Page 11 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

“Oh my god,” I heard someone say behind me as I marveled at the space. “Pleasetell me you’re gay.”

I turned around and saw a beautiful girl looking back at me. She was a handful of inches taller than me, and had blazing pink hair, with the sides shaved, and the top swooped over to the side and flowing down to just above her shoulder. Her eyes were a cool, almost lilac color, and popped due to the piercing in her left eyebrow. Her ears held gauge earrings and she had a labret piercing as well. Her style could best be described as punk chic, and for a very brief moment, I wished that I was.

“No,” I said with a smile. “Unfortunately, I am totally straight.”

“Dammit,” she hissed. “Straight men get all the goddesses.”

My cheeks burned in the wake of the compliment. “Uh, that’s not a word I would use to describe myself.”

She rolled her eyes. “Ah. You’re one of those beautiful people who doesn’t realize you’re beautiful, huh? Damn. The rest of us fight for it all day long, and then here you come just walking around.” She waved that thought off. “Consider me backing off. Hi. I’m Arden.” She stuck out her hand.

I grabbed it and shook it. “Aria.”

“We’ve had a few classes together, but I never got the chance to say hi. We’re actually in homeroom together,” Arden said.

It wasn’t a shock to me that I hadn’t noticed the electric pink hair over still being gobsmacked that I’d run into Tristan. “Oh cool. Yeah, I didn’t notice much of anything. Still getting the lay of the land.”

“Don’t sweat it. If you need any help with anything, just let me know. I’d be happy to help out,” Arden said.

“Cool. Thanks.”

She turned and started walking off, waving a hand and she moved. “Come on. Get comfy, meet the gang.”

I followed after her, excited that I was skipping past awkward introductions and seemed to have made a friend already. Her stuff was piled in one of the “audience” seats towards the back of the room, so I stacked my stuff in the one next to hers and then let her lead me to a group of students sitting in a group not far from there.

“Guys, this is Aria. Aria, this is the crew, well some of ‘em,” Arden said.

One guy stood up and held out a hand. “We’re the seniors, so the most important ones.” He had short, curly brown hair, caramel skin, and warm, brown eyes, and as I shook his hand, his smile grew.

Arden put a hand on his shoulder. “That’s Devario.” She moved to a girl with thick glasses and the longest, straightest red hair I’d ever seen. “This is Colleen.” She pointed at a pair of twin boys with short brown hair, pale skin, and freckles. “One on the left is Luke. On the right is Micah.” Then she moved to a girl with rainbow dyed hair pulled up into a ponytail. “Rainbow Dash here is Bea. Also not gay, I have tried.”

I laughed. “Hi. Nice to meet you all.”

They all offered their own greetings, before Devario sat back down, but kept his gaze trained on me. “You actually have perfect timing. Settle a debate for us.”

That sentence lit me on fire from the inside out. “I’d love to.”

“Catwoman or Poison Ivy?” he asked.

“Easy, Poison Ivy,” I replied instantly. “She’s a strong, independent woman who don’t need no man. She’s gotactualpowers and stands up for herself. Besides, I live for her natural aesthetic.”

“Four strong points and delivered in less than thirty seconds,” Luke said. “Not to mention she chose theobviousright answer. Kids, I think we’ve got a real winner here.”

Arden looped her arm around my shoulders. “That we do.” The seniors immediately started to debate amongst themselves about other notable Batman villains while Arden pulled me back to our seats. “You can thank me later. They’ll go on for hours that way.”

“I’ll thank you now. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good, nerdy conversation, but that could have gotten overwhelming fast,” I said. “So, give me the talking points of Arden. What do I need to know?”

Arden fell down into one of the seats and kicked her legs over the armrest, flashing her white combat boots with pink flowers painted on. “Let’s see… Well, you already know I’m the tragic lesbian character, but if I were to highlight a few other things about me, I’d say you wouldn’t like me when I’m hangry, and I have two adorable shih tzus named Joel and Benji.”

I smiled. “Madden, I assume?”

She flicked her finger at me, shaking her head. “Aria, you and I are going to get along just fine.”

I nodded. “I think so, too.”

“And, I’m an aspiring inventor. Not one of those ‘next big thing’ types. I want to invent something that’s going to change the world. That people are still using in twenty or thirty years, ya know?”

I sat down in one of the seats a row in front of Arden and looked back over the seat at her. “Any big ideas?”

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