Chapter Text
Ponce de León, everyone's friend. A real man's man. There is not a single student in clone high who has anything negative to say about him, not even the sort of intruders Frida and Topher.
Ponce's birthday is approaching and the whole school is a buzz. He's actually pretty hard to get a hold of so it was quite the surprise for Frida and Topher when he approached them after class one day.
"Frida! Just the lady I was looking for"
"Hey man, what can I do for you?"
"Jack has been pretty down after the whole Cleo thing so I thought maybe I could commission you for a portrait of us to cheer him up, you know"
Frida flicks her wrist shooing the thought,
"Dude I'll do it no charge, just think of it as a birthday present"
"Really? Well alright then, thanks"
He turns on his heel,
"I'll call you later for the details then"
"Alright man"
Before he could fully leave though Topher sorts of yelps,
"Wait! If you aren't too busy could I talk to you about something?"
Ponce stops and looks back over his shoulder,
"Sure guy, what's up?"
Topher is a bit stunned he stopped at all really. When he snaps back to reality he closes the distance a bit,
"Sorry can we speak privately?"
Ponce gives an understanding nod, he's always been an accommodating person.
They split away from Frida and find an empty classroom to talk in.
"So what's up Topher?"
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
Topher takes a deep breath before digging through his bag and pulling out a history book.
"Juan Ponce de León, explorer and conquistador. He was ruthless and cruel with how he massacred the natives on his voyages to the Americas... Hell your clone father even sailed with mine! How are you able to be so... Happy? Likable? I don't know! You're just a good guy despite who you came from, I don't get it!"
Ponce let it sit for a moment before placing a hand on Topher's back,
"You just got to live for you. I know it's hard but you'll never be happy if you can't fully step out of those history books"
He then points to the book,
"You know that's trash, why don't we get you out of those pages with some good old fashion littering?"
Topher hugs the book to his chest as he happily nods. Ponce opens a window before they both start to tear the pages and throw it out, letting them rain down onto the campus.
Ponce is really the best.
Ponce really was the best.
Tears are in no short supply at his funeral.
It is a sad day at Clone High.
The mourning process is long, most students feel lost without his presence around, but no one was as lost as JFK. Ponce's presence was such a fundamental core of what made Clone High Clone High.
The only person who seemed to have not gotten the memo was Abe.
He had the gall to complain about JFK supposedly trying to still Cleo from him. Frida and Topher weren't going to stand for it,
"What is wrong with you?! Ponce fucking died! Of course JFK is actually sad!"
"Yeah man, they were best friends, you know that..."
Abe paused before throwing his hands up,
"I'm just saying why does he need to intrude on my relationship??"
Frida shakes her head,
"Dude, not cool. He's been having to lean on everyone, he even cried on Topher's shoulder! You're the only person in school who hasn't been supportive"
Topher nods along clearly backing Frida's statement.
Abe looks between them before accepting defeat,
"I've been a real ass..."
They don't hesitate to agree. He sighs,
"I know what I have to do."
And with that he leaves.
The school is cleared of the litter and the fresh start allows for the healing process to begin.
Ponce will never be forgotten by the students of Clone High, he changed all their lives for the better. The good always die young.