Barbie Boy Chapter 12: Keeping up Appearances Part 1

A/N: Okay actually I ended up keeping most of the chapter even though I promised myself I would write it fresh. Fuck. Well I still took Halle's interfering ass out of it, and switched her with Leanne. This is the last chapter I had originally had published up though, so from here on out everything will be new material, kay guys? And I'm going to start updating fast again because I have graduated and shit. It's my birthday on June the 27th so after I get over the hump of birthday fics (writing stories for MelMat and ShinigamiMailJeevas) I'll be updating this fic with a LOT of frequency.

I also updated the spoiler forum (linked on my profile) if you wanna spoil the fuck out of this storyline for yourself. It answers many quetions like who is gonna die, when I won't kill Leanne, if Mello's gonna get a sex change, ect...and the biggest question of them all, why is this an M-rated fic. But you need to make an account to read that because it's hidden to guest readers.

And I almost died last week. I was at UCLA turning in my final paper because I graduated on the 12th and a fucking plug shorted and caused an electrical fire right above my hand. I ALMOST GOT FUCKING ELECTROCUTED! But I'm okay. Got checked out at the doctors and all. I r gud. *hugs to all of you* Life is precious. Fuck, this happens when I'm past being suicidal and everything, damn. *cries* You'd think that when I like decided that I actually wanted to live, that life would give me a fucking break. But nuuuuu. Gotta scare me like that.

Also, thank you to those of you who reviewed and left your names but didn't sign in. I will look you up and send you proper response messages. Your reviews reached me and I was very happy to receive them.

September faded and with it, the autumn cycle began. The world around Goatwick Elementary school seemed to glitter in many shades of orange as the maple trees dusted the ground with golden leaves. October was soon gone as well, with Thanksgiving only two weeks away. Mrs. Jeevas was particularly happy to have Halloween behind her as the post-cleanup had taken more of her free time than was sane. Someone had egged the house and tee-peed the trees of her front lawn to the point that she was spending her afternoons installing a chain link fence with a heavy padlock. School days fell into a good rhythm while she took Benny and Matt to school and spent the day time teaching Claire how to be a self-sustainable mother, and while the younger woman was still unemployed, she was at the very least engaging in her own son's nutrition and health. Matt was just happy to have someone to play with after a long day at school, especially since Mrs. Keehl had made it her crusade to convince the other parents to keep their children far away from the Jeevas child. Matt didn't know why all of his classmates rejected his invitations to play and simply contented himself with having recess-only friends. For the redhead liked only play time and was easily bored with classes, especially Mondays, since those were the days Mr. Ruvie sent him to Ms. Holly's class. Ms. Holly was the school's speech instructor and Matt hated the way she made funny faces at him and expected him to copy her. It wasn't like it helped him to pronounce any better when he moved his lips and tongue to match hers. He talked funny no matter how hard he tried.

"Matt, please put your tongue behind the top ridge of your teeth,

"Wike dis?"

"Yes, now move your finger out of your mouth, please. Now say 'shark.'"

"Slock."

Ms. Holly's methods proved somewhat...ineffective.

Thus, the only time Matt truly felt happy while at school, were the moments he spent playing with Mello. Despite Leanne Keehl's efforts to ostracize the Jeevas boy, there wasn't really anything she could do to keep them apart during the supervised school recesses.

If Mrs. Keehl had spent more time watching her own son's behavior, she might have realized that Mello was having an internal crisis. His teacher was rather unhappy with his progression, particularly in writing. Ms. Kidder seemed displeased with nearly all of his assignments, and he couldn't figure out why. The little blond boy felt like the adults in his world were just picking on him and his teacher seemed to single him out for misbehavior. But all of this went unnoticed by Mello's mother until the day he came home with an alarming letter.

When Mello went home from school that day, he couldn't have foreseen how much trouble that one sheet of paper could cause. He just handed the enclosed letter to his mother and ran outside to play with Mikami, the neighbor boy. Mikami was weird but he had the best stories. And he promised Mello he'd show him something amazing about lizards.

Leanne took up the letter and read it while her children were outside. From the moment she perused its contents, a tempest of trouble swept through the Keehl household. The letter dredged up fears that she never truly voiced, even between herself and Jacob. She closed her eyes and willed the contents to change, but when she opened them it still read:

Dear Mr. or Mrs. Keehl,

It is my displeasure to inform you that your son Mello has displayed unsatisfactory behavior in the learning environment. Attached is a picture that Mello drew, and if you pay attention to the labeling, you'll notice how strange the caption is. Your son's behavior can only be described as abnormal and I suggest we hold a conference to decide how to deal with his condition. I believe it is in Mello's best interest if he were see a specialist, as these problems tend to worsen with time. Since he is young, I'm confident we can reverse the problem before it has any affect on Mello's social status and self-esteem. Please come see me on Monday Morning at 7:35.

Sincerely,

Emily Kidder

And while Ms. Kidder was unhappy with all of Mello's drawings, the particular enclosed picture was the one he drew of his wedding with Matt. Leanne didn't even bother reading the caption. All she could see was her Mello in a little white dress, hand in hand with the little red haired boy. She couldn't control her emotions as she slid down against the cabinets and let tears fall.

"It's just a phase! It's just a phase!" she screamed, balling up the picture in her hands and tossing it away from herself, "Mello won't be like Annie.

Flashes of a girl from her childhood, long dead, surfaced for the first time in years. Leanne hugged herself and the sadness soon replaced itself with anger. She wasn't allowed to think of Annie. Leanne came from a well-respected family. Her father was a politician and scandals weren't allowed, so when the her eldest sister, Annie had come out as being one of those deviants, it had been the shame on their entire family. Leanne shook her head and repeated to herself what her own parents had said. Her sister wasn't a lesbian. That's what Leanne's mother had said to the neighbors when they'd asked where Annie had gone to. They'd sent her off to a special church in the mountains, a retreat, to get deep in her faith. In reality, it was a place they'd been assured would fix the problem. But then one day Leanne's father had held a family meeting to say that Annie had run away and they were never to speak of her again. She was no longer a part of their family. That's the story that Leanne and Halle told themselves about their sister. It was best to think of things that way. The anomaly had escaped the world of the norm to live off in her own deviancy.

Leanne bit her lip, the memory of another letter invading her heart and mind like a knife cutting at all her will power.

Annie hadn't run away from the 'special retreat' their parents had sent her to. Annie had killed herself because no one accepted her for what she was. She'd sent a letter to Leanne and Halle...a suicide note. They knew the truth. They knew that it had never been a phase for Annie.

Leanne screamed. She couldn't go through that again. Mello couldn't be a second Annie. She couldn't handle that.

She'd never surrender her precious boy to the anomaly! She willed her anger into strength and summoned her child.

"Mello! What is the meaning of this picture. Don't tell me you've been seeing that redheaded boy at school? Baby, don't you remember the bad thing that he did to you?"

Misa stood by as Mello explained and cried under the icy glare of his mother. And while Mello cried so pitifully, she couldn't stop her own tears from flowing. Misa was completely overwhelmed by her little brother's distress. All she understood was that Mello wanted to play with the boy named Matt, and maybe that Mello liked him the way she liked Light. And if Mello felt like that, then her heart was breaking for him, because their mother was forbidding them from being together. The little blonde girl clutched at the blond boy's hand and held onto him possessively, hatred towards their mother building in her small chest. As it was, the adult blonde hounded the little boy and squeezed every last detail from him, reducing him to nothing more than a pile of sobs.

"Clean yourselves up and get in the car."

"Where are we going?"

"Misa, just shut up and get in the car!"

Everyone knew where the Jeevases lived, and in town where the gossip spread faster than a text message, she decided it was in the family's best interest if she confronted her enemies face on. She rushed Misa and Mello into the car and drove a ways away from the Jeevas residence, making sure to park her car an inconspicuous four blocks away lest anyone think she was actually visiting that redheaded woman and her son. Leanne wanted nothing more but to take a baseball bat and smash every window in on that house, but she kept herself poised and calm, bottling away her rage for a later time. She needed to make the current problem disappear before it spiraled into something socially damaging. After all, appearances mattered just as much now as they did when it was Annie in the limelight, and as a politician's grandson, Mello was not allowed to be involved in scandals. There could be no trace of a scandal anywhere.

Or Mello could disappear like Annie.

And she would never allow that. Never.

Gina was leaning on the porch as the Keehl children and their mother trekked up her driveway. She pulled out the cigarette that had been dangling between her teeth and frowned.

"Whatever you're here for, it had better start with 'I' and end with 'apologize'."

Leanne eyed the cigarette in the redhead's hand and resisted the urge to shove it in the other woman's eye. Instead she put her hands around Mello's and Misa's mouths before speaking. "We need to talk."

"Talk?" Gina's eyes widened, "You people in this town have been trying to turn my life to shit for months and you think I'm going to just open my door and invite you for tea? Get the hell off of my property, you pretentious little bitch."

Leanne stood her ground. She'd rushed to the Jeevas house on impulse, but now that she was there, she realized her only bargaining tool was something she wasn't keen on giving up. But she couldn't just leave after coming. She had to put an offer on the table or risk losing even more face.

"What if I said I could get people to stop harassing you?"

The redhead laughed, "You mean you'll convince your neighbors to stop glaring at me when I go to the market? I won't get my tires slashed anymore? No more graffiti on the veranda? That sort of thing?"

Leanne swallowed, "Well, I can't make any any promises but—"

Mrs. Jeevas raised her hand to stop the blonde from speaking. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Instead she turned around and opened the door, walking in without a word. When nobody followed her, she turned her head and spoke in a tone of resignation.

"Well are you going to just stand there or come in? Have those kids had dinner yet?"

Misa and Mello followed their mother into the Jeevas' house and closed the door behind them. Mello was kind of excited, because if he was going into Matt's house, then that meant he was going to see Matt! But the faces of his mommy and the redheaded lady were so scary that his small happiness died under the weight of the heavy atmosphere. He snuggled into his sister as they walked through the door.

Whatever the outcome of the day, Mello had a plan. If they insisted on keeping him and Matt separated because they were both boys, then Mello simply wouldn't be a boy anymore.

Flawless logic, for a six year old.

If only the execution was as simple.

A/N: OMFG it's ALMOST TIME FOR THE LIZARD STORY. *cries* Do you know what the lizard story is? It's when Mello does a very horrific thing because he is an innocent angel and wants to right his world in a way that the adults will be happy and that will allow him to be with Matt. *cries* It's so...*cries again*

And I seriously want to bitch slap Leanne right now. Fucking hell if only she wasn't needed until the end of the story! UUUUGH!