{111}✔️

A/N: nothing to do with this chapter, but I can't decide whether I should name Bowl cut dude or not. I've been thinking of names for him but I honestly enjoy him being known as Bowl cut dude 💀💀💀 idk tho.

Also I've been cackling at your responses to how u came up with ur usernames. Y'all are all iconic

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Dahlia's outfit:

Dahlia's POV

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"Well, I kinda went overboard. I brought way too much food, but when I was packing shit I realized I didn't exactly know what everyone liked and disliked." I sighed as I looked at the four baskets of food I'd brought with me.

"Madi, I went and got some cheese fries and I got, uh, Mac and cheese too. Do you like Mac and cheese?"

"I do like Mac and cheese!" He grinned.

"Okay, great! Um, and I brought corn, cheese sticks, yellow watermelon, squash, and yellow rice and chicken!"

"That is a weird combination of food." He giggled.

"Madi!" Jules tapped him quickly.

"No, no it's okay! It is a weird combination of food." I agreed.

"It's okay, D-Dahlia. I like weird combinations of food!" Madi grabbed my hand quickly and tried to look directly at me, but he was still just staring past my head. I smiled and thanked him for the effort.

"I was gonna bring pineapple too, but then I remembered that you don't eat it on Sundays so I just put it in my fridge and I'll bring it to drama club tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay!"

"Great! And while I was in the store, I found these noise canceling headphones and I got them for you because I remembered you said you broke your other pair and needed to get some more." I smiled as I handed them to him.

"Thank you, Dahlia!" He yelled before putting them on. "I do think I like you now. You are very nice."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that!"

"Thank you for this, Dahlia. Seriously, thanks for inviting us here and for making us feel welcome." Jules smiled before giving me a hug.

"Oh, it's no problem at all. Billie and Bea are on their way with a few of my other friends right now and they mentioned having some stuff for Madison too. I feel bad cause I don't think any of us got you any gifts." I laughed.

"That's okay. The food will be more than enough for me!" She grinned.

"Speaking of, what other colors do you like your food to be, Madi? I'll start running out of yellow stuff to get you eventually." I giggled as I sat down across from him at the table.

***

"This is the most delicious guacamole I've ever had in my entire life," Julia mumbled before shoving another few tortilla chips into her mouth. "Me and Julia junior are really enjoying it."

"You mean Denny Junior." Denny rolled his eyes.

They decided not to find out the sex of the baby, but they probably should've because they keep arguing about it. Julia says she has a 'feeling' that it's a girl and Denny really thinks it's a boy.

"I'm seven months pregnant, Dahmer, do not argue with me, I will stomp you into the ground."

I snickered as he held his hands up in defense and slid away from her. "So, have you guys been thinking of names yet? Because I have, and I truly do believe you guys should name this child Bundy whether it's a girl or a boy." I grinned.

"Dahlia—"

"Or Gypsey Rose! Come on, that's a really cute name for real!" I pouted. I slapped Kit's thigh and sent her a look. "Agree with me."

"Nah, if I had a child I'd name it Chrysler. Mary Chrysler, actually." She smirked.

I sighed and shook my head at her.

"I think they should name it something so that its nickname can be Os." Billie chuckled.

"Like Oscar?" Denny raised a brow.

"Well, I was thinking about something more along the lines of osteoporosis, but I guess Oscar works too." She mumbled.

"You guys have to name it something iconic in case it gets famous," Kai said after taking a seat next to us. "Just don't name it anything basic like Robert or...Samantha or something."

"Again, I don't personally know anybody named Osteoporosis, so I think—"

"We'd rather go with Laryngitis, Billie. Then its nickname could be Larry. Like the lobster!" Denver smirked.

"No, no, Tuberculosis. I love that word!" Julia giggled.

***

"Oh, that's okay, baby." I smiled as I gently rubbed Billie's ankle. She'd slipped and fallen during an intense game of tag and she insisted on lying on one of the tables and having me rub it until it feels better.

After a while of just sitting around talking and letting our food digest, we all decided to start playing some games. We played Simon says, hide and seek, and then tag.

I think most of our friends have started up a game of fetch, but unfortunately, I'm missing out on that.

"I think I broke it." Billie whined.

"It's not even bruised, baby. You definitely didn't break it." I snickered. I looked over at Madi after feeling him tap on my shoulder.

"Billie is not good with pain." He told me.

"Oh, don't I know it." I rolled my eyes. "You know, we went on a trip to a cabin a few months ago and she got sick. It was miserable! She wouldn't even take her cold medicine or eat her soup without causing a big fuss!"

"That was stupid of her." He mumbled before smiling at her. "I should not call Billie stupid, probably."

"That's okay, buddy. I am pretty stupid sometimes." She sighed. "The medicine was really nasty, though!"

They started up a random conversation and I slowly excused myself after seeing that Jules was sitting alone. She didn't seem to be upset or anything, she was actually smiling as she watched everyone.

I sat down across from her and grinned, resting my face in the palm of my hand. "What's up?"

"I was really nervous about coming here today, but it was for no reason," She looked down, smiling shyly. "I mean, I knew you were nice and I know you said your friends were too, but this is such a big group of people and I just figured, you know, at least one person would be an absolute asshole. But everyone's just so nice. Everyone's treating Madi and me like we've been part of the group since forever."

"I've never had a big group of friends before. Other than Madi, I've never had a single real friend before. Everyone's either been judgmental as fuck or they've tried to be nice but they always end up treating us like we're different. Which we are, but you know..."

"I get it." I nodded.

"I was pretty much convinced that I'd never be able to make any other friends, especially not in high-school. And then you came along and I swear it's like you're magic or something." She chuckled. "Thank you so much, Dahlia. You don't know how much this means to me."

"It's no problem, Jules. You and Madi are really cool and I'm sorry other people couldn't see that. I'm glad we met too!" I smiled, reaching over to grab her hand. "So, how'd you two become friends?" I tilted my head. She sighed.

"Well, we're actually cousins! But we didn't really start hanging out until about two years ago, and now we live together. We've gotten really close...A year ago, I finally came out as trans and started wearing female clothing and everything and my parents kicked me out of the house. I always thought they would, so I saved as much as I could so that I could get a place of my own. I mean, I saved every penny I could from the moment I knew I was trans. I started saving when I was six. Birthday money, Christmas money, lunch money. I saved it all."

"Damn, you shouldn't have had to worry about that." I mumbled.

"Yeah," She agreed sadly. "But I ended up saving a couple thousand dollars. It wasn't really enough to buy a house, but it was a great start. Instead of trying to find something immediately, though, I asked my aunt if I could live with her. I'd been spending a lot of time with Madi by then and I was pretty close to her. She agreed to let me stay with them."

"She was really sick, though. She had cancer and I knew she wasn't gonna live for too much longer. Madi's dad is a total bigot, so I knew the second she passed away I'd be out on the street again. Madi too."

"What?" I asked quickly.

"Madi's dad is a terrible man," She shook her head. "He never loved Madison. He didn't like to call him his son because he's autistic. He was so terrible to Madi. He never hurt him physically, but he always called him names and he was just...Disgusting."

"Madi's mom is really the reason we're living in the house we're living in right now. She left every cent she had to Madi and she'd already invested in a small house for him. It's not that far away from here, probably about fifteen or twenty minutes, but it's very far away from Madi's dad. With her money and my money combined, we were able to afford to live in the house. It worked out pretty well too because Madi needed a caretaker. He's high functioning but he still needed help."

"Well, it was really nice of you to step in and help him. I'm sure it's not always easy." I squeezed her hand. She shrugged.

"I have a roof over my head because of him. A best friend too. It's the least I could do! He has his days, but...The good outweighs the bad. Always."

"Well, I'd love to help out with you guys whenever I can!" I told her. "If you ever wanna go somewhere and just chill and need someone to stay with him I'd be happy to do that. He's a cool guy to hang out with anyway!"

"You're a sweetheart, seriously." She chuckled. "Maybe one day I'll take you up on that offer."

"Good! And you guys are always welcome to come over and chill with me anytime. My family is kinda crazy, but we mean no harm." I snickered.

"We should swap addresses." She smiled. I nodded and pulled out my phone so that I could type hers into my notes.

I gasped once she finished telling me what her address was. "Dude, that's like..." I thought about it for a few moments before smirking. "Caden is gonna have a shit fit."

"The guy who asked if he could eat my sandwich?" She questioned. I nodded. "Why?" She tilted her head.

"We're about to be neighbors if all goes well. My brother and I are trying to move into the house right next to yours, and Caden is already worried that I'm gonna replace him and become best friends with my new neighbors instead. When he finds out about this he's gonna flip." I laughed.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll just offer to buy him a pizza or something."

I nodded quickly. "Yeah, that'll work. He likes anybody who buys him food."

***

"I know they're weird looking, but I really think you'd like them!" Billie whined as she tried to get Madison to try a taki.

He shook his head stubbornly. "I don't want to try it, Bilboa," He mocked before laughing loudly and clapping. I ran over to give him a high five when he held his hand up. "Ask again tomorrow and I will consider it."

She narrowed her eyes at him and pointed a taki at his face. "You're lying! You said you only try new foods on Sundays! Unless it's yellow and then you try it on Monday!"

"Yes, but I did not think you would remember that." He sighed. "D-Dahlia? Billie will not try my squash but she wants me to try her taki. It is not fair, is it?"

"No, it isn't." I sent her a look, crossing my arms over my chest. "If you want him to try a taki then you need to try his squash. Squash is good for you anyway!"

"I know, and that's why I don't wanna try it." She pouted. "Okay, how about this. How about you try the taki and instead of me trying the squash, I'll try some of your rice."

He shook his head quickly. "Billie is stupid if she thinks I'm stupid enough to fall for that. B-Billie knows—Billie you know what rice tastes like." He grinned.

"Fine," She groaned. She picked up his fork and got a small piece of squash. She slowly put it in her mouth and made a face as she chewed it. "This is disgusting!"

"It just tastes like cabbage to me." I shrugged.

"Alright, you try the taki now." She sighed as she gave it to him. He took a small bite, smiling almost immediately after he did. "Delicious!"

"I told you!" She whisper yelled, trying not to be too loud. "See, everyone should just listen to me all the time."

"I don't think so," He shook his head as he pointed up at a bird that was flying by. "You don't even like tomato soup. Nobody should ever listen to anybody who doesn't like tomato soup...But I would like another taki now, um, please."

She sighed as she handed him the whole bag. "Let those be your reminder that I'm right about everything, all the time, even though I don't like tomato soup." She grumbled.