"Good morning, Aurora," I greeted when I walked into the kitchen, brushing my fingers through my messy bed hair. The heavenly scent of chocolate waffles filled my nose, making my stomach growl.

"Oh, good morning, Nixon," Aurora greeted from where they stood at the counter, pouring waffle batter into the waffle maker. Their auburn hair was pulled up into a messy bun and they were wearing a baggy t-shirt and pyjama shorts, "did you sleep well?"

"Uh, yeah. Kind of," I shrugged. Aurora nodded with a smile.

"Well, you're welcome to help yourself to some waffles," Aurora said, pointing to the plate of cooked waffles on the counter, "there's also some whipped cream in the fridge."

I nodded my head and grabbed a plate from the cupboard. I stacked a couple of waffles onto my plate, and grabbed Aurora's homemade whipped cream from the fridge, spooning some onto my chocolate waffles, along with berries and maple syrup. I carried my plate over to the kitchen table and sat down.

A few minutes later, Faine came walking into the kitchen, with a sleepy-looking toddler perched on his hip. Winnie rubbed at her eyes while clinging onto Faine, looking adorable in her pink pyjamas with rabbits on them.

"Morning you two," Faine greeted Aurora and me. I gave him a brief "morning" in return before going back to my food.

Aurora glanced at my older brother, smiling as he walked over with Winnie, and placed a soft kiss on Aurora's forehead in greeting. Aurora returned the greeting by going up on their tippy-toes to kiss Faine on the lips and then greeted Winnie with cheek kisses and tickles. Winnie squealed and giggled in response.

"Mornin' mama!" Winnie giggled in greeting, making grabby hands at Aurora.

"Good morning my sweet. Did you sleep well?" Aurora grinned, taking Winnie from Faine. She instantly clung to Aurora, wrapping her arms around their neck.

"Mhm!" Winnie nodded her head.

"I'm glad to hear it!" Aurora bopped her on the nose, and carried Winnie over to her high chair, "now, let's get you some breakfast, shall we?"

Eventually, the four of us were all sitting around the table, eating our chocolate waffles. Faine gave Winnie a small piece of his waffle, but otherwise gave her peanut butter and jam on lightly toasted bread.

"You have a therapy appointment today after school, right?" Faine spoke up after biting into his breakfast.

I hummed and nodded. I swallowed the piece of waffle in my mouth before replying, "yeah, it's at 3:3o."

"Okay. Hopefully, I can get out of work by then, but if not, expect Rory to pick you up from school and take you to your appointment," Faine said.

"Alright."

"How are you feeling about your first day of school today?" Aurora asked me suddenly, their gaze on me. I looked up from my food.

"Uhm...I don't know," I shrugged, "it's whatever I guess."

Aurora frowned. They looked over to Faine briefly, and the two of them shared a look before their gazes were on me once more.

"You know you can talk to us...right, Nixon?" Faine said. I sighed.

"I know that, and I'm saying that I don't know how I'm feeling about school right now," I rolled my eyes, "that's my honest answer."

Faine paused, nodding slowly, "alright. But if anything changes, you can talk to me."

Instead of verbally replying, I just nodded my head, picking up my food with my fork. After I finished breakfast, I thanked Aurora for the meal and took my dishes to the sink. After that, I walked out of the kitchen to go get ready for school.

Anxiety didn't hit me until I arrived at school. The moment Faine pulled into the parking lot, dread pooled in my stomach, making me nauseous. I was overwhelmed with thousands of thoughts running through my head. The longer I sat unmoving in the passenger seat, watching the flood of teenagers heading into the school, the more I didn't want to go in.

"Hey...you don't have to stay for the entire day if you don't want to, alright? If you want to be picked up early, just text me or Rory and one of us will come to get you," Faine said. He could probably tell that I was anxious, which made me feel even more anxious and uncomfortable.

"Thanks...But I think I'll be fine; can't exactly avoid it altogether right?" I turned to him with a tight smile on my face. Faine pinched his brows together, concern etched on his face as he looked at me.

"Right...but my statement still stands. Text me or Aurora if you need us. I love you. Let me know how your first day goes."

I took a deep breath and nodded. Faine smiled softly at me. I grabbed my bag and shrugged it over my shoulder as I stepped out of the car. Faine waved at me one last time before I shut the car door, and I watched as he pulled out of the parking lot and drove away. Instantly, I regretted my decision of choosing to get through my first day, and just wanted to go back home and curl up under blankets.

I stared up at Willowdale Secondary School with a pit in my stomach. Since I was now living with my older brother Faine and his fiancé Aurora, or...as he liked to call them, his lovefriend, I couldn't attend my old high school. It was too far away. Instead, I had to start my senior year at a new high school that was a five-minute drive from his house.

It was besetting, starting at a new school and having to start fresh in every aspect of your life. Especially in your senior year? It was tough. Everything I had up until now was gone. Senior year was supposed to be the year. It was supposed to be the best year of your high-school experience. But of course, everything in my life had to go ahead and fuck itself over.

But while I wasn't excited about starting my senior year at a new school, it wasn't like I had a choice in the matter. All I wanted to do was get through the year, and pretend that the last seven months of my life never happened. And play hockey, of course, the only constant thing in my life that kept me sane through everything.

I headed inside the school. I pulled out my locker number and code from my backpack, and headed up the main stairs to the second floor, pushing through the crowd of students. It took me a few minutes to find my locker, but when I finally found it, I quickly unlocked it and started putting some of my stuff into the locker.

"Hey! I like your pride pin," I turned to my left, and saw a girl with shoulder-length red hair and brown eyes now standing at my side. I looked down at the pride flag pin on my backpack and then glanced back up at her. She casually opened the locker next to mine, tossing in a few binders and a gym bag, before glancing back up at me with a smile.

"Uh, thank you," I replied awkwardly.

"I'm Isobel," She introduced herself, holding out her hand, "you're new here, aren't you?"

"Nixon," I reached out and shook her hand, "and yeah...I am. I'm somewhat new to the town too."

"I think you'll like it here. Everyone's pretty chill here. What's your first class?"

"It's math, I believe."

"Oh, me too! Is it room 210?" She asked, I nodded, "so we have first period together then, perfect! Do you wanna walk with me there? I could show you around."

"Yeah, that would be great."

"Great!" Isobel exclaimed, closing her locker, "come on, the bell rings in a couple of minutes."

I nodded. When I finished putting my stuff away in my locker, I closed it and shrugged my bag over my shoulder, before walking side by side with Isobel as we headed to our first-period class.