•All of Oliver
•March 30th - April 1st, XX47
•Oliver's POV
•Contains: cursing, bullying, transphobia
•remember how oliver moved to nevada? well, here he is.

•~~~~•

On the day after his Junior year prom, Oliver found himself on a highway surrounded by the barren desert and hills of Nevada, driving to the house he'd be living in for the next year or two- at the very least.

He was in the passenger's seat, and his dad was driving while the radio played a Top Hits station at a low volume, but Oliver wasn't paying much attention to any of that. Ever since their plane had landed and they'd gotten in the rental car his dad had somehow obtained, Oliver hadn't said a word. Really, he hadn't said much all day. There wasn't anything to say.

If he'd left Florida two or three months ago, the only thing he'd be thinking about was how as soon as he turned eighteen that summer, he'd be back in Florida. And how all he had to do was brave a new school until June, and then wait until late August- or, practically early September, his birthday was the 31st- to go back to his real home with his friends and everyone else he knew. But no. That wasn't happening. Florida wasn't his real home.

The car moved onto an exit, and they started passing buildings. This probably wouldn't feel like Oliver's real home, either.

"That was your new school we just passed."

A few minutes on the new road, and Oliver's dad finally spoke as they passed a medium-sized high school building, a sign posted outside boasting the non co-ed private school. It didn't look all that welcoming.

"Hmm."

"You excited for it? Only girls there now, sweetheart."

Oliver didn't bother to respond, there was no use saying anything. He could write the name Oliver across his forehead in neon blue paint and his dad still wouldn't notice. All his dad did do in that moment was sigh and focus back on the road.

He really wasn't excited to go there, if that wasn't obvious. He wouldn't know anyone- not that he even wanted to make friends. It had recently proved itself easier to just get by in school without talking to anyone, eating lunch in the bathrooms, and skipping last period just because he didn't really feel like it. His mom had told him through tears as he left for the airport that morning that he had a chance to be a new person, whatever that might've meant, but Oliver wasn't going to take it. If he was jotted down in the memory of his new classmates as the weird quiet kid that never spoke a word all year, he'd be fine with that.

Besides learning he enjoyed being alone more than talking to other people, Oliver had also learned it was hard to even want to make friends when there was no real way to tell they wanted to kill you or someone else. So that sucked.

A moment later, Oliver noticed they were pulling into the driveway of a house, and he glanced up at it, taking in what he assumed to be their new home. It was definitely a suburban-type looking home, but it was colored differently than the ones Oliver had seen in Florida, as it was more of a desert-y look than a beach-y one. Overall it was just a normal looking house, though.

Oliver's dad got out of the car and got a key out of his pocket, walking up to and opening the front door. Oliver followed in behind him, taking in the mostly empty front room.

"Where's my room?"

"Upstairs, first door on the right."

"Mkay."

He followed those directions into an even emptier bedroom, the only things in there being a small dresser and a few coat hangers in the closet, along with a pretty simple looking bed. Oliver sighed and laid down on it for a moment, realizing that calling it a bed wasn't the right wording because really it was just the frame and the mattress. It didn't matter much. He'd unpack and get on the sheets and pillows later.

...It was a pretty bare room.

But that really wasn't what Oliver was thinking about. He couldn't. Truth be told, ever since prom he'd been trying to stop thinking about one thing but it just wasn't working. And it wasn't the fact that he saw Joe in the bathroom, and he was still wearing his hoodie, and he hadn't actually taken that hoodie off since then, no- it was something that happened after he walked out of the bathroom.

It was just a moment, it only lasted a few seconds, where Oliver was walking back to the gym and Sage walked right by him, on his way to the bathroom. They made eye contact, and Oliver thought to warn Sage that Joe was in the men's bathroom, but considering the fact those two seemed to be friends again for some god-awful reason, Oliver didn't warn him. Oliver said absolutely nothing, and he had just kept walking.

That wasn't a good decision. Who knows what kind of butterfly effect that could've taken on? He didn't even have to warn Sage, he could've just said hi or good evening or I'm sorry you're traumatized more than I am yet this whole situation seems to have affected me more than you, et cetera, et cetera.

But it didn't matter. They'd probably never see each other again. And if Sage ended up dead in a couple years, it wasn't Oliver's fault.

Probably.

...Maybe he should go unpack.

•~~~~•

"Eve?"

Oliver raised his hand, staring down at his desk. A few looks came his way, but the teacher moved on, and the moment was over as soon as it had begun.

He was in first period, then- first period of his first day at this new school. And through attendance, everyone now knew he existed, apparently. It was odd to actually have attendance in class, he never had that at the beginning of his classes in Florida. It was also odd that he now had to sit at his desk in a polo shirt and a skirt as a uniform, but it really didn't matter, he just hoped no one would bother coming to talk to him after the period ended. He'd changed his phone's lock screen wallpaper to a picture of his schedule, so all he needed to do was look at that in the halls and pray he could find the classes on time in the five minutes he had between classes.

Surprisingly, the actual wait of getting through his first period was easy- he zoned out, staring at his desk the entire time, and soon enough the bell had rung and people were getting up around him. Luckily, his next period appeared to be a class literally a door or two down from his first period, so he was one of the first to walk into that. Sitting down he noticed a group of girls all huddled together, surrounding one of their desks and talking rather loudly.

And now, Oliver had mentioned a butterfly effect before, but that group of girls being where they were just so happened to be one itself.

About a minute into waiting for class to start, another person walked in- they were tall, like close to 6'0 tall, with curly blonde hair that reached about halfway down their neck. They had brown skin and what seemed to be green eyes, plus lots of freckles and smudged pen drawings on their arms and legs. They were grinning.

As they walked in, they quite literally skipped over to the group of girls, who all said the name Grace in semi-unison, tones ranging from mocking to fake happiness.

"Where were you last week, then?" One asked.

"Oh, just a surgery thing, it wasn't anything, really." They grinned once more.

"Surgery?" A girl laughed, "No wonder you'd need that."

"What do you think it was?" The first then mumbled.

"Maybe she replaced her brain with a mushroom."

"You're implying she even had one in the first place?"

All the girls then laughed together, and the tall one- Grace- laughed along with them, seemingly not able to tell they were making fun of her. Oliver rolled his eyes and looked back to his desk then- whatever that was wasn't his business, and it sure as hell wasn't his problem.

The bell rang, and all of them scurried off to their desks as a teacher walked in and began taking attendance. When Oliver raised his hand as he was called, people looked over at him again, but he noticed Grace stare at him for a few moments longer than everyone else.

It was probably nothing.

Class ended, taking and feeling like the same amount of time as the last one, whatever that all was. And Oliver got up again, and he was on his way to his third class, thinking that maybe this easy schedule of sitting down and zoning out and getting back up again was something he could get used to, when-

"Are you new here?"

Oliver startled and almost cursed, turning around abruptly, and who was behind him but the tall girl from earlier. He noticed she had dangly clay mushroom earrings and a pink backpack with a small, stuffed toy mushroom keychain hanging off the side of it, and really looking at her, mushrooms seemed to be something she really enjoyed for whatever reason.

Oh, right. He was supposed to say something back.

"Uh... yeah."

He started walking away then, truly not in the mood to talk to anyone, but Grace followed along with a smile. "That is so cool! Where are you from? Do you like it here? What class do you have next? Do you have anyone to sit with at lunch yet?"

That was a lot. Somehow this girl was a bit intimidating- maybe it was because Oliver was still only 5'4. "Er, I..."

Grace gasped gently. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't even introduce myself! I'm Grace Galanis, they/she. What's your name and pronouns? If you're okay with me asking."

God damnit.

Here this person was, presenting Oliver with what might be the only "safe" space in the entire private school, but what was he supposed to do in response to that question, really? If he lied, that would just delay him having to come out even later on- if he ended up being friends with this person, which he really didn't want to do because he still didn't want to make any friends and one queer person wasn't going to change his mind on that; meanwhile, if he told the truth, he still couldn't trust this person after one conversation, it would probably be a little inconvenient to get outed this early in his time at the school.

Yep, he was pretty much cornered.

"I- uh- I'm, uhm... I-"

"Oh- crap, it's almost time for class. I don't wanna be late to my student aid period, Mrs. Deez might worry... I'll see you around!"

She ran off. The crisis was apparently averted. Oliver stood watching them go off for a moment, and then he sighed, rubbing his face a bit. At least he didn't have to talk to anyone else.

"So, you are new?"

He really needed to stop thinking thoughts.

He turned around and there was another person, this time only maybe two inches taller than him, with pale pink skin and brown hair tied into a ponytail. Oliver blinked- this was one of the girls who were talking to Grace in his second period, he remembered.

"Er... yeah?"

She smiled. "Yeah, you're Eve, right? I'm Amanda. I'm sorry Grace was bothering you, she's a little... y'know."

Amanda held out her hand, and Oliver shook it, tentatively, eyebrows furrowed. "A little... what?"

"You know... weird."

"Okay?"

"Whatever. You don't have to talk to her if you don't want to. You can sit with me and the rest of the junior girls if you want, at lunch. Since you're new, and probably don't wanna sit with Grace, I'm guessing."

"I, uh, don't see what you have against them, but alright."

Amanda gave him a mildly weird look, but then shrugged and walked away. Oliver watched her go for a moment before sighing.

The bathroom still seemed to be the best option for seating.

And that was where he ended up being headed to an hour or two later, when yet again Grace seemed to catch up with him in the crowded hallways. All Oliver wanted was to zone out on his phone for half an hour in a bathroom stall.

"So... what class did you just have?" They asked him.

"Uh... I think it was English."

"Oh, I love English. The teacher is really nice, isn't she? I just came from math. It's pretty hard but I think I'm doing well in it. My parents say I'm doing better than they did when they were all in high school, though, so that's cool. Hey- what kind of stuff are you into? Do you know a lot about anything?"

Oliver blinked a few times. The bathrooms had to be close. "I don't know. I play games sometimes, I guess."

"Like what?"

"Minecraft?"

Grace grinned. "Awe, I love that game, too! Some of the animals in that game are so cute, aren't they? I'm really bad at it, though. I usually just make a bunch of farms in creative mode and then start over, and- oh, hold on, my friends are up there, do you mind if I go catch up to them?"

Oliver glanced up at a group of girls up ahead, including Amanda. "No, that's fine."

"Okay! See you around!"

They ran off, yet again, and that was when Oliver decided Grace was the most enthusiastic person on the face of the Earth.

The bathroom was a decent place to eat lunch, just like it had been for the past two months in his old school. It was quiet, the only sound being a few people coming in once or twice, but that was it. And that was halfway through Oliver's first day already done, and he'd already talked to two more people than he wanted to, but it didn't matter that much.

In his next class, he ended up seeing most of the people he saw in his second period, and very sadly, they ended up being assigned a group project. Which, of course, Oliver got paired with Grace for. He ended up telling them that they could work on it together the next day because he had something to do that night, which was definitely a lie, but he didn't bat an eye at it until Amanda congratulated him on coming up with it. Then he felt like shit.

And that was pretty much his first day of school. He couldn't say it was fun, but at least he got through it, he supposed.

•~~~~•

Quite honestly, when Oliver walked into school that next day, he was a bit pissed off. Really the only reason why was that the night before it had occurred to him that the mildly draining day he'd endured on the 31st would probably be his life for the entire rest of high school, and upon walking into school he was not excited for anything like that. So, especially upon seeing Grace almost as soon as he walked into school, and they began walking up to him, he was close to snapping and yelling at someone.

"Hey, stranger!"

But in that crowded school hallway, she didn't give him the time to, apparently.

"Uhm, so, I was gonna wait until the end of the day or maybe even later if we're gonna work on that project together to show you this, but I was at Target yesterday with my family and my mom saw this thing and xey were like, do you have one of these? and I was like, yeah, but this new person I met doesn't and they like Minecraft! So, uh, I bought you this- here!"

Oliver stared in mild awe as Grace pulled a stuffed Minecraft bee out of her backpack, and she shoved it into Oliver's arms, who stared at it for a moment before looking back up. Grace only grinned, and Oliver gulped down a gasp. What kind of person bought someone they'd known for less than 24 hours a gift that costed maybe $20?

Apparently, Grace did.

"Oh, uh... wow, this is- uh, thank you. I didn't... I didn't get you anything, I'm-"

"You didn't have to! I just thought you'd like it. I'm sorry if it's hard to carry it around all day, I can put it in my locker until the end of the day if you want."

"No, it's fine, uh... yeah. Thank you."

"Yep! I'll see you later!"

"Y-Yeah."

Grace skipped off down the hallway then, and Oliver was left standing alone, clutching a plush bee in his arms. He glanced around him, and then looked down at the ground, letting out a slightly pained breath.

What did that mean? Was Grace his friend? They were a good person, sure, it seemed, but Oliver didn't want them to be his friend. He didn't want to be making friends in that moment. There wasn't any way to know who she really was- how did he know Grace wasn't just buttering him up so she could reveal she was actually a horrible person in some god-awful way?

Oliver sighed to himself. There wasn't any use thinking about it then. He might as well just put the thing in his locker and get to his first class.

He found his locker and did just that then, and then he was on his way to class, but only after a minute or two of walking he noticed the group of popular junior girls up ahead. They were surrounding a locker, and upon closer inspection Oliver realized they were surrounding Grace, who was wearing their usual smile but still looked decently uncomfortable and seemed to keep motioning elsewhere as if they were trying to leave. Oliver slowed his walking as he passed to listen in a bit.

"Grace, I'm just curious- what are you doing this weekend?" One asked.

"Oh, well, my family's all gonna go to the movies, probably, I don't really know. Do you guys wanna talk about it at lunch? I really don't wanna be late for my first class, uh-"

"No, no, you have time. We still have seven minutes until class."

"Yeah, but I just, I'm usually there at a certain time so I wanna keep doing that, you know?"

A few of them laughed. "Come on, Grace, it's fine."

"Yeah, I know, I know, I just... eh?"

Damnit.

Grace probably wasn't gonna get out of whatever the hell this was by themself- Oliver either had to cut in or keep walking. And that was a big decision. Because if he stood up for them in this moment, that probably meant they were friends. And that was terrifying. There wasn't any going back on that.

But Grace could hardly seem to stand still, and Oliver realized it didn't matter if she turned out to be a horrible person, his life was probably gonna end up the same whether they became friends or not. Not being able to see a future for yourself doesn't change because of one person. At least, that's not how it seemed to work.

Oliver mumbled screw it to himself and walked closer. At least being her friend will sacrifice the rest of his reputation so he won't have to talk to anyone else.

"Hey, can you guys leave Grace alone? They're obviously uncomfortable," he said, shuffling into the edge of the circle. Grace blinked a few times in his direction.

"Eve? Oh, come on, we're just talking. Grace is fine."

Oliver noticed Grace mouth the word Eve to themself a few times, staring down at the ground, after Amanda had said something. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Don't you guys have to walk to first period, too? Just let her leave. You practically pinned her against the lockers."

Amanda laughed. "What, are you trying to stand up for her or something?"

"If that's what you wanna call it."

She blinked, and then furrowed her own eyebrows. "Didn't think you'd be the type to be friends with someone like her."

"What kind of fucking millennial-made teenage girl drama movie are you running here, anyway?"

The girls all murmured to themselves for a moment, and then Amanda rolled her eyes, turning around and starting to walk away. The rest of the group either followed her or went in other ways, seemingly to their first period classes, leaving Oliver and Grace alone in the hallway. Oliver looked over at her, and she was taking deep breaths while staring at the floor, but seemed to be relatively fine. Neither said anything for a moment.

"...Are you okay?"

Grace blinked and looked up. "Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. They all just talk a lot sometimes," they chuckled a bit.

Oliver nodded in agreement, and stared for a moment down the way most of them had walked. "Amanda seems like a real asshole..."

"Amanda? Really? No, not at all, we've been best friends since elementary school! Like I said, her and the rest of her friends are just... well, it's okay. I'm just sorry you got that first impression of her."

"Hmm. Uh, it's fine... yeah."

Grace looked up to a nearby clock and furrowed their eyebrows. "Agh, I should really get on my way to class- I think our classes are close, you wanna walk with me?"

"Sure."

They began walking. "Oh yeah, where were you at lunch yesterday? I didn't see you anywhere."

"Just, uh, sitting somewhere besides the cafeteria. Didn't really feel like talking to people, I guess." That wasn't really a lie, honestly.

"I get that. Sometimes I just hate talking in general but I'm fine right now. Usually I am. And- oh, god, I forgot- your name is Eve, right? I'm sorry, I think I asked you yesterday but then I had to run to class. Is it she/her?"

Oliver bit the insides of his cheeks. He glanced around, trying to ignore the panic setting in my the glimmer of hope in the back of his mind. He might as well tell her the truth, right? Even if it got out he wasn't Eve he didn't really give a shit, to be quite honest. He'd... it would be fine. He could tell himself that.

"Uhm, n- you can call me Oliver, actually. He/him. Just not around students or teachers, I'm... uh, yeah."

Grace gasped mildly. "Like Oliver Twist?"

It was a simple reaction. Oliver had to bite back a chuckle to keep up his stoic presentation. "Uh... hah, I guess so. I've only seen that movie once, though."

"It's a great movie. We should watch it some time! Ah, that reminds me, do you still wanna come over after school to work on that project? My parents are all going out on a date together so it'll just be my little brother there but she'll probably be doing homework or something, just either in her room or in our living room. Oh, and her dog will be there, of course, I hope you're not allergic. Maybe it's a good thing my parents are out, though, people have told me my family is confusing... huh."

"I'm... sure it's not that bad."

"Maybe not. Eh. What class do you have now?"

Maybe having a friend wouldn't be all that bad. It was very optimistic thinking, but... still. It didn't really matter.

Or maybe it did.

•~~~~•
I hope you guys like Grace because I've already planned out their entire storyline and oh, it's coming😎😎-

Also do you guys want the next one to be *Chapter 46* or Remy/Emile's wedding because I think we've gone too long not seeing Remy in a one shot and they might be taking personal offense to that, perhaps

See ya in the next one!<3