Chapter Text
Pili was someone who has always been the weird and shy kid.
Throughout middle school, one of the things he thought about often was going to highschool—and never in a good way.
He was scared of the future. He was scared of his future. And he wasn’t sure if he could handle highschool, especially considering he could barely handle middle school.
However, during the summer after 8th grade, Pili started to find himself. So he started socially transitioning; cutting his hair, dying it blue, changing the way he dressed, and changing his name and pronouns.
He became someone that he had always wanted to be.
Pili and Spepticle walked into school together. Pili was lucky to have someone like Spep as a friend, especially when Pili barely talked to anyone in middle school.
“How does highschool even work?” Pili sighed. “Do we just like… eat breakfast? Then go to homeroom? Or do we go straight to class?”
“Bro, I don’t even know. I didn’t even show up to orientation.” Spepticle hummed.
“Maybe we should ask a teacher, or a security guard. I bet they’ll know.” Pili suggested.
“Yeah, come!” Spep grabbed Pili’s wrist and dragged him across the lobby toward an idle security guard.
“Oh my God…” Pili muttered, covering his face in embarrassment.
“Excuse me! We need help!” Spep yelled as he approached the security guard, who cocked his head at the short freshman.
“Yes?”
“When does the bell ring? And when it does, where do we go? And also how many classes are there? Also—“
“Kid, you’re askin’ too many questions. The school’s website answers everything you need to know about the first day and how it operates.”
“Thanks so much, sorry for bothering you!” Pili apologized profusely as he dragged Spep off to the side.
“That was so embarrassing, Spepticle! Why would you do that?” Pili whined.
“Yo, I was just asking questions!” Spep shrugged, pulling his phone out. “Either way, it doesn’t matter, let’s just check the school’s website!”
Pili leaned over Spep’s shoulder and watched him navigate the schools website.
“Here! It says the first bell rings at 7:40 and that classes start at 7:45… also lunch starts at 11:08 and ends at 11:57. Oh, and school ends at 2:30!” Spep cheered. “That’s a plus of highschool, baby!”
“So no homeroom? I guess they got rid of that in highschool…” Pili hummed.
“I don’t know, maybe they discontinued that kinda stuff. Homeroom is useless anyway.”
Pili blinked. “But they still assigned me a homeroom.”
“Um…” Spep muttered.
“Uhh… whatever, I guess we just go to our first period.” Pili sighed.
“Yo, I forgot my schedule at home and I don’t remember any of my classes!” Spep groaned.
“Didn’t… didn’t they digitize schedules?” Pili asked.
“Oh.” Spep pulled his phone out and opened his school’s portal app. “Yeah… you’re right. Anyway, I’m gonna go walk around and look for my class. Wanna come with?”
“Nah, I should look for my own class.” Pili said.
“Cool.” Spep said. “Let’s meet for lunch though! I have a perfect spot, I’ll text you where!” He ran off towards the art wing of the school, leaving Pili alone in the crowded lobby of the school.
He hummed, and walked off on his own, looking for his first period. He had over 10 minutes until the bell would ring, but having extra time to find his classroom helped.
On his way to his classroom, he came across a bulletin board on the wall in between two classrooms. He took a glance as he walked by, but immediately stepped backwards to take a closer look once he saw a poster that interested him.
Interesting in joining Drama Club? With the start of the new school year, we’re accepting any new members who wish to join! Just stop by the auditorium during lunch September 2nd to September 5th!
Pili’s eyes lit up. Not only was this a great opportunity to meet other queer people his age, it was a great opportunity to make friends in a scary new high school.
So he bounced his way to first period with a new feeling, a feeling of hope for his future, for the first time in a while.
American high schools are so weird, Yungy thought. There was nothing here that was the same as Australia.
Yungy was allowed to wear normal clothes and not a uniform everyday? The school was one huge building with barely any outdoor space? There was a huge cafeteria?
Yungy felt overwhelmed by all the changes to his life that had been happening lately.
Moving to America wasn’t even a decision he had any say in—his parents wanted better opportunities for him, so they moved to the U.S., which Yungy was extremely confused about because he had plenty of opportunities in Australia.
Either way, he was admittedly excited to meet new people.
Before Yungy headed off to his new highschool, he checked the school’s page just to make sure he had researched American schools correctly.
“American schools have 7 periods?” Yungy scoffed under his breath. “And why is the school year so long?”
Yungy, staring at his phone as he walked into the school, had no idea that he was about to run into someone.
He slammed his shoulder into the person in front of him, almost tripping over his feet. He caught himself before tripping over backwards.
“Holy shit, I’m so sorry, are you okay?” Yungy apologized profusely.
“Yo!” A voice yelled. But they didn’t seem angry. “You’re Australian? We don’t get many people from other countries coming here!”
“Uh… yep. I’m from Australia.” Yungy sighed.
“That’s sick, man! I’m Pentar, it’s nice to meet you.” Pentar raised his hand to dap up Yungy.
“Yungy. You can call me Yungy.” Yungy returned the dap up.
“Hey, what’s your first period?” Pentar asked.
“I’m not sure, let me check.” Yungy pulled out his phone and opened his school’s portal. “Uh… AP World History? I’m not even sure what AP even is. We don’t have that kind of stuff in Australia.”
“Oh, man, let me tell you about the world of being smart in the United States of America, Yungy.” Pentar wrapped his arm around Yungy, pulling him closer and taking him on a walk towards the history wing of the school.
“Yungy—AP stands for Advanced Placement. If you take these classes, you’re guaranteed smart.” Pentar smirked. “And in May at the end of the school year, you take an exam that proves what you learned.”
“Yeah… sounds fun. We have stuff like that in Australia, but it’s not called that, and we don’t have exams at the end of the year.”
“There’s more to it, and I’m gonna tell you everything as I take you to class.” Pentar hummed.
“Okay.” Yungy shrugged.
The two walked to class together as Pentar explained every aspect of American highschool he could think of, and answering any questions Yungy had.
“I’ve been here for 2 years, starting my third, and I still have barely any friends, and have yet to join a club I found interesting. I don’t even know what to do anymore!” Jojo sighed. She buried her head in her hands.
“Jojo, why don’t you just join drama club with me? Everyone there is so nice, you’ll literally love it.” Woogie said with a shrug. “During the first week of school, we accept any new members who want to join. Usually we don’t get a ton, so you’ll probably be the only one there.”
“You know what? That might actually work.”
Jojo hummed.
Jojo started her junior year off like any other year in highschool did—checking her schedule, meeting up with friends, leaving to her first period.
The only thing she was looking forward to all day, even distracting her in class, was meeting up with Woogie and joining drama club.
She was unsure why she never thought of this before—if she already had a friend in drama, why did she never do it before? There were so many opportunities to meet so many new people.
At the beginning of lunch, Pili and Spep met up in front of the auditorium.
“This is the place I was telling you about! Did you know my brother is in drama club? I thought about joining only because of this.” Spep giggled.
“No way, Spep. I literally saw a poster for drama club this morning and was going to join as well!” Pili gasped. “We can join together!”
“Yo, that’s awesome, Pili!” Spep gasped as well.
“Yeah, this is the place!” Pentar said, walking up with Yungy. “Oh. You guys here to join drama too?” Pentar hummed.
“Yep!” Pili bounced on his heels.
“Yo, Spep, you finally made it to highschool! Look how old you’ve gotten. Wow.” Pentar sighed with a hand on his chin.
“You guys know eachother?” Pili hummed.
“Yeah. Pentar’s in drama club too and my brother takes me to rehearsal sometimes to watch, so they basically all know who I am.” Spep chuckled with a smirk.
“Is he in drama club too?” Pili pointed to Yungy.
“No, actually, this is Yungy, and he just transferred here from Australia. Crazy, right? He’s from down unda!” Pentar joked, and Yungy smacked him on the arm.
“Seems like you guys are good friends already.” Pili chuckled. “It’s nice to meet you two.” Pili smiled.
“Back at you.” Yungy gave a nod.
Just then, Woogie and Jojo walked up to the front of auditorium.
“Yo, Woogie, what’s up?” Pentar yelled, extending his arms out to welcome Woogie.
“Hey Pentar, hey Spep. Who’s the new faces?” He asked.
“This is Pili! He wants to join drama with me!” Spep smiled, nudging Pili with his elbow.
Pili gave a small wave.
“I’m Yungy.”
“You from Australia?” Woogie hummed.
“Yep.” Yungy sighed. “Is that the only interesting thing about me?”
“No, no, Yungy… it’s just surprising to some Americans. They hate you spider-lovers.” Pentar wrapped his arm around Yungy.
“That’s a stereotype.” He sighed, rolling his eyes and punching Pentar playfully.
“Either way, it’s nice to meet you two.” Woogie smiled. “This is my friend Jojo, she wants to join drama. I know we have an opening ceremony type lunch today, so I brought her over to see what drama is all about.”
“Hi.” Jojo awkwardly waved. “I’m in 11th grade, but I just now decided to join drama.”
She shrugged.
“Cool! Glad to see new members joining drama this year.” Pentar sighed. “Well, come on, lunch time is running out!”
Pentar grabbed Yungy’s wrist and pulled him along as he ran into the auditorium. Pili and Spep ran after the two, and Jojo and Woogie trailed behind.
“They’re most likely going to have the meeting in the crew room in the back, because sometimes people will eat lunch on the stage.” Woogie told Jojo. “Don’t worry, just follow Pentar and I.”
The group walked up on stage and made their way back behind the curtain and through the hallway into the crew room.
As they entered, almost every single member of drama was standing there talking amongst themselves.
“This is where we have meetings, talk about which plays we’re doing next, and of course where we bring new members and introduce them to drama.” Woogie explained to Jojo, as well as Pili, because Spep had run off to bother his brother, Red.
“Alright, alright, everyone!” Bacon yelled, letting the room quiet down.
Woogie placed his hand on Jojo’s shoulder, giving her an encouraging smile, and he walked back to be with the rest of the group.
Pentar did the same, instead giving Yungy a punch on the shoulder.
“Welcome to drama! Yes, it’s much more boring than highschool movies make it out to be. But it’s still fun when you’re involved with the right crowd. And we are the right crowd, so it’s great to see some new faces hoping to join!” Bacon clasped his hands together.
“You can call me Bacon. I’m an 11th grader who is also the stage manager. Basically, I handle almost everything. I coach rehearsals, I direct shows sometimes, I help backstage, basically anything you can think of I do.”
“This is my assistant manager, Rek. He’s been in drama club longer than me, but he’s never liked leadership positions, so I encouraged him to be my assistant.”
Rek stood next to Bacon and waved to the three that stood in front of him. “Hey! As you heard, my name is Rek. I’m in 12th grade, and I’ve been in drama club since my freshman year.”
“Our members are basically divided between who is backstage crew and who are actors. Whatever role you want to take, you can have it. We’re just here to have fun—it’s highschool, not a god damn movie production set, so just enjoy yourselves.” Bacon smiled, snapping his fingers.
“Alright, well, first I want to allow you three to talk to the rest of crew and get to know eachother! We’re all friends here and we try not to leave anyone out.” Bacon hummed.
Pentar ran up to Yungy and grabbed his wrist, pulling him into the crowd. “I gotta introduce you to some of my best friends.”
“Okay…!” Yungy wasn’t sure whether to sound excited or confused, because he was surely both.
“This is Zam, and this is ECorridor, but he just likes to be called E.” Pentar introduced the two.
“Hello.” Yungy gave an awkward wave.
“Did you know that Pentar is a nerd when it comes to musical theater?” Zam whispered to Yungy. “He can name a shit ton of musicals just off of the top of his head.”
“Yeah, and did you know that he’s embarrassed about it?” E giggled. “Kinda cute.”
Zam smacked E. “Oh my God, shut up about Pentar being cute, you say that way too much!”
“But it’s true!” E whined.
“I see it, honestly.” Yungy butted in.
“Stop whispering, you know I don’t like when you two do that!” Pentar sighed.
“I was just telling Yungy how cute you are, Pentar!” E giggled.
“Will you stop with that? It’s everyday with that, E!” Pentar sighed, crossing his arms. Yungy could tell that Pentar found it endearing.
“I can tell you guys are good friends.” Yungy laughed.
“You’re from Australia, right? Is it nice there? I’ve always wanted to go.” Zam remarked.
“Bro, stop, he doesn’t want to be known as the Australian guy, and you’re just adding to it!” Pentar whined.
“No, no, I don’t mind too much.” Yungy brushed it off.
——
“Jojo, this is Hannah.”
“Yo.” Hannah said with a nod. “It’s nice to see more women joining drama club.”
“Yeah, I feel that. People don’t want women in any space today it seems.” Jojo sighed. She squeaked realizing what she said. “Not to get all political, though.”
“Nah, I totally agree with you.” Hannah sighed.
“God, Jojo, you’ve activated a monster.” Woogie facepalmed.
“I don’t mind. It’s nice to talk with another women with musical theater interests.” Jojo shrugged.
“Hey!” 4C jumped in, dragging Jaron in too. “Nice to meet you, Jojo! I’m 4C and this is my best friend, Jaron.”
“Yo.” Jaron sighed, turning back to 4C. “I want to sit back down.”
“Oh, come on, you can take a couple minutes to introduce yourself.” 4C rolled his eyes playfully.
“What else do you want me to say? You basically said it all.” Jaron shrugged.
“Whatever. Jaron is a complaining little baby, so we’re going back. See ya, Woogie!” 4C ran off, dragging Jaron by the wrist.
Jojo raised an eyebrow at Woogie.
“Dunno. They’re weird, but in a good way, ya know?” Woogie chuckled. Jojo laughed too.
——
Pili stayed standing in the middle of the room. Spep walked away, and so did the other two people he had just met.
He looked like a lost puppy standing in the middle of the room.
“Yo.” Bacon said, breaking Pili out of his zoning out. “You doin’ okay?”
“No. I mean, yeah, I’m fine, just… a little scared to talk to people.”
“I get it, but there’s nothing to be scared of. Everyone here is really nice, even if they seem mean at first. You wanna come meet my friend group? And… my friend group’s friend group?” Pili raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, it’s weird, but you’ll like them.”
“I don’t think I ever caught your name. Bacon noted.
“It’s Pili.”
“Nice name.”
Bacon brought Pili over to a small table where Jaron, Planet, 4C, Cube, and Squiddo sat playing uno.
“This is basically all they do every lunch.“ Bacon chuckled.
“What the fuck, are you evil?!” Cube screamed at 4C who just gave him a plus four.
“Hah, you suck, I told you!” 4C blew a raspberry.
“No, you’re just cheating! I bet you you’re cheating!” Cube slammed his free hand on the table in anger.
“Cube, chill out, it’s just a game.” Squiddo held back laughter, letting a snort out of her nose and burying her face into her arm.
4C started to laugh too.
“I usually hang out with Jaron, the one wearing the trench coat, and Planet, the one with the galaxy hoodie. Planet is pretty calm, but Jaron can get really aggressive sometimes. It’s a little cute.”
Pili nodded, just listening to Bacon talk.
“Cube is the one with freckles who’s getting mad and slamming the table, Squiddo is the one with orange glasses attempting to hold in her laugh, and 4C is the one with the blue hair.”
“Like mine.” Pili whispered with a gasp.
“Hm?”
“His hair is blue like mine.” He spoke louder this time.
“Oh, yeah, I didn’t even notice. That’s neat.” Bacon huffed with a smile. “When we all get together like this, our two groups usually combine and we hang out together. But usually, it’s just Jaron, Planet and I. We eat in the library sometimes because Planet likes to study.”
“Sorry if I’m talking about my friends too much.” Bacon shrugged. “They just mean the world to me.”
“No, that’s fine. I get it. Spep means a lot to me because he’s my only friend from middle school who didn’t…” Pili’s voice trailed off and he hummed quietly.
“You can tell me anything. Even if we just met, I care about what you have to say, Pili.” Bacon placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Mm… well, I came out as trans last year and changed my whole look over the summer, and Spepticle was the only one who wasn’t weirdly transphobic about it.” Pili said, fidgeting with his fingers awkwardly.
“Oh.” Bacon hummed. “I couldn’t even tell. You sound so masculine, I just assumed you were born male—oh, God, that sounds so insensitive, I’m sorry.” Bacon sighed, rubbing his temples.
“No, no.” Pili let out a chuckle. “It’s fine. That’s refreshing to hear, actually. But, you know… coming to a new school when you don’t know the crowd is scary.”
“You should know our club is incredibly inclusive. Most of our members are part of the LGBTQ+ community, and many of them are very open about it. Planet uses he/they pronouns actually, and Jaron is openly bisexual.” Bacon shrugged.
“That’s—“ Pili sniffled, wiping a tear from his eye. “Sorry, I don’t mean to get so emotional, I’m just so happy that so many people are in the same boat as me where they know what it’s like to be shunned for the way they feel attraction.”
“Cry all you want. That’s what we’re here for.” Bacon rubbed Pili’s shoulder soothingly.