Becoming the Luna

I wake up to a pulling sensation, which jolts me awake faster than anything else. "W-What…"

"Stop hogging him, selfish imp." Shana scolds Virgil, pulling on one of my arms, she's standing over the bed with a mutinous expression on her face.

"Why are you like this Shana?" Virgil asks in exasperation, arms around my torso keeping me close, while Dale is just curled on the bed beside me, blissfully asleep.

My half-awake brain isn't prepared for this kind of brain activity so I just blink blearily at the both of them.

"You've been holding him all night, it's my turn." Shana insists, still pulling me.

"It's too early for this crap." Virgil shakes his head but still doesn't let go.

My mom barges in, thankfully - wait, I had expected too much, again - she barges in brandishing a saucepan and I'm just done.

"What is happening… oh." She murmurs as she takes in the scene. "I thought you were both over this." She waves the pan at Shana and Virgil.

"Apparently not." I say dryly. "What time is it anyway?"

"Um, school time?" My mom replies vaguely but that's enough.

"You heard the adult." I say quickly, trying to extricate my limbs from their hold as they're too invested in glaring at each other to do it themselves. "It's time for school, we have exams today." I remind them.

Shana finally let's go of me and flops on the bed. "I hate exams." She whines.

Virgil isn't even bothered by my important announcement, content now that he can keep me all to himself.

"Well, you can't flunk English or you'll end up being the Janitor's assistant." I remind her, trying to roll out of Virgil's hold to try and shake Dale awake.

Shana just makes more expressive sounds like she's dying at my words, I only manage to gently shake Dale a bit before my mom is whacking the bottom of the saucepan with a spoon.

I groan and slap both hands over my ears at the loud intrusive sound and feel bad for Dale who has to be woken up this way.

'Where did she get the spoon from?'

"Alright! Listen up! Adult over here!" My mom gestures grandly at herself.

"We see you Renee." Shana affirms dryly.

"Good." She nods seriously, waving the saucepan around. "Now you have exams, which are supposed to be important as Hayden says although I don't really see how…"

"Thank you, Mom." I cut off her ranting, we were all wide awake now anyway. "Don't you have somewhere else to cause chaos, more specifically the kitchen?" 

"Oh yes! Thank you, baby." She appreciates me, bustling out, either she wasn't listening to my words or she wasn't paying attention, those things mean differently when it comes to my mom.

"Ugh." Dale groans, rubbing his eyes. "Why do I agree to sleep in this madhouse every night?" He asked rhetorically and I'm about to give a quirky but cute reply, but Shana beats me to it.

"I ask myself that every single day." She says seriously. "I don't remember anyone asking you over."

Dale just levels her a dark look.

"We'll come back to pick you, Hay." She throws at me, getting off the bed to stretch a bit. "I don't want Elise getting her grubby hands anywhere near you." She announces in satisfaction. "Although I'm tempted to stalk you so that I'll get just one slip up from her, just one and I can die happy." She continues with gusto.

"Okay, you need food." Virgil gets off the bed to direct her out of the room. "We should get going anyway if we want to come back to get Hay." He adds, practically pushing her out of the hangout room, leaving Dale and me alone.

I'm still sitting on the bed so he does the same, staring at me with soulful green eyes. I avert my eyes from the intensity, my hands flying up to my ears even though I know that there's no way the red tips will show through my mop of wild hair.

He cups my face with one hand and leans forward, leaf green eyes darkening.

My eyes fly up to his at this, my heart doing a little dance at the unexpectedness of his actions. "W-What…"

"If I've already lost for kissing you then I deserve another, don't I?" He murmurs and my eyes grow wider, because…

What!!!

He brushes a hand across my lower lip and hums. "But I did say that I won't take another kiss, you would give me." He leans forward and places the kiss on the mole on my neck, which was on the other side of my neck, the part without the bruise.

My brain stops functioning for a split second but by then he has already slipped out of the room, I blink and melt into the blankets, why me?

How do I even survive each encounter? I muse shaking my head.

My life was simple, sorta, until Dale crashed into my life playing superhero now everything seems so real and unrealistic at the same time.

"Baby?" My mom's voice rouses me from my short daydream and I drag myself off the bed.

"Yeah?"

"You might want to get ready for school."

"I know, I know." I mutter in exasperation, not knowing what to do with myself or Virgil and Dale that are slowly driving me crazy.

The spot on my neck where Dale kiss tingles and I gently rub it as I make my way up the stairs to my room, the bruise from the hickies was still there.

"Great." I whisper. "More tingling on my neck." 

After cleaning up, I throw on a normal shirt, too lazy to bother to put on something that'll hide the terrifying bruise, I'll probably just top it up with a light scarf.

"Shana texted that they're on their way!!" My mom yells up to me. "Come eat before they get here!" She adds and I run a brush through my slightly damp hair, snatching up my school bag and Apple before running down the stairs.

"What's for breakfast?" I ask, coming down.

"So, I found this new recipe." My mom starts to say, an invested expression on her pretty face. "It's all-natural and it's supposed to boost your immune system be…" 

I don't even let her finish. "So you didn't make breakfast?" I ask, eyeing her messy apron and the pots and pans scattered around.

"Nope, I think I actually created a creature this time around from boiling all those green vegetables." She shudders.

I'm not even bothered, she had started on this news supposedly 'all-natural recipe' which at the end of each of her sessions made the kitchen look like a hurricane went through it, a green hurricane.

I just get the cereal from the cupboard and make a bowl of it for myself.

"I called Elise's parents last night." My mom says smugly, preparing a bowl of milk for Apple.

I look up in shock. "W-What?"

"Exactly what I said, I gave her dad a piece of my mind and yelled at her mom when she started getting too mouthy." My mom shrugs like she's talking about the weather and not talking about yelling at Elise's scary mother.

"Oh wow." Is all I can say, still trying to wrap my head around my mom's words. "What did you say exactly?" I inquire, curious.

The smug look on my mom's face dials up a notch and I start to worry.

She shrugs. "Nothing that serious, I just told them to tell their daughter to stay away from my baby because I have a handgun and I know how to use it." She reveals seriously.

"Mom?" I whip my head around to look at her. 

"I'm joking." She starts to laugh. "You're so gullible." She pokes my cheeks.

I tuck my face into my arms. "I'm not."

"But really, I told them to tell Elise to stay away from you and I also told them what she did so you shouldn't worry that she'll approach you again."

I nod at this, hoping that my mom's words were true and that Elise would leave me alone but somehow I know that that's isn't what's going to happen.

Elise isn't going to give up so easily but this morning with Virgil and I in a good place, I can't seem to bring myself to care.

I hear the sounds of a car slowing to a stop outside and I stand up abruptly. "They're here!" I exclaim to my mom excitement in my voice.

"I hear it too." My mom shakes her head fondly at me. "You should get going." She advises and I rush to drop my bowl in the sink then back to grab my bag.

"Wait!" She calls to me.

I pause in the motion of slipping on my bag to look at her. "Hmm?"

"You should get a haircut." She comes closer to try and rearrange the wild locks. "It's getting really long."

"Actually I want to grow it out." I say on a spur of the moment.

Her wide grin blinds me momentarily. "Okay! That's great! Now hurry on up so you won't be late for school, your friends are outside waiting for you.

"Bye Mom." I wave to her, taking a mental picture of her in the bright kitchen with a stained apron and a bright smile, the kitchen is a mess and Apple is happily slurping away at her milk on the dining table.

"Bye baby!" She waves back. The scene is home, my mom is home.