#she scared

"'Persistent,'" Bao scoffs. "You mean persuasive."

"And fun," R adds.

Gloria's eyes flick upward. "You forgot annoying."

R and Bao both frown. "Aw."

Bao laughs. "No way. I like dudes, Glory likes chicks—"

"I like girls. Women."

"Right. And R has bad taste."

"Yeah..." Gloria looks up as she stretches the word out in thought. She comes back down to earth with a flat, "That's true."

While Bao and Gloria seem amused with this assessment, R looks borderline offended. And lost; like this could be their first time hearing this.

"What the hell are you guys talking about? Bad taste?"

Bao and Glory both groan.

"Don't you start acting confused now," Bao says, face almost serious and voice almost warning.

"Selective memory," Glory remarks with a sigh.

"I'm not acting confused, I am confused."

"da Costa," Bao's voice is flat and both he and Glory stare at R hard enough for defensiveness to leak into their oblivious expression. "Name one relationship that ended normally for you. Just one."

"I don't..." R turns away from their looks, slowly, then all at once. "Whatever. Answer's no. That's never been an issue."

"And it's never gonna be an issue," Glory retorts. Bao sighs fondly and reaches to pat R's head, earning him a smack.

"Eh…" R thinks on it. "Teachers… I don't know… They all kind of love me, if I'm honest. You just gotta be on good behavior when you're in class and not skip every assignment." They smile and shrug. "As for students, I don't fuck with Heidi—that would be crazy. Or Clair. That bitch is crazy. At least Heidi doesn't, like… I dunno. Go on tirades."

"Oh man," Glory says, laughing. "I love a good Bristol moment. The girl is nuts. I would have voted for her if I'd known her speeches would be so entertaining."

R shuts their eyes like they're soaking in the scent of a good meal. "She single-handedly saves anything she speaks at, it's beautiful."

After a chuckle from Bao, Glory answers next.

"I guess I avoid the Avery twins. Not like I'm scared of them or whatever, but they talk a lot of shit. They're fuckin' spies." R hums in agreement. "And Killjoy creeps me out."

"Aw." R pouts. "Gilroy's cool! Is it the eyes? You guys are so unfair—"

"He's creepy. End of story." The two of them look to Bao.

"Oh, me?" He laughs. "I'm not scared of any of these bitches. What’s the worse they can do to me? Flunk me? Fight me?" He scoffs. "Whatever, they can bring it."

Gloria and R join his laughter.

"This is a man with zero concern for his reputation," R explains.

"Look, being a nobody at this school is a blessing. Not even a disguised one. Assholes don't bother you and if they do, so what? You already have nothing, so what is there to lose? You're scared of the Averys? Really??"

"I'm not scared of them!" Glory shouts, sounding like she's had to make this defense in the past. "I said I'm not scared of 'em!"