As the last period bell rang, Cree rushed out of class and out the school doors. He avoided his locker every day anyway, for it was too easy to run into Lake there. Today, however, he was in a rush because he was supposed to march in a rally for human rights in about thirty minutes.

Cree had been doing a lot of service work recently pertaining to the Annicalb, and apparently, it hadn't gone unnoticed because the man running this rally reached out to him specifically. His name was River, and he had overseen a few of the projects Cree had participated in over the past month. Cree had never actually met him in person, but all his coworkers said he was an incredibly kind person, and Cree assumed he was going to finally meet him during today's rally.

Cree rushed home and changed into his rally t-shirt, which he would have worn to school if it weren't for the fact that the school banned any kind of political clothing. Cree was pretty sure that went against something in the Bill of Rights, but the school didn't seem to care.

Finally, Cree made it into the town square. It was piled to the top with people of all different cultures and backgrounds. Different sexualities and genders. Different religions and beliefs. It was truly beautiful. It was an art project made by the hands of fate and destiny. The Annicalb was an awful thing, but the fact that this many different people could ban together because of it was pretty amazing.

Cree stopped for a moment to catch his breath, after all, he had ridden to the rally on his bike.

Over email, River had said that the plan was to start in the town square, at city hall, then go all around town and stop at a few places where there were probably going to be a lot of people. Then they were going to head back to city hall and protest there.

There were a few people standing on the steps of city hall, and Lake figured one of them had to be River so he pushed his way through the crowd, like a leaf making its way down a stream. When he finally came to the front of the crowd, he bounded up the steps, immediately regretting it afterward, and stopped to catch his breath. He worked as hard as he could to fill his lungs with air, but it was like they just couldn't get enough.

As he was about to turn back around, a man who looked to be in his 30's tapped Cree on the shoulder. Cree jumped.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you." The man said frantically.

"No, it's okay," Cree replied politely. The man stood there awkwardly for a second. Cree himself wasn't an awkward person in the least, but Lake was, and watching the man in front of him bumbling nervously simply set him off thinking about Lake again. He really needed to stop doing that.

"Um," the man finally interjected Cree's thoughts. "Are you Cree?" Cree nodded.

"Are you River?" The man shook his head.

"No, my name's Jamal. I think River's out in the crowd right now, but he told me to keep an eye out for you. You're going to help lead the march?" Jamal asked. Cree nodded again. "Okay cool," said Jamal, taking a long nervous pause, and before he could say anything else a teenage girl walked up and interrupted him.

"Sorry, Jamal is the awkward one." Cree cracked a smile. "I'm Casey." The girl said, holding out a tattooed hand to Cree. Cree shook it. Casey was wearing colorful paint-splattered overalls that hung off one of her shoulders, and a mustard yellow shirt that came down to her belly button underneath with the logo of the rally embroidered upon one of the sleeves. Besides for her hands, she had swirls of dreamcatcher tattoos inching up her arms in thin curling stands. Her hair, which she wore in dreadlocks, was almost as long as Cree's and had colorful feathers and dyes strewn all about the pale yellow that was the main portion of her strands. She was also wearing a dreamcatcher earring that matched her tattoos in one ear, and in the other an assortment of five earrings curling around to the top of her ear. She also had in a little nose ring, and not to mention the most amazing makeup Cree had ever seen.

Someone called Casey's name, and she took off running. She was probably from one of the richer families, Cree guessed, so she could still afford to eat well. However, judging by the fact that she and someone who looked to be her father were both at the rally, Cree figured they were some of the few good people blessed with a big fortune.

A few other people walked up to Cree. Among them were Jamal, another man, and a girl with a short black afro who looked like she was probably related to Jamal even though she was a good deal younger. The girl spoke up first.

"Hi Cree, I'm Meg," she said. "You've already met my brother Jamal, and this Daanish." Cree nodded at everyone, not bothering to introduce himself since it seemed that everyone already knew who he was.

Cree glanced over at Casey who was talking to someone different now who Cree thought might be River. He wanted to go introduce himself. Meg saw him staring. "And I see you've also already met Casey." She laughed. "Everyone's kind of in love with her."

"Oh, I already have a-" Cree stopped himself as the words came out of his mouth because no, he didn't already have a. He didn't already have an anything it felt like. Lake had taken permanent residence in his mind and heart, but not in his life. He was the last thing Cree thought about before he went to sleep and the first thing that popped into his head every morning. But he might as well live halfway across the world because he wasn't in Cree's life anymore. He couldn't be. And that hurt more than Cree could have ever imagined.

Meg looked at Cree empathetically, seeming to read his emotions. However, Casey flounced up to them again before she could say anything. "Hey Cree, Meg, Jamal, Daanish," she said nodding at each of them in turn and smiling. Meg waved at her shyly, and Cree could see red tinting her cheeks even through her dark complexion.

"Hey Cas," she said, her voice timider than previously, making Cree think that maybe when Meg said everyone was in love with Casey, she really meant she was in love with Casey. The way Meg was looking at the other girl reminded Cree so much of how he would look at Lake. With love and admiration, like he was the most beautiful thing in the entire world. And he was.

He really really needed to stop thinking about Lake.

"So we're gonna head off now y'all," chirped Casey. "Jamal knows the route best so we should be sure to keep him in sight. Grab your signs and let's go!" Casey grabbed Meg by the hand and dragged her over to where Cree assumed the signs were.

Jamal was already making his way through the crowd, and Daanish was standing there, presumably waiting for Cree.

"You've never led before have you?" he asked, chuckling a little bit. Cree shook his head.

"How'd you know?" Daanish shrugged.

"You didn't know Casey or Meg, and everybody knows Casey and Meg. Even though they're only 19, they're kind of the leaders around here besides River. Don't know why Jamal lets his sister boss him around, but he does." Cree laughed along with Daanish this time. "Plus you look extremely lost and confused by all this." Now it was Cree's turn to shrug.

"Yeah, it's a bit overwhelming, but I'm a fast learner. I'll be fine." He smiled.

"Yeah you will," laughed Jamal encouragingly. Then he picked up a megaphone that Cree didn't realize was behind them and shouted:

"Who deserves life?"

"Everyone!" The rally responded, cheering and waving their signs.

"Okay, guys! We're going to start moving now so stay together! If anyone has questions you can talk to Meg or Casey- wave your hands guys!" Meg and Casey started waving from the front of the crowd. Cree didn't even know how they had gotten through the sea of people that quickly. "Jamal," Jamal waved his hand along with the two girls. "Cree, or me!" Cree waved his hand at the crowd and the sight was breathtaking. He was so used to being a face in the crowd, but facing it and seeing all those people who all looked different and carried different signs, cheering and shouting- they were more powerful than they would ever know. They had the power to change the world. Cree felt pride swelling in his chest, and for the first time since he had walked out of Lake's life, he wasn't thinking at all about him.

He was thinking about here and now.

He was thinking how it was so amazing to be a part of this, and even though he never got to kiss Lake, he was being hugged by a multitude of ideas and people with their collective voices all standing for the same thing that they believed in.

He was thinking about how those people were going to change the world and how he was going to be a part of it.

***

A/N: I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Thank you so much for reading! If you liked it please consider leaving a vote/comment! I'm always super open to suggestions :D

-Sunny <3