Page 77 of The Casualty of Us (Philosophies of the Heart Duet #1)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Last day of school. Last day of school.

Last day of school before going home and checking the PO box. Fuck.

I blink across the debate circle Mrs. Long set up for our final class today, all projects and tests already turned in for the semester and leaving us with nothing else to really do.

Only part of me checked in enough to keep up with what’s going on as Hayes brushes his knee casually against mine every so often from where he sits next to me.

Lisette is on my other side, and both of them are apparently feeling combative by how they’ve been picking fights with anyone who pushes back against them even a bit.

Probably in part because of Kyler’s continued presence in the class, which always has Hayes in a particularly foul mood and Lisette right there with him ever since Halloween.

Both of them highly suspicious of his presence out there and vocalizing the same assumptions that I came to before getting knocked out.

Kyler, who has been strangely absent from my little bubble of life since then.

Not unfriendly or rude, but just absent. As if he’s avoiding me.

Kyler shoots Lisette a smirk from across the circle, and Hayes’s knee gives a jerk against mine before he crosses his arms—the little tell from him disrupting my internal thoughts enough to have me tuning fully back in.

Finding the topic having turned to vaccinations and making my nose scrunch, wondering who in the hell made the leap between the ethical and economic implications of AI progression and that.

Regardless, though, apparently Lisette and Kyler have strong opinions on it because I quickly find the volume of the debate escalating.

“All scientific evidence points to vaccine reactions being exceedingly rare,” Kyler scoffs. “And I’d even take it a step further, I’d say the real threat actually comes from parents who choose not to vaccinate—”

“That’s not your call to make!” Lisette shouts angrily. “It’s not the government’s place to tell people what they can and cannot do with their children.”

“It is when it comes to the safety of said children and the general population.” Kyler smirks again before shrugging. “For example, driver’s licenses—we understand that cars pose a general risk to society, so therefore we regulate them.”

“That’s not the same.” Lisette shakes her head, immediately falling into a defensive stance and making me scowl. “That’s imposing regulations around an object—”

“Like food or drugs or any other thing that goes into the body, the same as a vaccination ,” Kyler emphasizes, voice turning a little mocking. “Vaccines have been effective for years, and I’m not sure why society is still fighting against something that should just be common sense.”

“Yes, but I’m not forcing you to buy the car I think is best for you or to eat dairy if you’re allergic to it!” Lisette snarks back loudly. “I’m saying it’s a matter of personal choice—of, of, liberty!”

She’s missing it. The opportunity.

It’s his ego that will get him. Kyler’s always thought he’s smarter than he actually is, and for a while he said enough pretty words that fourteen-year-old me briefly bought it.

He’s good at it even. Putting on a show. I’ve watched him do it for a whole semester now. The only time he falters is when our eyes have met around school lately, like he’s nervous. Scared, even.

A frown pulls at my lips as they both start to devolve further into what’s quickly turning into a nonsensical argument, and the words leave my mouth without thought really—some part of me having been waiting for exactly this. “Hey, Kyler, I have a question for you.”

Hayes’s leg presses against mine briefly with Lisette and Kyler’s voices dying out, his gaze immediately turning to me with that nervousness flashing through it before the ego overtakes and wins out.

“Of course,” Not really surprising me but still making me have to contain a roll of my eyes when he smirks. “What’s that, O?”

“Why is it that only like…” I sigh, frowning a little and looking down to count off a couple of fingers before blinking back up at him innocently. “Ten states allow for chemical castration?”

He blanches. “What?”

“And only then for the worst offenders?”

“I’m sorry?” He shakes his head in confusion. “What?”

“Do you think that’s something that should be implemented federally?” I press thoughtfully. “Or should we just jump straight to cutting it off and try to eliminate that type of behavior for good?”

“Wha—no” He shakes his head harder with a sharp scoff. “That’s ridiculous.”

“But why?” I frown harder. “All the statistics tell us that most sexually violent crimes are perpetrated by men, so…” His face falls as I let the word trail off, part of him probably starting to catch up now.

“If that’s what the evidence is telling us, then why not implement chemical castration as the standard of punishment for all sex offenders? ”

He pauses. “That’s a more complicated issue.”

“I’m sorry.” I let out a scoff of my own, going straight to that place I need inside of my head and letting the rest of the room fade away.

“You wanted to talk about protecting the children, Kyler, so I don’t see many things more threatening to a child than a pedophile or to a woman than a rapist.” He opens his mouth, but I break his own reasoning before tossing it back his way.

“Or are you saying bodily autonomy matters because the issue of forced vaccination would inevitably lead to adults one day too? That people should have a choice about what’s done to them?

What happens to their bodies?” Pausing purposefully, I drop my brows to feign confusion.

“I don’t think you can have it both ways, right?

You can’t say the bodily autonomy of the worst kind of criminal matters enough to not pump something into them against their will but not apply that same principle to the rest of society. ”

“It’s not the same.” He cracks, face showing the first real frustration I’ve seen from him this semester. “You’re twisting it.” A sudden breath leaves him. “Talking about putting something harmful into thousands of men who might’ve just been wrongfully—”

“No, no, no.” I let a giggle bubble past my lips while going straight for the attack.

“As much as I believe in the science of vaccines, you’re not going to ignore the fact that for the handful of people that have reactions, it has the potential to cause harm.

Therefore, we allow people to make the choice for themselves, just as most states that allow for chemical castration use it as a means of sentencing negotiations more so than a mandatory one. ”

“Fine,” he snaps. “I’ll concede that point for now, but—”

“Which means that we can objectively agree that forcing anyone to do something against their will is a violation of not only their bodily autonomy but also their basic human rights.” I pause, narrowing my eyes before truly throwing his own words back in his face.

“Because that should just be common sense, right?” Savoring it.

“To not impose my views on others because personal choice matters more than anything else in a free society.”

The silence holds between us then, him sitting there with surprise playing out across his face and eyes moving over me like he’s never seen me before while I finally give voice to the corner of my brain I’ve devoted to dealing with him.

“You know the truth at the end of the day is we argue our values, Kyler,” I sigh.

“Good or bad, and I’ve watched you argue yours for an entire semester now, but—” I immediately take a deep breath to truly begin the dismantlement and deliver on at least one promise for now.

“Ultimately your reasoning is flawed because it’s tied to a morality that you’ve never bothered to push outside of your own perspective enough to achieve objectivity.

” His face falls, and I lean forward. “ So sure you’re right. ”

A puff of laughter makes it through the haze enough to penetrate and forces me to fight the way my lips immediately want to lift.

“I understand that feeling, I do.” A scoff leaves me in place of the grin.

“I’m pretty sure it’s what I felt with my first breath, that sense of utter rightness.

” I cock my head at him, considering. “But I guess the difference between us is that I had Ollie forcing me to question myself with my next.”

Distracted enough to wonder, like always, what I might have looked like without my twin before I pull back from Hayes’s interruption to finish off Kyler’s fascination once and for all.

“Let me ask you something.” I pause, seeing the growing confusion on his face before posing softly. “What are women meant for in the world?”

“What?” he rebuts, immediately looking to the side where Mrs. Long is sitting and sighing like I’m a misbehaving child. “I don’t see the point. This is getting—”

“I’ll get there.” I hold up a hand her way without taking my eyes off him. “Now answer the question.”

“I’d like to see where this goes, Kyler,” Mrs. Long answers him carefully. “Finish us off for the semester, please.”

I wait until he reluctantly looks back at me to repeat, “What are women meant for?”

“That’s a subjective question.”

“Is it?” I mutter. “Huh.” Continuing without missing a beat, I toss back, “Then give me your subjective answer.”

Waiting one second, then two…giving him all the way up to five before figuring that’s enough and answering the glare he’s now leveling my way.

“My parents raised me on a lot of philosophy, always encouraging me to develop my own opinion about things,” I muse, anticipation rushing through me while finally going in for the kill.

“One of the concepts that struck me the most out of it all was something called the veil of ignorance.” The spark of recognition in his eyes has me lifting a surprised brow. “You’ve heard of it?”

A beat passes before he nods once. “I’ve heard of it.”