Flynn let out a soft gasp as she slowly moved her fingers over Julie’s face. “You are beautiful.” She hadn’t meant to say it, but as she felt the heat build up in Julie’s cheeks still under her fingers, she can’t help but grin. “Julie, are you blushing?”
“No.” Julie answered too quickly.
“Yes, she is.” Luke grinned, but Julie shot a look between him and Reggie and he clamped his mouth shut.
“Hold on.” Flynn muttered, feeling her way over to the piano. She pulled out her sketchbook, flipping the page. “This one is blank, right?” Willie watched Alex with a fond expression when he saw the boy nod before he realized what he was doing and stumbled out a yes. Everyone watched closely as Flynn drew, after what only seemed like a few minutes, Flynn turned the notebook around to show a near perfect black and white sketch of Julie’s smiling face. “How did I do?”
“It looks just like her!” Alex said excitedly.
“I knew it. Beautiful.” Flynn grinned. “That’s what you saw earlier, Alex. I was trying to map out Luke’s face because he was the only one that knew I couldn’t see that I haven’t already done.” Flynn was quiet for a second before it seemed like she was looking around. “Where’s Reggie? I haven’t heard him for a minute.” Luke turned to where Reggie had been, but found the spot empty. He looked around the studio, but the boy wasn’t there. “Guys? Where’s Reggie?”
“He...he left.” Luke muttered.
Willie nudged his shoulder before turning to Flynn, “I’m sure he just a little bit of Bi Panic after Luke hugged him.”
Flynn was quiet, like contemplating the sentence, before she rounded toward Luke, “Oh god, please tell me you put your shirt back on before you hugged him!”
Flynn and Willie found Reggie in his room at home, and after yelling at him for leaving without telling them, they learned he did it because he wasn’t ready for the others to find out he was deaf yet. Flynn listened to him sniffle, and she knew he was crying, but she had promised that they wouldn’t tell his secret. She didn’t mention that she thought Julie already knew. If she picked up on Flynn’s blindness, Flynn didn’t doubt she would notice that Reggie only answered people when he could see them.
Flynn’s system grew that day. Julie and Alex would pop up if the others weren’t nearby, and they learned the signals to her movements. She was thankful, and she had finally managed to learn what Julie looked like, so she was happy. Alex had even agreed to be a part of her assignment after she drew Luke. Alex didn’t know that after his drawing was graded, Flynn gave it to Willie. That was their secret.
Willie had gotten Alex to hang out with him, once he realized that Alex had been freaking out because he still thought him and Flynn were dating. They mostly just studied, and they usually met in the library at school on days there was no band rehearsal. Alex told Willie he wasn’t out to his family yet, and Willie wasn’t going to push him.
One day, in the lunch room, a girl they avoided named Carrie decided to pick on Alex. It wasn’t anything Alex wasn’t used to. He wore his pink hoodie all the time, and he would get picked on for choosing feminine colors. He and Willie were beside each other at the lunch table, studying history while they waited for their friends. “Oh look at these little gay boys!” The girl laughed as she approached Willie and Alex. Luke wasn’t close enough to step in without making a bigger scene, and he couldn’t get through people. “Nobody wants see this crap in school.”
“What crap? Learning?” Willie asked sarcastically. After all, he and Alex were just studying at the table. He could sense Alex getting uneasy next to him.
“I mean this homo bullshit we’re forced to put up with.” When Carrie said it, Willie turned so that Alex was behind his back, positioning Willie between the bully and the boy he was quickly developing feelings for.
Reggie and Flynn were walking to lunch together, Reggie could see into the cafeteria but he wasn’t able to know what the girl was saying because she had her back turned to them. Flynn filled him in as she tightened her hands into fists. Reggie could feel his blood boiling. It seemed everywhere they went, they still had to deal with this. “Leave them alone!” Reggie yelled as he pushed through the crowd.
“Ah, defending your little fag brother?” The girl rounded on Reggie, “Why don’t any of you look the same anyway? Was mommy that big of a whore?”
“Don’t talk about Willie’s mom like that!” Reggie was never a fighter. But he always promised himself that his friends and his siblings were the hill he would die on.
“Oh a different mom? Is daddy the whore then?”
“We’re his foster siblings!” Reggie roared, “Is that what you want to hear?” Reggie would look back on the irony of that statement later. Carrie fell silent all of a sudden, staring at Reggie with her mouth hanging open, like the statement stole all the fire to her fight. None of them had told anyone about being foster siblings yet. It was like an unspoken secret. Before anything else could happen, the principal appeared and dragged the girl away for trying to start a fight. Reggie didn’t like all the eyes on him, he could see people whispering, covering their mouths behind their hands. He turned and sped away. Willie and Alex didn’t wait, they grabbed their stuff haphazardly, grabbing Flynn on their way out, Julie and Luke hot on their trail.
They made it to just outside the school before they realized they lost sight of him. Willie was about to text him when Flynn stopped him. “You guys don’t smell that?” After a chorus of no’s, Flynn turned toward the smell. She thought he had quit. She followed it, Willie and Julie on either side of her to watch her step, before she finally rounded a corner at the back wall of the school. “Willie.”
”I see him. I thought he quit.”
”Why is Reggie smoking?” Julie whispered, though the irony of that seemed to be lost on her.
”Bad habit he got from his dad.” Willie muttered. “We thought he quit. He said he quit.”
”You guys heard him in there, right? How we’re foster siblings?” Flynn asked quietly. She couldn’t see them but she felt the movement as they nodded. Willie squeezed her shoulder as she felt a lump form in her throat. “Reggie and I have been in the same foster homes three times in a row now. We refused to leave each other, even when they kept making it clear it would be harder to place us together. We didn’t meet Willie until his parents took us in a year ago. Reggie’s dad would make him smoke, it was some kind of control thing. When he got put in foster care, he did it when he felt alone, like he couldn’t let himself be around people. He used to say it was easier to fill himself with poison than to poison someone else by making them take care of him. He smoked less often after we found each other. And when we were placed with Willie’s family, it was even less.” Flynn’s voice cracked as she stared down the alley she knew Reggie was in. “I don’t understand. I’m right here, Reggie. I’m always right here with you.” Luke couldn’t take the heartbreak in her voice. He sped down the alley, smacking the cigarette out of Reggie’s hand. As soon as he did it though, he knew it was a bad move. Reggie flinched away. His eyes were wide and he was searching the area like he didn’t know where he was. “Oh, god, please tell me no one touched him.” Flynn’s voice caught the attention of the others, Willie already waving at Luke to back away.
”Why?” Alex asked quietly.
”Like I said, he only smokes when he feels alone. It’s not my place to tell you guys what happened. I need one of you to lead me to a few feet from him. Not too close.” Julie took Flynn’s hand, guiding her down the back wall until she was a few feet away from Reggie.
“What are you going to do?” Julie asked, concerned.
“Can someone describe the area to me?” Flynn asked rather than answer the question. Julie told her there were a few dumpsters, the school behind them, and Reggie was pressing himself against the fence to the baseball field. “Alex! Please tell me you have your drumsticks.”
“Uh, yeah, why?” He asked, pulling them from his back pocket.
“I need you to go a few feet down from Reggie, either side, and drum the beat to one of the songs you’ve performed with him on the fence.” Alex muttered an affirmative, stepping down a little bit and began drumming the beat to Bright into the fence. “Willie?”
“Yeah, I’m right here. I got it.” He patted her shoulder as he passed her, and she knew that as much as Reggie tried to avoid it, Julie and Alex would need to know he was deaf by the end of the day. Willie crouched as he got close to Reggie, making himself as small as possible. Reggie’s eyes caught on him.
“W-Willie?” Willie just nodded, reaching out to his brother. Reggie reached out, before pulling his hand back like he was afraid it was a trick.
Willie nodded his head, gesturing to his hand. “It’s okay, little brother. I’ve got you. It’s okay.” He said the words slowly, giving Reggie time to process how his lips were moving. This time, when Reggie reached out, he clasped Willie’s hand in his. Flynn heard a deep sigh of relief behind her, and the smell in the air told her it was Luke.
“I’m sorry, Flynn. I didn’t mean to cause this to happen. I just couldn’t control myself. You sounded so upset that he was smoking.” Flynn didn’t need to see him to picture the sad look in his eyes. She could hear it in his voice and knew he was looking at Reggie.
“It’s okay.” Flynn said softly. “We’ll need to have a sit down later.”
“Flynn?” Reggie’s voice was small, but she hurried toward it. “Flynn, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to tell them we were foster kids. I’m so sorry. I understand if you’re mad at me.”
“No, no, don’t you dare think I’m mad at you.” She trailed her hand up until she found his forehead, pressing a kiss to it like Willie does for her. “I will forever be your sibling. Regardless of those idiots. Found family, remember?”