Chapter 18

       I was starting to get really worried about Wilder, and I think the horseback riding accident did a lot more brain damage than the doctor's thought. Either that, or he was in a sudden denial stage of his mental illness.

       Yesterday, when I brought him home from the hospital, I asked him how he was doing and if he had been hearing any voices recently. He was really confused, and told me he had never heard voices in his life.

       I told Dax almost after that happened, so Dax made an appointment for Wilder to see his psychologist soon. And now, the best thing to do was to make sure none of us pressured Wilder into remembering he was schizophrenic, because he was probably going to deny it even more and even get mad at us.

       "How is Wilder doing?" Orchid asked while we were heading to our usual table for lunch.

       "He's....okay," I said. I didn't really want to go into much detail of what was happening with Wilder right now because it was really hurting me just thinking about how much he was going through. 

       "Okay?" Orchid repeated. "It doesn't sound like it."

       I sighed. "He is, really. It's just hard thinking about what happened to him. If Baron didn't come back to the horse ranch for us to realize something happened to Wilder, he might now have made it to him in time."

       "Hey," Orchid said softly, stopping in her tracks and grabbing my arm to stop me as well. "The important thing is Baron did come back, and we were able to get to Wilder in time. There's no point of thinking about the what ifs, because those what ifs never happened and never will."

       "Yeah, I guess you're right," I said. "Thanks."

       Orchid just gave me a smile before we got to the table Alan, Nolan, and Jerome were already at. I'd like to think we were the popular table, but we totally weren't because nobody was able to handle the Smythes and Princes.

       One thing I didn't get about high school was how some people thought they always had to butt into other people's business, or bully other people just because they didn't like someone or they were very small minded.

       Namely Felix.

       I lost count on how many times I had to stop him from bullying Nolan just because Felix was a little homophobe who didn't understand that not everyone will have the same ideals or that Nolan's life literally had no effect on Felix's.

       We were all getting very tired of Felix constantly being a homophobic prick to Nolan, so when he and his friends who were probably as small minded as him walked up to the table, I rolled my eyes.

       "Can we help you?" Alan asked. "Or are you just going to do the same thing as always and say things that proves that you won't get into any university?"

       Felix glared at Alan. "I'll have you know that I have been accepting into a university."

       "Is it the one that accepts everyone?" Orchid asked.

       "What? No," Felix said. "Just because I don't agree with all of....this doesn't mean I can't get into a university."

       Jerome leaned over towards Nolan. "Translation?"

       "Us being gay," Nolan said.

       "Ah, okay," Jerome said. "This the guy that's always being a homophobe even though you mind your own business?"

       "Yep."

       "Huh. Well, I can see why it's hard to believe that he got accepted into university."

       "Excuse me?" Felix asked.

       "You know, the more you talk, the more you prove that it's very unbelievable that you got into university," Jerome said.

       Felix crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look threatening, but he sure as hell didn't. "You're not even a student here, so you probably shouldn't be messing with actual students. I can make sure you're no longer allowed here."

        "And how?" Jerome asked. "By telling Mrs. Goth? Please, be my guest, because I'm pretty sure if I tell her I was defending my boyfriend who you're, apparently, constantly approaching and bullying just because you're homophobic, Mrs. Goth wouldn't kick me out of the school considering she's an LGBT supporter."

       "What makes you think that?" Felix asked.

       "Wow, you really are dim," Alan said. "I saw you at the couple's contest, where she literally said it would be great to have more diverse couples and not just straight couples because it is the twenty-first century."

       "Let me get one thing straight," Felix began, but Jerome interrupted.

       "No, let me get one thing straight," Jerome said. "I'm not."

       A teacher, thankfully, decided to approach the table to see if anything was wrong. Not just any teacher, though. It just so happened to be the triplet's wonderful uncle.

       "Is there a problem?" Tony asked.

       "No," Felix lied.

       "Yes," Jerome said. "This dude, whatever his name is, came up here only to bully Nolan."

       "I did not," Felix lied. "I came here to ask if any of you would like to join the senior baseball game that's going to be happening. I have never bullied anyone in my lifetime. I mean, I'm on almost all the sport teams. The coaches wouldn't allow it."

       "Liar," Jerome said.

       "You're calling me the liar?" Felix asked. "You don't even go to this school, so Mr. McCormick isn't going to believe you."

       "Nolan?" Tony said.

       "Yeah?" Nolan asked.

       "Has Felix ever bullied you?"

       "Yeah, all the time. I just don't let him get to me anymore, but yes, he does bully me."

       "I don't," Felix lied, yet again. I didn't even think he knew that Tony was their uncle since they had different last names. Oh, this was going to be amusing when he found out.

       "Sorry, Felix, but I'm going to have to side with Nolan on this one," Tony said. "For one thing, he's a horrible liar."

       "I am not," Nolan said. "I am the best liar, like, ever. One time, I, uh....Hold on...."

       "Nolan, babe, we've been through this," Jerome said. "You're a horrible liar."

       "Whatever."

       "I swear, I have never bullied Nolan," Felix said. "I am a huge supporter of the LGBT community."

       "You once got mad because Mrs. Goth allowed the college to put flyers up for a Pride celebration," Alan said. "And you told Nolan to stop pushing his ideas on everyone else, even though he had nothing to do with the flyers."

       "Okay, here's what's going to happen," Tony said. "Felix, if I see you, or any of your friends, talking to Nolan, or even Jerome now that he's here, again, I will give you a detention, or send you to the office. Depending on exactly what you're saying."

       "What?" Felix asked. "I swear, I never...."

       Tony held up his hand to get Felix to stop talking. "Nolan isn't the type of person to lie about him getting bullied," Tony said. "Mainly because, like I've said, he's a horrible liar."

       "And how would you know?" Felix asked. "You're just favouring him because he's one of the top students."

       "No, I'm not favouring him at all," Tony said. "And I would know if Nolan is telling the truth or not because I've known him literally for his whole life. You do know that I'm the triplets' uncle, right? So I can ask their parents if they ever had a meeting with Mrs. Goth and your parents for you bulling Nolan, which I assume has happened." Felix didn't say anything. "Exactly. If you don't support LGBT, that's fine, but you don't have to bash anyone for it. Their life doesn't affect you at all. I'm serious about what I said. If you go near them, or any other LGBT student, you will have serious consequences." He then gestured for Felix and his friends to leave, which they did.

       "Thanks, Uncle Tony," Nolan said.

       "Hey, I'm just doing my job as both a teacher and your uncle," Tony said. "If anyone ever bothers you, just come to me, okay?"

       Nolan nodded before Tony left. After he did, I looked at Orchid. "If Felix does bother them again, will Tony give me a detention for beating the crap out of him?"

       "Probably," Orchid said. "He may be our uncle, but he's still fair when it comes to being a teacher. He gave my dad detentions all the time, even when all he was doing was defending my mom."

       "Uh, Mom usually got Dad out of detention anyway," Alan said.

       "Really?" I asked. "How did she do that?"

       "Mainly by being an annoying sister," Alan said. "She once even made sure the class didn't get any homework."

       "Damn, I need to learn how to do that," I said.

       "You don't even do your homework anyway," Orchid pointed out.

       "Well, yeah, but not having homework means I won't get in trouble for not doing it," I said.

       "True," Orchid said. "Well, I tried once, but it didn't work. I think since we're his nieces and nephews, it's a bit easier to say no to."

       "I'd still not like to have any homework," I said. "Oh well. I'll just continue my ways of not doing any homework."

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Same, Atticus, same. jk jk I always did my homework. cx (but i never studied for a test lol)(never had to oops)

Omg JERLAN IS SO PRECIOUS IN HERE. I miss my babies so much that I'm tempted to put every book on hold just to write their third one. (not really, but I needs to write their third one) I'm suffering from major Jerlan withdrawals and I once was close to crying because of it. :(

And in other news, it's 1:05 am, and I started this around 8. YouTube has been a huge distraction for me recently (mainly because i want to get into vlogging so ive been watching a lot of vlogs)