The Boys

                                    

                                          



"Hey Pheebs, what's with the cart in the hall?," a voice questioned as the door creaked open.
"Luce, JB! You guys came at the perfect time!" Phoebe spoke excitedly, moving out of the doorway. "Get in here and meet Scarlett!"
Scarlett watched as two girls entered the room, looking at Phoebe like she was crazy. Scarlett thought it was a little funny how concerned they were with her enthusiasm.
"Scarlett? Who's Scarlett? I swear to God, Phoebe if you smuggled in another dog-," the shorter one stopped abruptly when she saw the girl sitting on what was an empty bed the last time she'd been here. 
"Stop it JB, I told you that was a one time thing. That's Scarlett." The blonde pointed at her, rolling her eyes. 
"O-oh. I'm sorry. I had no idea you were here." The shorter girl, who Scarlett assumed was JB, addressed her, feeling guilty for being totally unaware of her presence. 
"No, you're fine. It's not like it was announced that I moved in here." Scarlett watched as JB blushed, the embarrassment creeping up her cheeks. "As Phoebe already said, I'm Scarlett."
The other girl that came in spoke up with a giggle, "I guess that answers my question." The dark haired girl walked over to Phoebe's bed and sat down, looking over at Scarlett. "I'm Lucy."
"I'm Julien. Julien Baker, which is where JB comes from-"
"J, calm down. I think she gets it." Phoebe chuckled, nudging the brunette as she ended her ramble. "Come sit, we can hang out for a bit, and you guys can get to know Scarlett."
The two walked over to where Lucy was sitting, and while Julien sat down beside her, Phoebe threw herself on top of Lucy.
"So, you must have just moved in, right?" Green eyes peered over at Scarlett, soon joined Julien and Phoebe's.
"Yeah. My mom left me here this morning, and I've been setting up here for the last couple of hours," Scarlett answered.
"How are you liking it so far?" Julien asked.
"It's... okay I guess. Phoebe's definitely made it a whole lot better." Scarlett looked over at the blonde with a slight blush. 
"Well, I did basically reveal to her that I'm faking the whole "perfect Catholic girl" thing, and I'm thinking that took a weight off of her shoulders. She actually thought I was reading the Bible when she got here!" 
Lucy and Julien laughed, clutching onto each other as if it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard. 
"Hey! In my defense, this is a Catholic school, and she's Sister Edith's star student," Scarlett remarked in an attempt to defend herself. 
"Oh, you poor, sweet girl. While me and JB genuinely do love God, the stuff they teach here is utter bullshit that should not be listened to. You don't need to worry. We're all putting on an act in front of the staff," Lucy professed. "It's just the four of us living on the fifth floor, so we can be ourselves here."
Scarlett breathed a sigh of relief. "I really thought I'd have to pretend to be a pure and holy child around everyone."
"Yeah no. Only around the other girls, minus the gayotic group, and the staff," Phoebe laughed, absent-mindedly playing with Lucy's hand.
"Gayotic?" Scarlett choked.
"Oh yeah, you don't know them yet," Phoebe rolls her eyes at herself, "there's a group that we call gayotic here. They don't all identify as girls, though. It kills me to hear them get misgendered. There's Naomi, who's non-binary, Josette, and Katie, who both go by she/they pronouns. Oh, and they all love women." She giggles.
"Who doesn't?" Lucy quipped sarcastically. "But yeah, they're the only other people here that we actually like."
    "Oh." Scarlett swallowed, her face burning. "Good to know, I guess."
    "Their group, and us, pretty much all got sent here because we're queer. The Sisters of Mother Mary isn't 'labelled' a conversion therapy center, they do offer a sort of 'reforming away from sin'." Julien said, bristling.
    Phoebe and Lucy both nod, looking totally unbothered about the open discussion of being gay. 
    "Well, I guess you can add me to the list," Scarlett laughed awkwardly. 
    The room went silent.
    Then suddenly Phoebe spoke up. "Oh babe, we can tell. We just needed confirmation." 
    Everyone burst into laughter.
    "Wha- How? I don't look that gay, at least I don't think!" Scarlett sputtered in between laughs. 
    "You keep telling yourself that, princess!" Julien cackled.
    Once they'd all caught their breath again, Scarlett spoke up.
    "Shit, I'm so relieved, you don't even understand."
    "Seriously, you don't need to worry. We've got you now. All you have to do is follow our lead," Lucy smiled warmly. 
    "I think, maybe, just maybe, I might like it here a little bit more because of you guys."
    "Oh you sap, you've only known me for a couple of hours, and Luce and JB for even less. I guess someone's u-hauling up in this bitch. But seriously, I'm happy you feel comfortable now," Phoebe got up and sat beside Scarlett, putting her hand on her shoulder. "I have a really good feeling about you."
A/N-
Sorry guys! It's such a short chapter, but I'm getting closer to my final exams. I promise the next one will be longer, I just needed to get the introductions done. Thanks for reading, feel free to reach out with any feedback. ALSO this is my own twist on things, so things are a bit different than the real life people. Keep that in mind as you read <3