MIDNIGHT RAIN | nick nelson [on hold]

Chapter Two

I LIKE HANGING OUT WITH YOU. YOU'RE FUNNY.

YOU'RE KILLING MY REPUTATION!

[1.01]

Venus sat at the picnic table outside with Charlie and Isaac. She kept an earphone in her ear while the other dangled down in order for her to listen to the boys talking to each other. She had her leg up on the seat so she could stretch for her P.E class as she knew Ms Singh would be making them run so she could scout out some more girls for the track team.

She jumped as Tao slammed two apple juices onto the table. 

"I did it again," Tao explained. "I bought Elle's drink. Again."

"How come you never buy me apple juice when you know it's my favourite?" Venus questioned him with a raise brow.

"Because you once told me that Frozen 2 was better than Ladybird," Tao told her, pushing her leg off the bench aggressively so he could sit. Venus grunted, using her hands to balance herself so she didn't slide off the bench.

"Yeah, and? Truth hurts sometimes," Venus smirked, knowing her taste in movies was one of the things that caused Tao true pain, "Not my fault that shit was boring."

"Didn't you buy her apple juice yesterday as well?" Isaac asked him quickly while Venus snatched the extra apple juice and opened it to drink herself. They all knew how fast Tao and Venus broke into arguements over the dumbest things. Movies were often the main reason but Isaac had to listen to them about the correct order of putting socks and shoes on for thirty minutes once. 

(Venus was right because who does sock, shoe, sock, shoe?)

"Yes, Isaac. Yes, I did," Tao mocked. "And on Monday."

"Elle's not here," Charlie told him.

"I know."

"She's not been here all week," Venus added before taking a sip of her new drink.

"I know. I keep forgetting," Tao sighed.

Venus understood where he was coming from. Venus did miss Elle too. Out of all of Charlie's friends that she had to befriend, Elle was her favorite. Maybe it was because they liked to gang up on the boys together but Elle had been the fastest to understand Venus. She was patient and kind and never pushed her. She also never argued with Venus about her taste in movies like Tao did.

"Tao, you're allowed to miss her," Charlie told him.

"Okay, fine," he admitted. "Obviously, it's better that she's at an all-girls school now. You know Mr. Reed was still refusing to call her Elle."

"Stupid dick," Venus muttered.

"Yeah. Mr. Reed's a massive transphobe," Charlie told him.

"It's still weird though. There used to be five of us, now there's four. Like, five is a group. Four is just a... smaller group."