a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and brush my teeth after I eat. Charlotte is now just getting up, and I walk to my car. I get into the driver's seat and start the ignition. Driving to school, I listen to music on my way there.

Fight Song by Rachel Platten plays on my mixed playlist of different artists and bands. I start to sing along quietly, nodding my head to the beat. Perfect song for the first day back at school. When the song ends, I smile softly to myself.

~•~

"You have a beautiful voice, darling. Why don't you sign up for the talent show?" my mother asked me as I finished singing Rebirthing by Skillet. I shook my head, "they'd probably all laugh at me."

"They would be wrong to do so," she said. I smiled up at her, hugging her gently. She hugged me back.

~•~

I sing along to different songs, letting my voice overpower the singer's voice. As I park next to Sera's car, she smiles at me from one of the benches in front of the school. I pause the song and get out of the driver's seat, cutting the ignition. I grab my backpack and kiss her softly. She kisses me back.

"Hi," she whispers.

"Hi," I whisper.

We walk into the school together, and I notice that Sera is sporting pride-colored clothing today. She has a pride T-shirt with black jeans and royal purple sneakers. Her hair is tied back into a braid. She has a gray sweater tied around her waist. I hold her close to my body, letting some of my heat be absorbed into her body.

"Mine," I say, kissing her head gently.

"Meh. Yours," Sera says, blushing. She's not wearing any makeup today. She looks more like a natural beauty without it. She's always been a natural beauty.

Getting breakfast, we sat where we sat last year. Talking about our summers with our families, we laugh about some of the weirdest things that they did.

"My mom is thinking of sending me to therapy because she thinks that I'm broken," says Sera.

"You've already been in therapy," I say.

"I told her that. She didn't believe me," she says, sighing.

I hold her hand gently. "We'll get through this."

Sera nods, tearing up. I wipe her tears away. We eat breakfast in silence now. The news of therapy lingers in the air.

After school, Sera and I part ways as we go home. Charlotte gets into the back seat just as soon as I'm going to start the ignition. She pants like she ran the mile, wiping sweat from her forehead.

I don't ask her how her day was because she would reply with "shitty" as usual. The H's don't want her in their clan anymore; I guess that they're keeping her because she can do the work that they have to do. I don't understand why she wants to be part of a clan.

Clans are just groups of certain people who reject other people that aren't like them. The jocks will not accept the nerds. The cheerleaders won't take the nerds, either. The nerds won't admit jocks or cheerleaders. It's just the principle of every high school.

I've understood this for years. Charlotte doesn't, yet. I don't want to be the one who tells her. I'll let Sera do that; my girlfriend can be a bitch when she wants to be one. She can be brutally honest at times.

~•~

"Your bitch of a sister blew me off today at lunch," she says as soon as I answer her call. I listen to her story, furious at my half-sister for ditching her when Sera needed her the most.

"Why did she do that?" I ask her.

"She's a self-centered social climber and a bitch. That is all she is!" Sera shouts, her voice cracking. She sobs and I wish that I could be there for her.

~•~

"Why did you blow Sera off last year?" I ask Charlotte, interrupting her conversation with one of the H's on her cellphone. She hangs up after saying "goodbye." "Why?"

"She was the most depressed person that I knew last year," she says like that was entirely obvious. "She had no reason to - "

"You shut your mouth!" I yell. "She was raped at the end of the summer last year! That affected her so much like it had affected me when I was raped! Try to understand that soon if you can't understand that now! Pretty soon, when it might happen to you, you'll finally understand how we felt and how so many victims of rape felt. Men and women." That shut her up.