The following Friday afternoon, Sky was waiting under a bridge near the school, having a cigarette as he waited for Star to meet him for their walk home. As he stepped further back into the shade to avoid the glare of the sun, he took another drag from the cigarette. Looking back in the direction of their school, he cringed slightly when he saw a different set of classmates heading that direction before Star managed to make an appearance.

One of the more athletically inclined of his schoolmates called out to his friends, “Go wait in the car. Gonna see if I can bum a smoke from the fag.” Sky just glared, but said nothing as the slightly older teen approached his spot beneath the bridge. “Ooh lookin hot today Star,” he greeted Sky with a smirk. “Oops my bad, I mean Sky. So hard to tell which of you is which. Must be the twin thing,” he added with another smirk as he helped himself to the pack of cigarettes in Sky’s front pocket, behind all those chains that hung from the leather pants he wore that day.

“Make up your mind, am I a fag, or am I my sister? Seems like you may wanna fuck me either way,” he couldn’t help the words.

“You want a second black eye this week?” the other boy threatened as he took a cigarette from the pack. Upon looking down at it, he realized it was actually a clove cigarette rather than the normal kind. “What is this goth shit?” he asked with annoyance.

“Smells a lot better than the other kind. Maybe you should think about switching,” Sky told him with a deliberate insult behind his words.

The other teen, Curt, just shook his head, but lit the cigarette anyway, tossing the rest of the pack to the ground as he did. Sky let out an annoyed breath as he bent down to retrieve the pack. Only, as he did, he felt Curt roughly smack his behind before he moved to stand upright again with another glare over at the other boy.

“Nope, still can’t tell the difference between you and Star,” Curt teased further.

“The main difference would be that if you smacked her like that, you’d be missing a hand after... Or maybe some other parts,” Sky couldn’t help adding with a cool tone.

“Oh, so she is more of a man than you is what you’re saying?” Curt responded with another snicker.

“Why are you even talking to me, Curt?” Sky asked with further annoyance as he leaned against the underpass once more.

“I needed a cigarette,” he excused as he held it up to accent his statement.

“Even one that’s just goth shit apparently,” Sky mumbled.

After another moment of welcomed silence from Curt, he ruined it once more by speaking up again, “Seriously though, your sister was looking fucking hot as balls today.”

Sky swallowed and averted his eyes at that particular comment, even though it was probably the only thing he and Curt would ever agree on. But he quickly pushed that thought away before speaking again, “You hate goths but you want to fuck them. Stunning logic.”

Curt just snickered, “I think you’re all crazy satanic freaks just waitin to blow away the whole school, honestly. But damn I’ve heard about the freaky shit goth chicks get up to in bed. Gotta try that at least once,” he chuckled back.

“You might be disappointed. I’ve given a lot more blow-jobs than my sister probably has. Which Im sure you've spent plenty of time thinking about, huh Curt?" Sky couldn't help that remark.

“Fuck you. That shit never happened, got it?” Curt told him angrily as he tossed what was left of the cigarette away and moved to loudly speak into Sky’s face. The younger of them managed to at least keep himself from flinching, and rather just took a deep breath to steel himself against the other teen’s anger.

“I guess if that’s your side of the story,” Sky conceded, though sarcastically. “You better just hope I don’t have any pictures, huh?” he couldn’t help poking the lion once more, his own angst getting to him.

“Fuck you,” he repeated again as he grabbed Sky and pushed him forward against the wall, ignoring the slight cringe as the concrete came in contact with that beautiful face of his. But Sky had no time to think on that discomfort right then as he felt Curt angrily ripping at the back of his pants, tugging them downward from that impossibly narrow waist.

Sky closed his eyes hard as he braced himself for what he was sure was about to happen. But luckily, a girl’s voice interrupted the assault, “What the fuck are you doin, Curt?” Star angrily yelled as she approached.

“Fuck you too!” he told her angrily, but said nothing more as he finally released Sky from his painful grip and hurried away without another word.

“Shit, Sky, are you ok?” she asked with panic as she rushed toward him.

Sky said nothing as he tried to catch his breath and fight back the tears that were almost making him angrier than the rest of the encounter right then. He just tried to compose himself as he turned from her, sniffling a bit as he returned his clothing to its previous state.

“Did he actually...” she attempted as she reached out a hand to his shoulder.

Sky just scoffed, “It’s not like I’m not into guys too. I mean, would it even matter if he did?” he asked, seeming like he was trying to convince himself that the encounter was a lot more ‘ok’ than it actually was.

“Just because you like boys and girls both...” Star began with a sad shake of her head, “That doesn’t mean you deserve to be...” she attempted, though even the thought of that happening to him made it too hard for her to finish the sentence.

Sky wiped at his eyes again, almost as though he wouldn’t let himself admit that that was what was about to happen until he heard her admitting it first. “I pissed him off though. I mean I kept---”

“Don’t even finish that sentence, Sky. You could have kicked him directly in the balls and it still wouldn’t mean you deserved what he was about to do,” she assured him as she moved closer to wrap her arms around him in an attempt at offering some form of comfort, as impossible as that was, for many reasons.

But instead of letting her comfort him, as much as he needed it right then, he instead pulled away from her grip and turned away, “Just don’t, ok?” he whispered.

“Sky, what’s wrong? I mean, aside from that asshole?” she had to add.

“I just can’t deal with that too right now, ok?”

Star narrowed her eyes at that response, and had to ask, “Can’t deal with what right now?”

“Just...you,” he breathed, though seeing the hurt on her face as he turned back, he immediately regretted his words.

“Can’t deal with me right now?′ she replied, her voice breaking as her own tears were struggling to the surface now instead.

“I didn’t mean it like that, Star...” he stumbled, “I just...” but he could only shake his head at his own emotions making it impossible for him to even say what he meant... even to her.

Star forced down her own hurt as best she could as she looked down with a deep breath, “Let’s just get home, ok,” was all she could say right then.

That night at supper, the teens were more sullen than ever. Each sat on opposite sides of the table, staring down at their plates rather than actually doing much eating. Their parents sat at opposite ends of the table, casting quiet glances between the two, though not saying much for most of the meal themselves.

Finally, their mother sighed, “Yeah, you’re definitely twins,” she made some attempt at lightness, though the nearly tangible tension that both teens then seemed to be overtaken by in response to her words was quite apparent.

“Can’t we just go eat in our rooms?” Star mumbled, desperate to get away from just the possibility of conversation with either of the adults right then.

Their mother scowled before responding, “Having to eat dinner at the table with your family is hardly akin to facing a firing squad. Though you two do seem to make it look that way,” she added with another scoff and a drink of her wine.

“Family,” Sky mumbled under his breath then, the sarcasm obvious even at that low volume.

“Well last I checked we were the ones who raised you, weren’t we?” their mother, a woman now just entering her forties responded.

“Stunning job,” he stated under his breath once more.

That was when their father chimed in, his patience with the two of them always nearing its end, “Let me guess, someone picked on you today at school. Is that it?” the older man, also in his early forties, asked harshly.

“Like that would ever happen?” Sky continued in the same mumble, still not casting his dark, troubled eyes up from his practically untouched plate.

“Well it’s not like you don’t fucking bring it on yourself, now is it?” their father retorted angrily.

“Dad!” Star exclaimed.

“What? You both do. If you want things to go better at school, maybe you both need to stop trying to trigger every single one of your classmates on a daily basis,” he returned, his anger increasing, despite his wife looking a bit uneasy in the face of it; regardless of how much she agreed with her husband’s warning.

Star let out a loud laugh of disbelief, “Trigger them? Are you serious right now?” she asked, her own anger rising easily in light of the afternoon’s events.

“Don’t play innocent, Star. You dress like some vampire call girl and he tries to look like every pervert’s fantasy of some kind of twisted gender mind-fuck. And you wonder why they act the way they do? You don’t like it, then fucking fix it, and stop trying to stand out like the biggest freaks in the state. Then maybe, just maybe, your day would go a little better!” he finished his tirade, his volume increasing throughout.

“So, you’re saying whatever they do to us, we deserve it?” Star bit back. “Is that actually what you’re saying right now?” she repeated with her own increase in volume.

“Connor, come on,” their mother attempted, but both of their tempers had risen to the point of barely noticing her attempt at restoring the fragile peace in the home for at least one more evening.

“Can you really argue the point?” Connor retorted, his tone still harsh despite the slightly lowered volume this time.

“You’re unbelievable!” Star retorted angrily. “You know what actually happened today?” she continued, her anger still flaring.

“Star, don’t,” it was Sky that now tried to stop her from saying anymore.

“Some asshole tried to---”

“Star!” Sky raised his voice, slamming his fists against the table. “I said don’t. Didn’t I?” he told her, so much more behind that particular question right then.

His angry plea did do well to stop her as she tried to compose herself, wrapping her arms tightly around the corseted shirt she wore above her own black leather pants that day.

A long awkward pause before their mother finally broke the silence, “Tried to what?”

With an even more frustrated sigh, Sky got to his feet and left the room before any more of the discussion could continue.

Star swallowed as her eyes followed his retreating form as he left the room, more than a bit distraught, and understandably so. “Tried to hurt him really bad, ok?” was all she managed to confess, seeing as Sky had made it clear that he didn’t want the actual details of the event shared with anyone else right then; even their so-called parents.

“And how is that different from any other day?” Connor scoffed, tossing his own fork to his plate, his appetite gone now as well.

Star just shook her head in further disbelief, “So what if it happened to me, dad?” she had to ask.

“What if what happened?” he asked her, though with obvious lack of feeling.

“What if some asshole jock pushed me up against the wall and started tearing at my clothes? Would I deserve it too?” she bit out, her voice breaking as she followed in Sky’s footsteps, leaving them alone with her words, as she was too afraid to hear the answer anyway.