Chapter 22: Fradrian's Closet

Frey

Friday was a blur of breaking down the lock-in and cleaning up and something that had to do with Juno. When I got home, Mom and Dad said we’d talk about it tomorrow.

Well, it’s tomorrow, and we’re all sitting in the kitchen around the table. This must be serious; we only have family meetings in emergencies. The tension in the air is palpable. Juno shifts in her seat and pets Reginald anxiously. Asteria slumps in her chair, half-dead to the world. Arinna is the only clear-eyed child in the room besides me. Even she is silent in this moment. That's what scares me.

“Someone told a large group of people about Juno’s incident,” Mom begins.

“We don’t know who it is,” adds Dad, but Mom’s eyes flicker for a moment to Asteria, which tells me everything I need to know.

“But we think it’s best if Juno take a few days off from school,” Mom continues, “to let everyone cool down.” Juno looks up; clearly it’s the first time she’s hearing of this decision that was made without her consent.

Another decision made without her consent, I think to myself. Poor thing.

“I want to go to school on Monday,” she protests, the way we all knew she would. “The longer we wait, the worse it will be when I do go back.” Arinna pipes up.

“Maybe Juno could go back to school with Reginald,” she suggests. “Maybe having a monkey will distract people from whatever’s going on.” I smile. Arinna never asks questions when things are serious, and for that, we are grateful. No, she doesn’t know what happened to Juno. We’ll tell her when she’s old enough. For now, she just goes with the flow.

“Pets aren’t allowed at school, honey,” Mom says gently. “You know that.”

“I’m going back on Monday,” Juno declares abruptly. “I have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Therapy lessons, I assume. I never though therapy actually worked. It hasn’t for Asteria.

I look over at my exhausted hungover sister. Asteria knows her lecture is coming up next. She’s bracing herself for it with copious amounts of Gatorade.

“And you,” Dad growls. Here it comes. “Your mother caught you drinking on school campus.” Dad stands. Holy shit. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Asteria sighs. “I–”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Dad begins to pace. “Asteria, we have done everything we can to help you. But clearly you’re not interested in helping yourself.” Mom tries to cut in but Dad keeps going. “So we’ve called the DMV and they’re revoking your license until further notice.”

Asteria’s eyes grow wide with hurt.

“You can’t do that!” she yells. Silence. Mom speaks.

“Arinna, go upstairs.” Arinna does as she’s told. I can see Asteria’s face crumpling under the anticipation of what’s coming. Even Juno’s dead eyes seem terrified.

“WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO TO GET THROUGH TO YOU?” Dad starts. I sink lower in my chair. “DO YOU WANT TO BE SENT TO REHAB AGAIN? DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU DID IS ALSO AGAINST THE LAW? DO YOU WANT US TO TURN YOU IN TO THE POLICE?” Asteria looks down at her hands. Mom gestures to Juno and I to leave. I take Juno’s arm and lead her upstairs, trying to block out Dad’s incessant rage.

“I’ve never seen him like this,” Juno whispers. For once, neither of us laugh at an old blind-person joke.

“I know, me neither.”

When I get back to my room, I find a text from Adrian:

What’s going on? Twitter is all abuzz about your sister.

I text him back quickly and put on my shoes.

I’m coming over, I text. Prepare the Cheez-Its.

Three minutes later, I’m snacking on Adrian’s couch in between telling him what happened.

“And we have no idea who it is,” I finish, stuffing my face. Adrian gives me a Look, as if he doesn’t believe me. “Okay, they have no idea who it is,” I confess through a mouthful of Cheez-Its. “I have a hunch, but I’m not telling you.”

“What? C’mon, Frey,” Adrian complains. I shake my head. Adrian pouts so I change the subject.

"What have people been saying on Twitter?" I ask, preparing for the worst. Adrian fishes his phone from his pocket, clicks around and then hands it to me. 

A bunch of people from school started a thread just for Juno's Incident. One tweet reads: 

its all fun n games til ur sister spills a secret then its just fun. #JunoHGotRaped

Another reads: 

no wonder juno doesn't like wearing dresses #easyaccess #JunoHGotRaped

There must be a dozen tweets but I can't read anymore. Adrian pats my back. 

"They're jerks, all of them," he says viciously. "I hope they stick a fork in a toaster." I laugh in spite of myself. We talk for a bit about something else until a lull interrupts the flow of the conversation. 

“How’s the Senior Prank coming along?” I ask in the silence. “Seems like you and Asteria haven’t had much time to plan.”

“I saw her with that Oliver guy,” he says, taking a measly two Cheez-Its from the bowl. “I think they’re cooking up something.” I raise an eyebrow. Adrian shrugs. “Without me, I know,” he says, reading my mind.

“But you and Asteria are prank geniuses,” I say.

“Yeah, yeah, but I have other stuff on my mind right now,” Adrian snaps. I stop chewing.

“Are you still thinking about coming out?”

Adrian nods. I sigh.

“But, Adrian, you’re on the football team,” I plead. “They’ll kill you.” Adrian shakes his head, and puts a hand on my arm. Tiny tingles begin to erupt from the spot where he’s touching me but I keep my face stoic.

“They trust me,” he says. “I’m their co-captain. Ben James and the guys, they know me. If I came out to them, they’d have my back. It’s like I’m a spy who’s infiltrated enemy lines and has earned their trust– like Snape and Voldemort.” Adrian pauses to take a drink of water. The tingles fade after he takes his hand away. “I’ve earned their respect, and now I’ll use that to my advantage,” he continues, “but it’ll only work if you do it with me.”

“Why do I have to do it with you?”

“Because I want you to.”

“And what if I say no?”

“Then, I’ll find a new gay friend.”

“Good luck with that.”

“C’mon,” Adrian whines, touching my arm again. This time, I can’t help but jump a little. “For me?” Adrian pouts again and now I know I’ll agree even though I know it’s suicide.

“Fine,” I agree. Adrian pumps his fist into the air and lets out a whoop of excitement.

“We’ll do it at homecoming,” he babbles, as if he’s had this planned for months. He probably has, come to think of it. “I’ll ask you to homecoming in some cutesy way, maybe even during a football game and then everyone will know.” I nearly choke on my Cheez-Its. The bowl is running low.

“Whoa, wait, what?” I wheeze. “In front of the whole school?”

“Okay, maybe not, I’m just spitballing,” Adrian says, but I know he’s not. I sigh.

Just do this for him, I think to myself. Maybe he’ll love you after this, and that’s what you want, isn’t it?

I sigh again.

“Can’t wait,” I grumble, but Adrian can’t hear me over his own voice listing off other ideas for homecoming.