all hail the queens
Maya sat in the bay window, while she looked at Riley try on every piece of clothing in her wardrobe.
“Peaches, can you believe we’re going to the party of the year?!” Riley exclaimed, while she held up a yellow floral top and a purple sequined one next to each other. “Which one?”
“The yellow one.” Maya picked the yellow one because yellow was one of her favorite colors and Riley was one of her favorite people, so combining the two just seemed to make sense to her. If she were being honest though, she knew Riley would look good in anything because Riley always looked good in Maya’s eyes. While Riley was rummaging through her vast wardrobe, Maya opted to just wear a plaid flannel and jeans.
“I’m so excited! Maybe I’ll get to talk to Lucas Friar,” Riley said, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Okay, weirdo.”
Walking into Zay Babineaux’s party was overwhelming Riley. She had never really been to a proper high school party before. (Her wild parties usually just consisted of her and Maya binge watching Red Planet Diaries while eating an alarming amount of ice cream.) All the people at the party were loud and for some reason, people seemed to be taking off their clothes.
“People act very different when they're at school,” Riley observed.
“They sure do,” Maya said, her voice laced with disdain.
“I'm gonna get us some food!” Riley announced, letting go of Maya’s hand.
“Bring me back some pretzels.”
“You got it, Peaches.”
Riley got up out of her seat and headed to the kitchen on a mission to get snacks. Ever the klutz, she ended up bumping noses with just the boy just wanted to: Lucas Friar.
“I'm so sorry,” the boy apologized. “I didn't see you there.”
“It's okay, don't worry about it, I'm clumsy, super clumsy, trip over my own feet, even sometimes just trip over air.” She noticed herself starting to ramble and awkwardly reached around Lucas to grab the pretzels and put them in a cup for Maya and herself.
“Getting stuff for your girlfriend?”
“Excuse me?”
“Maya.”
“Oh, my girl friend,” Riley said, naively thinking that he meant it platonically. “Yeah, she likes salty things so...pretzels!” She held up the cup, flashing Lucas a smile.
He laughed and smoothed his hair over with his hand. Riley felt the butterflies in her stomach erupt. They stood there in an (uncomfortable) silence for what felt like minutes but was probably only seconds.
“Well I'll let you get back to your lady,” he said.
My lady? Riley thought to herself. That's odd, I don't remember calling Maya my lady.
Maya sat outside on the Babineaux’s porch, trying to get away from all the partying going on. Maya loved a good party but this was a bit much, especially with everyone taking off their clothes for no reason.
“Hey, I'm glad you made it!” Zay called m, tapping Maya on the shoulder.
“Yeah, thanks for inviting us, my friend Riley is getting us pretzels - she's better at talking with people than I am.”
It was true, Riley was a people person who was a ray of sunshine and Maya was...not. She only enjoyed certain people. (Her family and Riley).
“Right, your friend ,” he replied with a smirk, putting huge air quotes around the word friend. “You don't have to lie about her being our friend.”
“I'm not lying, Riley is my best friend - why would I lie about - “
“There's no shame in being gay, you don't need to hide it. I know coming out is scary. You won't believe the amount of times I've been called ‘Gay’ Babineaux but in the end, it's so worth it.”
“I'm not gay,” Maya said with a scoff. Looking down, she noticed her outfit and added, “I know I'm wearing a flannel but I'm straight.”
“Come on, you can tell me the truth.”
“I'm telling you the truth. I need to get out of here,” Maya said, getting up to find Riley.
When Riley’s eyes met Maya’s, she noticed something was off immediately so she power walked towards her best friend.
“We're leaving, Riles,” Maya said, grabbing her hand.
“What? Why?”
“We just are.”
“Okay.”
“Someone likes em bossy,” Lucas commented.
Before Riley and Maya could even get close to the door, Zay’s voice was heard.
“Hey everyone! I have an announcement! Tonight we have friends who are afraid to come out, afraid that we’ll reject them…”
“Boooooo!” the teenagers cried out.
“…But we want them to know that they are accepted and safe, right?”
“Woooooo!” the teenagers cried out.
“I think the only way to do that is to elect them as Abigail Adam’s very first homecoming queens.”
The cheering continued as Maya frantically looked for a way out (of this party, of this house, of this situation .) But she didn't get the chance because Zay grabbed her and Riley’s hands and dragged them to the front of the crowd. Both girls looked terrified, confused, and overwhelmed as everyone chanted for them.
“All hail the queens!” Zay shouted.