Petra was making it a point to duck Brandon, or at least his questions about her time at school, as often as possible. She just didn’t feel like dealing with him, and she was often growing tired by the time he made his presence known. School itself was going fine, even if she found some parts dull. In science, she was doing miserably at for the most part, and her math was barely a passing grade. On the other hand, she was excelling with others, such as Spanish, because…well, Brandon was a Spaniard and had insisted. History from an American perspective as something she was distinctly unfamiliar with, as she hadn’t made her way to the country until sometime within the last hundred years or so. Interestingly, she was to have been placed in a basic English class, but there was a mix-up, and she had been put in a sort of advanced class, where they were doing a unit on various mythologies. She was intimately familiar with the Greek of course, and Roman by affiliation. Learning about how other cultures viewed similar? Well that was just fascinating.
Cassie was one of the more popular girls at school, and due to insulting her, tried to get Petra blacklisted from a lot of the social goings-on of the popular crowd. Unfortunately, it just made Cassie madder when Petra didn’t seem to care. Rick and Shiloh stuck with Petra, and they were a cute and interesting couple that definitely three you off guard with what seemed like regular frequency. They introduced different after school activities and clubs to her, though almost none were at school. Watch parties were one of the primary things they and a few others did most days of the week, and a lot of the content they watched was anime.
It was…cathartic, she supposed to best word would be. To be sitting in a room and not judged for who she was or who she was connected to; to not being feared or challenged due to her reputation. Not fearing others’ disappointment or mockery over her enjoyment of things that no one would expect her to have an interest in — like anime, comics, dance, or romance. The watch party consisted of herself, Shiloh (and her ever-changing hair), Rick (always with some sort of makeup tool at hand for emergency touch-ups), Jamie (a strong advocate for trans rights (being trans herself)), Jon (a huge RPG guy), and Alex (wants to join AEW someday). She had been with this small group for about a month before the topic turned more toward upcoming school activities.
“What do you think, Petra?” Shiloh asked.
“I’m sorry, what?” she responded, looking away from the show.
“Earth to Petra!” Jon laughed from where he sat, flipping through a rule book.
“What? I was watching the show!” she exclaimed between bites of popcorn.
Alex picked up the remote and pressed pause. “We had been discussing upcoming school stuff.”
“Oh…well, like what?” she asked, turning her attention to the group.
“Well, Miss Popularity, Cassie Davis,” Rick began.
“And president of the Student Council.” Jamie piped up.
“Yeah, and that, wanted to do something for ‘community spirit’.” he said with air quotes. “I heard she wanted to do a pageant, but the faculty won’t let her because that wouldn’t be fair to everyone, so she had to settle for a talent contest.” he said with an eye roll.
“I see.” Petra said. “But it’s not like we have to participate, right?”
“Well, there’s the thing.” Jamie said. “Enough people need to participate to raise funds for various programs at the school, from music to the arts, and so on.”
“But not sports.” Alex said with a snort. “Sports are always top priority.”
“I thought you were the athlete of the group?” Shiloh teased.
“I am, but that doesn’t make it right.” Alex responded.
“But you brought it up why, exactly?” Petra asked.
“Well, we’re trying to figure out what to do to raise money. I mean, it’s not like fundraisers are all that fun, but it’s not like any of us have deep pockets either, you know? Besides, we all want to help, you know? So you in?” Rick said.
“I don’t know what I would do.” she admitted.
“Oh come on, honey. There’s got to be something you’re like, really good at.”
“Umm…”
“Well, what is it?” Shiloh asked.
“I’m thinking!” Petra said.
“Don’t think! That’s when it gets hard! Just say the first thing that comes to mind. Come on!” she countered.
Jon took the cue and piped up. “Say it! Say it! Say it!” and others chimed in, all in good fun.
It made it more difficult to think, but eventually she blurted out “Dancing.”
“Really? Awesome! Can you come up with a routine in two weeks?” Alex asked.
“Two weeks?! That soon?” she exclaimed.
“Yeah. Is that going to be a big issue?” Alex frowned.
“No…just surprised me, is all. What about the rest of you?”
“A group Monty Python skit.” Jon said. “We’re going to do a rendition of ‘Camelot’ from Holy Grail.”
“That should prove interesting.” Petra said, smiling.
They finished up their anime, then left Jon’s house for their own homes. For her own part, Petra drove around a bit, picked up some food and then headed home, eating while working on homework, and then heading to her room to take a long, hot bath and think over whether she should participate or not. In the end, she decided that not participating would be a cop-out, and thus ‘violate her orders’, so she’d do it. Wrapping herself in a fluffy robe after drying off, she browsed various shopping sites to find appropriate attire, then sent email out to the school administration to make sure what she had in mind would be permitted. She was dismayed to learn she would have to have Brandon, as her guardian, sign off on it for legal purposes. She had Emilio present it to him, basically asking him to frame it as a permission slip, though whether he did or not, she didn’t know – just guessed there was a high chance Brandon was very aware that it was for a talent contest and it had to do with a performance that required a waiver absolving them of legal issues.
The next couple of weeks were spent practicing in secret, at a dance studio she paid off to have room to herself. When the night came, she was a little nervous. As purse luck would have it, she was set to go on after Cassie. A Cassie who just looked at her, snorted, and said “Good luck. You’ll need it.” with pure, catty venom in her voice. Petra rolled her eyes and Cassie went on, putting forth her best rendition of a Beyoncé song. When it came to Petra’s turn, she put on a simple blindfold, walking out to the middle of the stage, the spotlight focused on her, and reflected off her glittering costume, and the prop she carried.
The music began slow and steady at first, building to it’s overall beat and rhythm, and she danced to it, improvising on a sword belly dance routine she had seen, though she’d amped up the difficulty slightly, staying at a believable level for a high schooler. When her time was up and she had finished her routine, she was breathing a bit hard. It took a moment for her to realize how loud the applause was. With a smile, she bowed slightly and gathered her props, removing the blindfold once backstage.
“O M G! You were fantastic!” Shiloh said with glee.
“Cassie is so pissed.” Alex smirked.
“With any luck, this will pull in enough to help fund music and art – maybe with enough leftover to have an actually good prom!”
“Are they not good?”
Jamie shook her head. “Not really. The school tries but…well, you’ve seen our gym. It just doesn’t say ‘fun party here’, and the acoustics are terrible.”
“I just hope I can find a dress that suits me.” Jamie sighed.
“What if we all pick a day to go shopping?” Petra asked. “I mean, my pockets aren’t deep but…”
“Are you going to commit credit card fraud? Cuz… I’m down for that.” Alex said.
“What? No. My guardian has deep pockets. He’ll be fine with it. Hell, he’d probably throw a party just to celebrate the fact I’m going to wear a dress.” she said.
Everyone laughed at that, and they all agreed they’d go shopping that weekend. There were a few stores they could check out, one of them new. When they did go shopping, not everyone found what they liked at the same place, so eventually they all ended up at the new store. A news crew was covering the opening of this little boutique shop that was run by a hot up-and-comer, but no one paid it much heed, save to remark it was happening. No one expected for footage of them to show up later that evening on the news, showing them holding up the stylish clothes to themselves, laughing, and otherwise enjoying the experience. They showed other customers as well of course, but it was of Petra being on screen that she worried about a little once she found out.
“Is something wrong Petra?” Jon asked on the get-together they learned this.
“No – I just don’t think I look good on camera.” she lied.
“You look great, honest.” Jamie said.
Alex lightly punched Jon in the arm. “So are you taking me or what?”
“Huh? Wait…me? You want to go with me?” he said.
“Duh.” she smiled.
“Well…yeah.” he grinned.
Shiloh turned to look at Jamie. “Going alone?”
“Not going at all. I have to go out of town that weekend. My sister’s wedding.”
“Ohh…right. Petra, you got a date?” Shiloh asked.
“No.” she said. “Should I?”
“I just thought a few people had asked.” she said, a slight frown on her face.
“I never said they didn’t – but I barely know some, and others I just…don’t really want to spend time with.” she admitted.
“You’ve got to have a boyfriend then. Who wouldn’t want to date Tyler Evans?” Jamie swooned.
“I don’t have a boyfriend.” she said.
“Well why the hell not?” Rick asked.
“I just…if I don’t click with a person right away, I don’t want much to do with them. It’s like a…a sort of spidey-sense, I guess. Anytime I’ve ignored it, the relationship has been varying levels of toxic.”
“Eww. I’m sorry.” Shiloh said, hugging her impulsively. “You totally deserve a great guy.”
“Yeah.” Rick said. “Someone with a sense of style.”
“And charm.” Jamie piped up.
“But with some of that bad boy fun.” Amy grinned.
“A sense of humor is a must.” Jon nodded sagely.
“Most of all honey, you deserve some real romance. You’re a great person, and we haven’t even known you that long.”
“Well thanks guys. That really means a lot.” she said with a smile. “Oh, that reminds me – I’ve arranged for a limo for all of us.”
“What?”
“REally?”
She nodded. “You guys deserve it too.”
“Aww…thanks Pey.” Shiloh said.
“Don’t nickname.” Petra said with a mock warning.
They stayed late that night, finished up a shorter anime before parting ways, and heading home. Per usual, Petra stayed out late to try and avoid Brandon’s non-business hours of the evening, but even if she didn’t, she doubted it would be a big deal that night. She was in a great mood, and starting to feel like a real girl.