Once inside the school, Arley reached for his messenger device to ping Harley. He glanced up to see Harley approaching him. The other students of their group dived after the pizza that called to them from a nearby table. Delta parted ways with Arley soon after, following the other students that'd come along on the half-assed heist.
Harley lead Arley to the main room for the dance, the two grabbing some drinks. It was punch, alike any other basic prom would provide. Arley looked into his cup, the ice-cubes dancing and twirling. He took a sip, the sweetness and icy coldness of the beverage hitting his tongue instantly.
Harley pointed at Arley's face. "I like your piercings."
Arley's heart fluttered as Harley told him this; he noticed how pretty Harley was. They were wearing a dress, too.
Flustered, his cheeks grew to be a rosy red. He smiled. "Thanks. You're pretty."
"Haha, thanks. So suave," Harley responded.
"Look at those faggot mutant-things," someone said in jest, who stood a few steps away from Harley and Arley, two other dude-bros glued to him. His cohorts laughed.
One of his friends boomed with a throaty, kind of hyena laughter. "How'd you know they were those mutant freaks?"
"All weird Xeno-whatevers look like pansies," he scoffed. "Duh."
Arley turned away, looking at Harley in a questioning manner. "Are they serious?"
"Just ignore them," Harley told him. But, he was Arley, so he'd already decided that he couldn't "just ignore them".
As the dude-bro and his fellow dude-bros went to get some punch, Arley stretched his leg out, tripping the dude-bro in question. He fell forward, immediately busting ass.
"Oops, I wonder who did that?" Arley tittered. Talk shit, get tripped. By me, specifically.
"Oof, that's gotta hurt," Harley commented.
The dude-bro charged at Arley, attempting to throw a punch. But, before he could, he slipped on the beverage he'd spilled when he previously fell, the dude-bro busting ass once more. Arley spilled his punch on him, his fellow dude-bros watching in... shock? Amusement?
Arley's eyes wandered around the gymnasium as Harley pulled him to the dance floor, where numerous talked and fewer danced. He gaped at the dozens upon dozens of different students there; all of the students were free, and some were using their powers. Arley's eye had caught a circle of werewolves chatting among themselves. In this astonishment, Arley swore he saw a group of cat people - snake people, too; though, some of the "Xeno" had less apparent physiques, many appearing as either humans or those that passed as humans. Some others were regular-looking humans. Clusters of all sorts of different Xeno-beings were here, either having the time of their lives or chilling on the sidelines.
Arley stood there for a moment, the blue, red, yellow and green lights whirling, dancing and diving before him.
"Nice, isn't it?" Harley said, beaming. They continued to tell Arley all about the high school, Arley nodding and smiling as Harley went on and on.
"When you ignore the bullies and the schoolwork, it's nice. You get used to it," Harley went on, "for better or worse, I guess. 'Cause you never know what could happen outside of school, in the real world, ya know?"
His attention was pulled onto that guy's voice again. Faintly, he heard him calling students nasty names and pointing at them as he heckled from afar, his friends by his side. The guy that kept commenting these things reminded him of his dad - the memories of his father and his mother, before he was sent to the rehabilitative school.
He began thinking, looking back at it. He remembered, his mom was always too scared to stand up to his dad. During their fights, his mom would put his little brother in his room until it was over. His mom would abuse Arley and his brother verbally, while his dad would do worse. Physically, the worst yet only thing his mom would ever do was grab him by the face and scream at him in squall; sudden and violent, like a downpour of rain on a sunny day.
Later, his mom would apologize to him. Every time that she did, he accepted her apology. He always would.
His mother would ridicule him and poke fun at most things with Arley, almost regularly. First it was his sexuality, then it would be about his weight, or how he was "too girly". It would never end. The crutches of reality outweighed his luck.
It pained him, knowing that his mother never truly loved him, and now she never would. But he didn't think about that, really. The memories of his father had cut deeper.
Eventually though, his dad died, but he could never seem to shake off the thought nor the memories, especially when his mother continued to hurt him and his brother. It was a strong, sickly hiraeth that coursed through the blood of his veins. It was worse than that - he longed for a home that could never be.
Briskly, he eyed the bastard and his two friends that stood, leaning against a wall, still laughing with them.
"Is something on your mind?" His gaze focused on Harley once more.
"Nah, just... thinking." He decided to keep himself in the moment. He'd shake it off. He didn't have time to think about that now - besides, he felt as if he might do something terrible if he kept thinking about it all.
As if on cue, Arley's favorite song started playing. It was none other than Toto - Africa.
Harley took hold of Arley's hand. "Show me how to dance, Ponyboy."
And so, he did. Arley lead as he took them by the hand, their dance slow-paced, their rhythm aligning with the song perfectly. He became stiff and his heart leapt out of his chest. He was nervous for the first time in a while, but Harley's soft gaze had managed to calm him.
Harley pulled him a bit closer, resting their chin on Arley's shoulder. Harley smiled. "Super-dance."
"Super-dance," echoed Arley.
Before Arley knew it, both him and Harley had levitated more than a few feet off of the ground.
Arley laughed. "We're floating?"
"I guess we are," Harley admitted, gleeful.
They swayed in the air. Arley's grip on the world shifted; he felt himself falling before Harley had caught him, holding onto him. Slowly, the weight in the air lessened, the both of them finding their footing on the floor.
The music cut off. Arley's eyes darted around the room; Delta walked up to him at a quick pace, the other students that'd come with Arley and Delta following closely behind her.
"We have to go. The weasel is here," Delta explained. "The damn Headmaster."
Josh (the one guy that'd turned into a cat) added, "Someone ratted us out."
"I bet it was that fucking wall-guy," another commented.
"Wait, what? Arley? What happened?" Harley quizzed.
"I'm sorry. I'll see you on Xenet, okay?" Arley said, the five of them flooding out from the gymnasium's entrance.
They curved a left, clambering down one of the hallways, wary of anyone that could've been on their tails. They discovered an exit at the end of it, the five students sliding out of the two doors before them.
One of the orderlies greeted them. Arley caught her eye.
"Listen. You need to come with me. It'll be much worse for you all if you try to flee. Trust me," she told them.
"What? No," one of them had argued. "Why would we do that?"
"Where will we go, hide at the convenience store?" Delta remarked.
"Let's just go with her," Arley insisted.
They gave in, compliance being their only option. They were guided to the front of the school building where some of the high school's students lingered. Harley waved Arley a goodbye, the five of them pushed into a vehicle.