OS: Day Eighteen < | Challenge Home Page | > OS: Day Twenty

(Trigger Warning: This post involves bullying and family fighting)

Pandora's Box

Bennie woke up and stumbled blindly to the bathroom to wash his face, feeling extremely fuzzy and having no real idea why. Then, he remembered the ride home in the limo. The whole bottle of champagne he'd finished on his own. So, that explained the headache. He opened the bathroom medicine cabinet, and picked up the pain medication... only to find it empty.

He thought about it fuzzily for a moment, and went to look for the bottle Marnie always carried in her purse. However, Marnie wasn't home. In fact, strangely.. no one was home. Thinking to himself, he tried to figure out where everyone could be... on a .. Saturday? Shrugging, he returned to the problem at hand. His headache. With a flash of brilliance, Bennie headed back to the mast bedroom closet, remember the stash of "emergency" medicine Marnie kept. This was clearly an emergency... (at least in Bennie's mind).. so he started digging through piles in the closet, looking for the box that the medicine was kept in.

Finally, he found it, and opened the box. Heading back to the bathroom, where there was more light, he set the box on the edge of the sink and started examining the bottles one by one looking for anything that referred to pain relief. Fiddling with one bottle after another, he got closer to the end of the box. Down at the very back was a prescription bottle that looked promising, so he picked it up and glanced at the label. And froze. He might not be the brightest, but he knew what "birth control" meant. And he could read dates. It was for last month. And it was FULL. What would this be doing in the stash of unused, emergency medicine?? A wash of anger flooded through him. Accident, his fat rear end.... She had planned this. She had LIED right to his face. Even worse... Bennie thought back. All of the babies had been "accidents". How many of THOSE accidents had been planned, too??

Bennie cursed loudly, and went to sit on the bed, waiting for Marnie to come home, the pill bottle still in his hand, and the headache forgotten.

Across the street, at the park...

Jazmyn arrived at the park on a beautiful sunny day, looking forward to seeing their friends and having a nice day at the park playing on the playground equipment. They had never been so wrong in their life.

Within moments of arriving at the park with their brother, Billie Jang confronted them.

Expecting the usual, Jaz smiled with confidence. "What do YOU want, Billie? Can't find anyone else to pick on today?!"

"I saw your Dad on TV last night!" Billie crowed, laughing.

"Wait.. what?" Jaz said after a pause, very confused. What had Bennie been doing on TV??

"Yeah. He was on the comedy channel on the special ... he was talking about YOU." Billie taunted.

"What do you.. mean?" Jaz asked, hesitantly.. a feeling of dread growing in the pit of their stomach.

"You tried to "come out", huh? Saying you're not a boy or a girl. So what are you? A NOBODY?! Even your Dad thinks you're full of POO!" Billie's voice was clearly carrying, and Jaz cringed and jumped away.

WHAT? Bennie had gotten on TV last night?! For a moment, Jaz simply let Billie keep talking without actually listening to her. Filled with confusion, Jaz wondered what on earth could have happened that not only was Bennie on TV, but that he had also decided to betray Jaz's secret. Shaking their head, deciding those questions would have to wait, Jaz once again returned their attention to the bully standing in front of them.

"I... can be whatever I want, Billie." Jaz said, breaking into Billie's tirade about being nobody with a slightly shaky voice. "It doesn't matter whether I actually come out or not. I'm not a boy or a girl, it's true. I'm NON-BINARY. That doesn't make me any less of a person than you are. It just makes me different."

Billie looked at Jaz with open skepticism for a moment, then tried to return to their argument about Jaz simply being nobody if "she" wasn't a boy or a girl.

"Billie, leave Jazmyn alone. Your argument is stupid. Jaz can be whatever Jaz wants. They're not hurting you." Pierce Delgato, a member of Billie's own club of bullies, walked up and broke into the argument.

For a moment, Billie looked at Pierce like she didn't understand that he was standing up for Jaz.

Before they could say anything, Jaz turned, and, ignoring Billie completely, put their hand out to him. "Hi, I'm Jaz. My pronouns are they/them. I don't think I've met you before?"

"I'm Pierce." he started. "He/him pronouns. And I USED to be friends with Billie. But I don't like the way she treats other people." He glared at Billie, as if daring Billie to continue berating Jaz now that someone else was clearly on Jaz's side.

Olivia Kim-Lewis headed over, clearly on Billie's side of the argument. "What are you saying, Pierce? Are you actually defending this trailer-trash nobody??"

Pierce took a deep breath, and smiled. "Yes. I don't believe Jaz is either of those things, to be honest. I've never seen.. them?" (he looked over to Jaz for confirmation, who nodded) ".. THEM be less than nice to anyone. They don't deserve your nasty talk. And I don't want to be in your silly club any more."

Billie just looked at him in shock, but behind her, someone else had showed up to join the confrontation. Lucas Munch.

Jaz didn't know him all that well, but he was in the same club as Jaz, so they hoped he was coming over in support.

"Billie, just go away." Lucas said. "Welcome to the Adventurers, Pierce. I'll vouch for you with Elsa. Anyone who will stand up for one of our members deserves to be in the club."

Pierce blushed a bit, and smiled at Jaz, "I only did what anyone SHOULD have done." He glared at the retreating forms of Billie and Olivia, then turned to Lucas. "You mean that?"

"Of course!" replied Lucas. "Let's go see her now!"

"It was nice to meet you, Pierce." Jaz said, then finished, a bit more quietly. "And.. thank you."

"Anytime, Jaz!" Pierce said, waving as he walked away with Lucas.

Jaz was still standing there, reeling from all that had just happened, when Mika came over shyly.

"Hey, Jaz. I heard what happened. That wasn't fair. You totally didn't deserve that. Not what Billie said, and not what your Dad did to you on TV. I'm sorry." Mika said as they performed the club handshake automatically.

"Thanks, Mika. I suppose you heard. I'm stopping going by "she" - I'm non-binary. I wasn't planning on telling everyone yet, but I guess since my .. um.. Bennie decided to "help" out - I guess now is as good a time as any." Jaz replied, specifically avoiding calling Bennie 'Dad'. He didn't deserve that anymore.

"That's cool." Mika said, a bit shyly. "What exactly does that mean, anyway?"

After explaining it to Mika, Jaz felt the adrenaline from the confrontation slowly draining away, leaving them feeling very tired. "I'm going to swing for a while. I think I need a moment." Jaz said, apologetically.

Smiling at their friend, Mika replied, "I completely understand. I'm going to go see what Elsa, Pierce, and Lucas are up to." .. then walked away with a jaunty wave.

Jaz wasn't really paying attention to who was around, and just headed blindly to swing on the swings for a while and think. Which is why they were so surprised when Max Villareal blocked their way.

"What do you MEAN... you're not a girl?" he accused.

Sighing, Jaz tried to explain, but it seemed like Max wasn't really even listening.

"I liked you, you know. I guess that's stupid, now." Max said quietly, his fists down by his side.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jaz asked, confused. "I'm still the same person that I always was. I just have different pronouns."

"Yeah, well I'm not okay with it. I don't think that's right." Max said, looking around uncomfortably.

Pushing past him, Jaz sat down on the swing, sighed, then said, firmly, "I'm sorry, I don't think you get to say whether it's okay or not. Or whether it's right or not. It just IS. And it's my choice - not yours."

"It's disgusting." Max said, then raised his voice, "And so are you."

"Fine. Whatever, Max. Just go away. And forget coming to my house anymore. I don't want to see you." Jaz said, holding her head.

Max decided that he'd had enough of this, and headed over to where his best friend, Phoenix, sat with Elsa and Billie, wondering what was going on over there.

Phoenix, it turns out, had decided that if his best friend wasn't okay with his.. sister?.. or whatever she .. it? was (he hadn't been really listening), then he wasn't okay with Jaz, either. He had resigned his position with the League of Adventurers and joined up with Billie's gang. Max followed suit, and they worked on learning their new club handshake for a while.

Over by the swings, Jaz had really just had enough for the day, and was heading home wearily, when someone ELSE stopped them.

"Hi!" Jaz, is it?" a young girl said, one Jaz had never seen before.

"Um, yeah. I'm Jaz Malone. I'm non-binary." Jaz said, quietly, and with a slight question in their voice.

"I think that's really cool! I'm new in town. I had a friend in Newcrest, where I used to live, that was non-binary, too. My name is Christy Hutchinson. Maybe we could be friends?"

"I would like that." Jaz replied, smiling. "Shall I introduce you to Elsa? She's the leader of our club."

"REALLY?" Christy replied, overjoyed. "That.. um.. that would be really nice of you!"

After introducing Christy.. and finding out, to their dismay that even their brother was choosing sides in the argument.. and Max had clearly won Phoenix's support. Rolling their eyes, Jaz once again turned to leave the park.

"Hi, Jaz. I'm Christine." a girl said, intercepting Jaz on their way out of the park.

Pausing, and looking at the girl quizzically, Jaz waited to see what she wanted.

"I'm sorry about Billie. And Bennie. I saw the special, too. And I didn't think what your.. Dad.. said was either fair to your, or even the slightest bit funny. My brother is friends with your brother, Myles, by the way."

"OH!" Jaz said, finally placing who the girl was. "Well, thanks. I appreciate that. Really. But I need to go now. I'm sorry. I'm really just done with people for the day." Jaz explained, feeling emotionally exhausted.

"Oh, that's okay. I just wanted to tell you people are on your side. Don't let Billie's words hurt, because they're not true."

"Thanks, Christine." Jaz replied, waved, and finally, wearily, headed home.

Unfortunately, Jaz's day wasn't over. Far from it. Before they even got home, they could hear the yelling from their house. Now in a hurry, Jaz ran in through the front door, only to find Myles sitting on the couch, watching TV. Their parent's bedroom door was open, and everyone in the neighborhood could hear the argument.

Apparently Bennie had found out that Marnie had been lying to him for their entire marriage. Ever since they had married while Marnie was still in high school. She had gotten pregnant, which Bennie now knew wasn't an accident, to trap him into marrying her while she dropped out to take care of their new baby. Marnie kept swearing that she hadn't meant any harm, but clearly Bennie wasn't believing her anymore. No matter how many times she apologized, Bennie only got angrier. When he pushed Marnie a little, apparently it was the last straw. Marnie slapped him - and the real fight ensued, to the kids' horror.

"STOP!" yelled Jazmyn, running into the room. "JUST STOP IT!"

But neither Marnie nor Bennie were in a place to hear Jaz's words. Marnie won the fight.. if one could say there was a winner.

"That's it!" Bennie yelled, "I'm done. I'm done with you, I'm done with these kids. You wanted 'em, you can HAVE them!" With these words, he turned, grabbed his pillow of the bed and went to the closet to grab a blanket. Clearly he planned on making his bed in the living room tonight.

Marnie just stared at him, looking slightly frightened, and then watched him leave the room. Turning to see her children's expressions, she lost her nerve, and escaped into the bathroom, locking the door behind her without a word.

With Marnie and Bennie both out of the room, Myles broke into tears and ran out the door. Jaz plopped down on their parent's bed beside Phoenix, and shot him an accusing look.

"You know, I could have used your backup at the park today, BROTHER." Jaz started.

"Whatever, FREAK. You've already said you're not my sister. Or my brother. Which only leaves freak. There isn't anything else. And I don't defend those." Phoenix replied.

"Oh, okay. Fine. Like Bennie said. I'm DONE with you. If you won't even try to understand, I don't need you. I don't need you at all." Jaz snapped, losing their temper. Then, horrified at what they'd just said, Jaz stood up and left the room, miserable and exhausted.

They headed downstairs, tiptoeing past a "sleeping" Bennie, and quietly crawled into bed. To heck with brushing teeth. Jaz was absolutely done with the day. Tomorrow could only be better.

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