barelyabear

[barelyabear]

Pentagon, Part 2

TW SELF HARM

So there Rosetta sat, alone on her floor, staring at the mirror. Her parents had just left for a business trip and her older sister was away at university and her two younger brothers were still at daycare. She fell back, facing her ceiling. At that moment, she remembers that the boy she ran into said something about a message. Turning on her phone, she saw that it was from Giana. She claimed to be concerned about Rosetta after her outburst at the park but her text followed with:

 “Also, I got into some trouble with the cops and my parents aren’t home to bail me out, do you think you could stop by the county jail and bail me…. and do you think I could spend the night at your place?” 

GIGI

Annoyed, Rosetta wanted to deny Giana’s request but afraid to be alone, she agreed. Rosetta snuck into the garage and took the keys to one of the back up cars. She drove to the county jail and bailed the delinquent out. When Rosetta questioned what Giana had done, she refused to explain and instead left her with this: “It was stupid, not even my fault”. The girls drove to Rosetta’s house. When they entered the house, Giana rushed to the refrigerator, telling Rosetta all about the terrible jail food. Rosetta didn’t care the starving girl was basically ravaging throughout her house. Once they made it up to Rosetta’s room after an awkward silent walk up the stairs, Giana spit out, “You know what, Rosetta is some fancy sh*t, do you mind if I call you Rose?” Rosetta nods and replies, “I suppose, but may I call you,” she pauses in her thoughts, “GIGI!” Giana reacts with a digested look but agrees. “I really did mean it, you know, the whole ‘I’m worried about you’ thing, how are you holding up?” , Gigi says, “If you don’t want to talk about it, we could go for a little adventure”. Giana winks as Rose contemplates. “Well, I guess I could use some fun. But one condition, my parents can’t know, deal?” Gigi nods in agreement and explains the plan to Rose.

A couple streets down, there is a grocery mart by the local apartment building. Gigi walks in wearing large cargo pants while Rose wears an oversized hoodie. The two girls walk up and down the aisles. Gigi slides one candy bar into the countless pockets. She continues one by one. Rose tries to gain some confidence by witnessing Gigi but Gigin snickers at Rose for staring at her. Rose walks by the chip section and places a bag of Cheetos underneath her shirt. Rose panics and decides to head for the exit but as she passes the frozen goods aisle, Adriana taps Rose’s back. Rose turns back, “Oh hey, what are you doing here? I’m just looking around.” Rose nervously laughs. Confused, Adriana replies, “I should be asking you that Miss Fancy House. What are you doing in a small market?” Rose hesitates as she watches Gigi leave the store, signalling Rose to follow. Rose tells Adriana she’s on an adventure. Adriana reaches for her cart and her elbow touches the abnormal bump in Rose’s sweatshirt. She hears a bag shuffle. Adriana pulls the bag of chips from underneath and places them on a nearby shelf. She warns Rose, “They are sticklers for shoplifting here ever since your side of town made a large donation to enforce security over here. You should get out of here.” Rose sighs, “You might have a point. I’ll be on my way. Bye”. She runs out of the store, slapping a $50 dollar bill on the counter, yelling, “I'M TERRIBLY SORRY”. She meets up with Gigi who is waiting in the car. “About time, did you get caught? How do you feel?”, Gigi asks. “Well, I didn’t get caught.. necessarily. But, it felt crazy, I felt so in control and free. Just like I used to with Jeremiah..” A moment of silence passes and Gigi shouts, “CRAP, COPS KNOW, LET’S GO!” As sirens pull up the store, the girls get away. 

Back at Rose’s home, the nanny is waiting at the door with the two younger boys. “Miss, you were supposed to be home when I dropped off the boys, you know the staff is off shift when your parents are away. We’ve been waiting in the cold!”, the nanny exclaims. Rose apologizes and lies that the two of them were working late at the office. She leaves a large tip for the nanny and escorts her brothers into their rooms. 

When Rose leaves to get the boys some dinner, her phone buzzed and curious Gigi picks it up. 

“I never took you as the shoplifting type, you’re starting to sound like the Rich Whore haha. Anyways, let me know how you’re doing because I’m concerned about your way of coping…”

ADRIANA

When Rose returns, Gigi sits with the phone on her lap with her arms crossed. “So this is what you think of me? You’re talking sh*t about me? I actually thought you might be cool but no, you’re just like everybody else”. She rolls her eyes as Rose tries to explain, “No! No! You’re basically the only and best friend I’ve had in a long time!!! I swear I would never talk badly about you. I barely know Adriana.” Giana fights back, “Barely know her? Well, clearly she knows you well enough to get you to fall through with our plan back at the market. You chose to listen to her. So how about you keep choosing her and we forget all about today, okay?” Gigi rushes down the stairs. Rose follows, shouting, “Gigi! Please, wait. I need you. We need each other! Please”. Right as Giana opens the door, she turns to Rose, saying, “I don’t need crap from you”. She slams the door and Rose becomes frustrated and runs to the guest bathroom. She grabs an extra razor blade and holds it to her wrist, hoping this pain would replace the one she felt inside her. She is stopped by a knock on the bathroom door. Hoping it is Giana, she responds, “Hello? I’m in here, who is it?” Her younger brother, Benji, calls out, “It’s me. Benji, Your brother. I have a question”. Rose clenches her face, praying he doesn’t ask about the shouting or the slamming of the door. Instead, Benji says, “Can I have some crackers? I know it’s past 8pm but I’m really hungry and Mom and Dad aren’t-”. Rose interrupts, “Of course, of course, I’ll be right out to get you some, go and wait at the table”. Rose hides the blade away and heads to the pantry to grab crackers. The youngest boy, Keagon, taps her back, asking, “Rosie, do you think Benji and I can watch a movie until we fall asleep?” Rose replies, “Sure. Get your brother and wait on the couch”. Rose whips up the snacks and places them on the coffee table and plays a movie for the boys. She walks up to the sink to wash her hands. Brushing her fingers along the veins on her wrist, she can’t help but imagine what it’d be like if it was her instead of Jeremiah.

[barelyabear]

Pentagon, Part 1

ABOUT ⬠

After the popular high school girl, Rosetta, loses her secret best friend, Jeremiah , to su*cide, she discovers love from unexpected places as 4 of her peers come to her rescue. The 5 teenagers navigate their lives as they end up twisted in each other’s mistakes, crimes, and love affairs. This story explores topics such as the the LGBT+ Community, Pressure from parents, Unrealistic expectations, and more. 

TW ⬟ SU*CIDE

On Tuesday morning, Rosetta’s mother calls her down for breakfast. Rosetta cascades down from her spiral staircase in her silk robe. “Eat up honey, you need to look good for the dance by the end of the month and you’re looking a bit thin,” Mother warns Rosetta as she sits down sipping her cup of coffee as Rosetta follows orders. After breakfast, Rosetta heads to her room and gets ready for school. She walks the car waiting for her as her chauffeur opens the door with her backpack and books inside. 

The bell rings as school begins. Rosetta takes a seat in her first class, Junior American Literature. As classmates watch as she takes her assigned seat, the teacher collects Rosetta's late homework  that she had missed during her vacation in Maui last week. The intercom goes on for daily announcements but something was off this time. The microphone shuffled with muffled voices coming through the audio. The vice principal abnormally takes charge, “Good morning students. Today we will be skipping morning announcements. You will be able to update yourself on the school website. Today, we offer tribute to one of our own: Jeremiah Schuman. The star baseball player who warmed the heart of many on this campus is no longer with us. Friday night, Jeremiah committed suicde and in respect for his family, we will refrain from details. We ask that you all attend the prayer service this afternoon in the hall and if you experience any stress, anger, or sadness, please go see the counselors. The school will do its best to adjust this devastating loss and we ask that we work together to celebrate Jeremiah’s tribute. The baseball game this weekend will be in honor of Jeremiah so please come out and support the team in remembering what Jeremiah loved to do. Thank you students and have a good day”. Students shuffled around in their chairs as they turn to their friends to discuss the possibilities of why he committed suicide. Rosetta didn’t move around, she stood still in shock. She raised her hand, asking to use the restroom. 

As the stunned girl exited the classroom, she ran to the restroom that she presumed was empty. She stood staring in the mirror as tears ran down her cheeks with her hands on the sink. Her breath quickens and she falls to the ground as she resists screaming her heart out. 

Jeremiah had been Rosetta’s secret best friend. She was never allowed to be friends with anyone other than those Mother picked out. Mother did not want Rosetta distracted by boys since she was on the road to taking the position of Student Body President. But after spending hours after school  in meetings, she always seemed to run into Jeremiah after baseball practice. Soon enough, they developed a friendship but kept it out of the public eye. 

Out from a stall came a short girl with long black hair. Rosetta wiped her face and headed for the door. The girl stopped her and asked her to come back, “Hey, wait, I heard you crying and I can’t help but think this outburst has something to do with the kid who killed himself? I know we don’t know each other and I’m not the best at holding serious conversations but I can try and maybe it’ll be nice to talk to a stranger”. There, they sat against the wall as Rosetta spilled every detail of their friendship and how she had no idea he was in pain because he was always happy. She turned to the stranger, “Thanks for listening, I hope I didn’t bother you that much” The girl responded, “No problem, if you need anything, let me know”. Rosetta looked puzzled, “But, I never caught your name!” As the girls walked out the door, she turned back and said, “Adriana Gonzalez”. Rosetta cleaned up and returned to class, pondering what the mystery girl was all about.

After school, Rosetta had her regularly scheduled council meeting. When the meeting was over, Rosetta felt her heart shake as she didn’t see Jeremiah come through the crowd of boys from the baseball field. Instead, a different boy came up. He stopped Rosetta and gestured her to take a seat at his table. And so she did. Confused, Rosetta waited for the boy to speak and eventually he spit out some words, “Are you okay?”  She lay her head down as she sighed, “Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?”  A moment of silence passed as the boy suddenly broke it, “I know you were close to Jeremiah and I just thought that the news would be hard to take.” Shocked by his words, she gasped, “How- how did you- I mean, not really”. The body carried on, “My parents refuse to pick me up from school anymore so I have to wait for the bus that comes hours after school, usually around the time you and Jeremiah meet up, I’ve seen you two talking everyday for the past months but it was only after school”. Rosetta explained the reasoning behind the selected sessions between her and Jeremiah and this time she knew to ask for this kind stranger’s name, “Why are you talking to me? I mean, who are you?”. To that, the boy replied, “I’m Brayden Taylor, and I just assumed that since your friendship was so exclusive, your friends didn’t know you needed comfort”. As Rosetta saw her chauffeur approaching, she left the conversation with a smile.

Mother made Rosetta get a job, claiming that it would make her look hard working on her college resume, even though it made no impact on their upper class lifestyle. Rosetta worked at an election office, running her father’s campaign for governor. She was always stuck doing filing or some simple work to make the time run fast. She craved some adventure. Her coworkers came and went so she never got a chance to make friends out of any of them. Today, Giana Bronty was working. She was known as the “rich whore’  because she was also from an upper class family but consistently got into trouble. “Giana, you’re on poster duty, take someone with you to keep you on check,” a manager shouts. Giana walked straight to Rosetta, “Hey Miss Prissy, you’re coming with me on poster duty, now”. Rosetta went with it since she was tired of all the paperwork. 

As they neared the end of their house rounds, they reached Jeremiah’s neighborhood. Giana didn’t know about Jeremiah, she had skipped class that day along with many others. She placed the poster on the lawn and moved on to the next. The girls reached Jeremiah’s house. Rosetta’s throat choked up as she saw his older brother and single mother on the porch setting up a memorial. Careless Giana rushed up, placed a sign and left. Rosetta stood, stunned. She stared at the house that she had snuck into on nights her parents were away, the house she would feel normal. The family never knew her of course, so they looked back at her puzzled. Gaina tugged her arm but Rosetta stood still. Suddenly, she began to run and she ran to the park down the street. Giana, afraid she would get blamed for the hostility, ran behind her and eventually, found Rosetta sitting on the swings that she and Jeremiah would have their deep conversations on. Rosetta sat in tears and Giana sat on the swing beside her. Giana spoke up, “Hey bro, I don’t know what’s wrong but I can’t afford another slip up on this job so could you get your shit together and head back?” Rosetta looked at Giana, “Leave me here”. Giana responded, “You know I can’t do that, I’d get in trouble. Come on, what’s up anyway? Maybe it's best to get your feelings out here rather than in front of your dad’s supporters and on the job”. So there, the two girls sat talking the afternoon away about the shenanigans that Rosetta and Jeremiah would get into in this very park. Soon enough, they finished the neighborhood rounds and went back to work. They didn’t speak the rest of the shift but they did offer each other a wave goodbye after work. 

Rosetta walks home and behind her, she hears a boy calling after her, “Hey! Hey! Hey!! Wait up!” In fear, Rosetta speeds up and begins to run away until she hits a driveway and must wait for a car to pull out. The boy catches up and Rosetta turns to him, waiving pepper spray in his face. He dodges and explains, “You dropped this a while back,” he hands her phone over, “Um, I know we don’t know each other but I’ve seen you around school. I saw a message on there saying that you should surround yourself with people so you don’t do something you’ll regret, I’m just a bit worried about you, we can sit and talk if you want”. Rosetta looks down at her phone then jumping up, exclaims, “No, no problem here. Thanks. Got to go”. She runs down the sidewalk to her front door. The boy stands still as he mutters, “Wait! Please come back!”  

[barelyabear]

is this where the elites live?

[barelyabear]

why is my account explicit😭😭

[barelyabear]

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