×ART IS MINE (and I'm super proud of it)×

Saturday

My phone woke me up at 11 am. The name 'MargaritaPizza' lit up the screen. Slowly, I tapped the Accept button and held it up to my ear.

"...John?" Peggy's voice crackled through the speaker.

"Yep. Wait, Peggy, are you crying? Tell me what happened!" I could hear Eliza in the background trying to comfort her. Angelica seemed to be talking to someone, her tone sounded defeated.

 "I- He- John, Dad died! He's gone, he's, he, I-" she sighed. I take a shaky breath.

"Peggy, calm down. It will be alright." I wasn't sure if that was a lie or not, but I could hear her breathing slow. That's good.

"Thanks, it's just... I don't know how to explain it. He's just gone. I won't be able to show him my new clothes, or bake cookies with him, or just sit with him looking out of a window at the butterflies. He'll never see me and my sisters again. Angelica and Eliza were both at his side when he... died. I didn't go in because there wasn't enough space in the emergency room for me, my sisters and the doctors and nurses. I decided I'd rather remember him as my healthy, happy father, not the frail man I would've seen on his deathbed."

Tears were dripping down my face. Philip Schuyler was like a father to me as well, and he had such a wealthy family. He was powerful, but he was still a kind person. 

 "Peggy, why don't you come over later, and you can bring your sisters. Alex would love to help you as much as possible, and I can tell you need a hug. Uh, if you want to, of course-"

She let out a small giggle at my frantic speaking and agreed to meet up at my house.

 "Thanks John, I really appreciate it. We'll see you soon!" She hung up.

 I noticed that while I was talking I had walked out of my room and was now next to Chris, who walked towards me in his tank.

 "Hi Chris. Is your life easy? All you do is walk around all day. However, I know better than to judge you from how you act. You may walk around in your tank, but your mind could see huge mountains you need to conquer, and- wow. I'm actually trying to have a conversation with a turtle. That's it. I've actually gone crazy. But hey, I've got nothing better to do, so I'm just going to talk with you."

 So I did. I had a full hour of conversation with a turtle. I noticed how nice it felt to have an honest talk with him, since now that I can lie, it's actually hard not to. Even if he didn't reply, it was relaxing to vent to him. I even noticed that my chest seemed to relax, as if all of its pain had gone. Surprisingly, I had noticed that my chest felt like it was slightly hurting sometimes, and that completely truthful rant about nothing in particular had eased it.

Chris turned in the direction of the clock, and I noticed how long I'd been there for, so I threw on the comfy green top Hercules made me for my birthday and shorts. After about ten minutes, Alex knocked on the door so I let him in, because what else would I do in that situation? 

 "John! Are you ok? You look like you've been crying. What's wrong?" I had to admit, the way he was so worried about me did make me crack a smile. After we sat down next to Chris, who seemed to love how much attention he'd gotten in the past hour, I told Alex about Philip. He was shocked as well, but he did seem to cheer up a bit after I informed him that the Sisters™ were going to pay a visit.

Apparently, he'd not been able to get to know Peggy much, even though she was the first Schuyler to text him after they'd met at a party some time last winter. I assured him that they'd get along well, even if Peggy did seem a bit unnerving at first, with her never-ending energy and loud personality.

10 minutes of conversations about sleep schedules later, three girls appeared in my doorstep. It was easy to tell that something was off, since Eliza seemed to carry herself as if she'd start crying any second. Angelica gripped her sisters hands like they'd disappear at any moment. Even Peggy didn't wear her trademark bright smile. Quickly I led them inside, where Alexander rushed to them and gave them all a hug.

Just the looks on the girls' faces made me tear up. We all sat down with Chris next to us, Alex and Peggy either side of me. I was sure the atmosphere was so thick you could cut it with a bite from a snapping turtle, so I attempted to break the awkward silence. Alex could sense that it was uncomfortable for everyone in the room, and he clearly had the same idea as me.

We both spoke, "Angie, are you ok? Y- that was weird." We chuckled at how our voices sounded together, and even Angelica let out a small giggle.

Nobody could deny that the atmosphere was awkward, but it hid a thicc layer of grief not far below it. It was silent, but in a way, the moment felt precious. We were left with our own thoughts, remembering Philip and all he had done for us.

Somehow, about 10 minutes later, we started discussing things. We weren't really talking about anything in particular, our mouths just displayed what was on our minds. Slowly, Eliza started opening up about how she felt. "I know this might sound weird, and a little strange considering why we're heere, but I think this would be a good icebreaker. You don't have to say if you don't want to, of course, but I recently found out that I'm omnisexual!" She did embarrassed looking jazz hands as she muttered the last few words, and the room went silent. Maybe a millisecond later, Peggy jumped up and yelled, "ELIZABETH SCHUYLER OH MY GOSH I KNEW IT! I'M SO SO SOO PROUD!!!" With that, she practically raced into her, the rest of us not far behind. After we made sure that she wasn't squished to death, Eliza laughed. It was clearly contagious, since moments later everyone seemed to be howling with laughter. The rest of us sat back down, satisfied that everyone has a smile on their faces now.

"Well, I'm asexual and panromantic," Angelica added, smiling at Alex. We already knew, so I thought it was nice that everyone would get the chance to make him feel closer to us. We went around in a circle, Peggy was bisexual, Chris wanted attention, I was gay. Obviously.

Alex looked somewhat nervous before we told him out sexualities, but by the time it was his turn, it was easy to tell that he was very relaxed. He said, "Actually, I'm bi too!" I felt my heart flutter. I actually might have had a chance! 

The day went on, Eliza beat Alexander at rock paper scissors multiple times, I watched Peggy attempt to brush Angie's hair for about ten minutes, and Chris walked around for a bit. Smiling, I looked down at my arm, Connor written across the side. That's when a thought struck me. Evan lied a lot, and it didn't really help him at all. After all, the show, even though it was science fiction, was about lying. As nice as he was, I didn't want to be like Evan.

I was pulled from my thoughts as my phone buzzed in my pocket. Quickly I looked to see that it was a message from my English class group-chat.

dIdYoUjUsTaSsUmEmYgEnDeR?: I'm boredddd -_-

 "Who dat?" Peggy called, trying to untangle her hand from Angie's hair.

I smirked. "It's Maria. They're bored." Her eyes widened as she rushed over to me, leaving Angie to try and fix whatever her sister had done to her hair.

At this point, Alex noticed Peggy's interest in Maria, so he walked away from his rock paper scissors contest and asked for the tea to be spilled. Needless to say, the tea was sufficiently spilled as Peggy went red whenever Maria was mentioned. 

Sooner or later, it seemed that everyone in the room was trying to set them up together.

Turtleboi420: @dIdYoUjUsTaSsUmEmYgEnDeR? My friend Peggy has nothing to do, do you wanna hang with her?

dIdYoUjUsTaSsUmEmYgEnDeR?: Sure! I've heard about her, she seems cool. How about we meet up at the park?

I checked with Peggy, who wore a bright red face at this point, and sent her off to the park to meet Maria. However, her sisters decided to spy on them, since they didn't want to miss their little sister's 'first date'.

 "Bye John! Bye Alex! Thanks for everything. We really appreciate it." They walked off, leaving us giggling like schoolgirls.

A while later, Alex pulled a book from his bag and set it down on my coffee table. 

'Turtle Facts'

'Turtles are reptiles with hard shells that protect them from predators. They are among the oldest and most primitive groups of reptiles, having evolved millions of years ago. Turtles live all over the world in almost every type of climate.

According to the (ITIS), the turtle order, Testudines (or Chelonia), splits into two suborders, Cryptodira and Pleurodira, and then further splits into 13 families, 75 genera and more than 300 species.

"Turtle," "tortoise" and "terrapin" are often used interchangeably as synonyms, but there are distinct differences between the types of chelonians.

Turtles spend most of their lives in water. They are adapted for aquatic life, with webbed feet or flippers and a streamlined body. Sea turtles rarely leave the ocean, except to lay eggs in the sand. Freshwater turtles live in ponds and lakes, and they climb out of the water onto logs or rocks to bask in the warm sun.Tortoises are land animals. Their feet are round and stumpy, adapted for walking on land. They also dig burrows with their strong forelimbs, and slip underground when the sun gets too hot. Terrapins live on land and in water, usually in swamps, ponds, lakes and rivers.'

"That's awesome!" I exclaimed after we'd read the first page. We read for a while, occasionally stopping to discuss our favourite parts. The feeling of him next to me made me feel safe, like nothing could go wrong. I wanted to feel like that forever, with Alex by my side. 

Unfortunately, he did have to leave eventually. "Bye Alex! See you tomorrow?"

"Of course! Bye John!" He smiled. I went back inside and sat down with Chris. Taking a glance at my arm, I saw something on the coffee table.

'Turtle Facts'

Huh. Alex forgot the book. 

Turtleboi420: You forgot your turtle book lol should I go give it to you?

MrWrite: It might rain and get your cast wet, ill come get it <3

Wait wHAT-