Of course. You should get a phone soon if you can. It’s really not safe to be out and about in this city without one.” Victoria says, with the rest of the group echoing their agreement. Really? You made it sound like she was on the outskirts or something.” I can’t stop the slightly incredulous tone that colors my voice. It’s with some dread and trepidation that I follow Amy out of the classroom and towards the lunchroom.

She’s tall, and tall girls automatically get a point in Amy’s book. Her legs are to die for, and Amy has easily spent half of math class staring at them instead of completing her worksheet. Great! Anyway, I’ve got to go to class. See you later Taylor!” Victoria says, dashing off with a smile. Half the men they “mutilated” were rapists, and the other half were actually trans women that they provided care for. Something that’s still difficult and somewhat illegal in most of the world might I add. Lustrum wasn’t birdcaged for being a villain, she was birdcage for fighting against the status quo.” Taylor says, completely confident. I’m still absolutely mortified that I didn’t notice, but at least they weren’t making fun of me. “Oh uh, nice.” I say, eloquently.Yeah, I transferred from Winslow. Arcadia is nice so far, although history class is still boring.” I say with a shrug.

Amy nods to herself, satisfied with her work. Using words like “therefore” is usually worth a couple extra points, especially if you use them correctly. Now to wait for Victoria to come home so she has something to do. You were younger then, and we figured you didn’t need to know all the details until you were older. She was actually one of Lustrum’s lieutenants, and knew her personally.” I stare wide eyed at my dad as he explains. The table laughs at that, and the only response Amy can give is to crash her head against the table. I look up, caught off guard. He hasn’t talked about mom in a while. His eyes still hold some of the familiar sadness, but there’s more of a nostalgic tint to the sadness now.

Last on

A couple days later, and I’ve read through several of my mom’s journals. Apparently she was very bisexual, and spent a lot of time wooing someone named Kimmy, who was one of Lustrum’s capes. Someone with the power to make things rot, which she apparently used to punish rapists. As gross as that sounds, I can’t help but respect the lengths they would go to protect girls. Hey so, this chapter is a thing lmao. I expect this to be the most polarizing chapter, if only because it's about Amy, and also tonally different from everything else. Slumping into her special chair, Amy grabs a cup of coffee and stares blankly at her phone. She hums upon taking a sip, images of Victoria’s lips and eyes filtering through her mind. Amy always associates Folgers coffee with Victoria, especially the way she’d tease her about how she could possibly like such a cheap coffee. Amy was just going to have to deal with having fantasies each time she drank the stuff. Nothing to be done.