Can you believe it?
I'm back!
And it's a Friday too.
Ever wonder what the problem with Fridays is? Like, it feels like a school or work day, but it also kinda doesn't? Cause most people would just want to get Friday over with so they could move on to Saturday and Sunday. Then Friday nights are the best cause you know there's no school or work tomorrow.
Ever get that?
Love it!
Means I can go visit Kaster's today!
Hi, I have a name, and I'm gonna bring you guys around in this really stupid place called Venti Highschool later today. No worries, it is a short day and will therefore be uneventful and unimportant. Later, I'll be taking y'all over to the Foster Home called Kaster's, where you'll meet my little buddy Chloe.
So, how about we start this day off right with a joke?
What kind of joke? You may ask.
Haha. So a horse gets elected as the leader, what is it called? The Mare-yer.
Get it? Like, Mayor?
Yeah? No? Really?
Whatever.
I woke up today feeling finer than ever. I wasted time the past two days, I need to get back to it. Hopefully, Candace is in school today.
Opening my eyes, I rolled off the bed with my blanket.
After going through my usual routine and putting on my school uniform, I stepped out of my room, greeting my family. "Good morning!"
My Mom instantly made her way to me, putting a hand against my forehead. She then told me, "Go take your temperature."
"I feel fine," I argued.
"Maybe you feel fine, but what if you're still sick?" She told me. "Go take your temperature, then we'll think about sending you to school."
So I did, and everything cleared up. It was just a random illness yesterday.
"Anything interesting happen in school yesterday?" I asked Fable at the dining table.
His hair was messy and he looked quite tired. He shrugged, looking at his phone. "Nothing, I guess? What? You expecting something to happen?"
"Nah, just wondering if anything would change if I didn't go to school," I shrugged. "Imagine if something happened and I missed it, you know?"
"You know, when you don't go to school, nothing happens," Fable stated bluntly. "When you are in school, things get weird."
"I'm not weird, you are."
He sighed, giving up. Dad was reading the morning paper as per usual. I glanced around, wondering just what it was that felt slightly different. My Mom rushed out of her room while I was still having breakfast.
"I'm heading to work early to get more work done," She told us. "---, will you be back for dinner tonight?"
"Maybe," I told her. "Depends."
"Well, you were sick yesterday, so I want you at home for dinner, okay?" She ordered. "Also, tell us where you'll be going after school."
"Kaster's."
She left soon after. I sat there, eating breakfast. Today… Friday…
It's been two weeks already? Really? I remember going to school two Fridays ago, then meeting Mr Popular at the cafe last week. Wait a minute, is it going to rain today? Is that the feeling I'm getting right now?
You know that feeling right before it's about to rain?
There's that electricity in the air, a stillness that just doesn't feel right. I glanced toward the window, the dark clouds already gathering. I got up, telling Fable, "Well, I better get going before it starts pouring too heavily."
"Just take the car then," Fable suggested.
"Nah, I'm just gonna get an umbrella," I told him. "You better keep one on you in case it rains on the way back. Who knows? Maybe you get to share an umbrella with your girlfriend."
"Yin," He told me. "Her name is Yin."
"I know, why?" I picked up an umbrella.
"You don't call people by their names too often, do you?" He sighed. "I don't think you've called Yin by name before."
"Nu-uh, pretty sure I have," I argued. "Maybe. I'm not sure."
I shoved the umbrella back into my bag before heading out. "Alright, heading out, folks! See you for dinner."
So yeah, today's gonna be a great day! I'm finally gonna have the time to see Chloe today!
I'm great. I feel great!
On the bus, it was once again, boring. Seriously, I usually just stare out the window while I sit on the bus. However, this time, I received a text from my dear friend Catherine. Didn't expect people to text me.
'You coming tomorrow?' Catherine sent me a text.
'Most likely. You missed me?' I sent a text back.
I put my phone away, thinking it would take Catherine some time to reply to my text message. Instead, I got an almost instant reply. She sent me a simple chain of messages that started with:
'No.'
'Just wondering.'
'It'll be boring by myself.'
So I sent back the only reasonable text I could think of on a bus. 'Love you too'
After a couple of seconds of no reply, I put my phone away. I don't really like texting, you can't really play around with words as much as compared to when you're speaking to someone in person. Besides, I don't have many friends to text.
While on the bus, the sky got darker and eventually started raining. It started off light but steadily got heavier as time passed. I just stared out the window as I watched the raindrops splatter against the window.
It hasn't been raining much during the day. Or at least, from what I could tell.
I really like the sound of rain.
Bus stops, I'm at the bus stop.
I opened the umbrella and started walking, my shoes getting wetter the more steps I took. While walking, I started hopping a little with every step, slowly making my way into school.
At the school gate, the teachers weren't there yet, so that's great.
Fast forward a little and I'm in class.
"Good morning!" I greeted them on my way in.
After getting no reply, I shrugged and went to my seat. On my way there, I said loudly to myself, "Yeah, got sick, great that y'all care."
"Someone came looking for you just now," Someone told me.
"Hm?" I faced the girl who talked.
The girl sat near where I sat, which was surprising cause I don't remember her face at all. I raised an eyebrow. "Boy or girl? Or in between? Or neither? Or attack helicopter?"
"Girl," She replied. "How can someone be an attack helicopter?"
"I don't know," I shrugged. "By choice?"
So someone's looking for me? I asked the girl, "So… is this girl part of Candace's gang or something? Or is she an alien?"
"Uh…"
"Ain't she Jonathan's girlfriend?" A guy chirped in.
"There's a Jonathan in our class?" I asked.
There was some silence. I glanced around before sighing. "You know what? I'm just gonna sit my ass down and wait for either that girl or our Homeroom teacher to call out to me, okay?"
Before I could even sit, someone said, "She's here."
I spun to face the door. Right, now I remember! She was that kinda short cute girl that had been staring at me before. I think. I may be wrong. Hell, if I'm wrong, this is gonna be awkward as heck.
"Hello~" I waved at her.
She made a gesture to approach her, so I did. When I got close, she said softly in a menacing tone, "I need to talk to you in private."
"You're not hitting on me, are you?" I joked. "Or are you planning to hit me?"
She rolled her eyes and started walking away. Like any good stranger, I followed the girl to a dark deserted area. That dark deserted area, in this case, is on the roof, which was not dark but quite deserted. The rain had stopped, though the clouds still looked dark.
"Huh, didn't know you could get up here," I commented when we reached the roof.
The girl spun and pointed at me, anger quite clear in her eyes. While I felt kinda bad cause I was kicking puddles around me. She said, "What's your deal, huh?"
"You asking about the hair, the eyes or my absence yesterday?" I countered, putting my hands up for the fun of it. "All sorts of people have been asking me all sorts of questions, you know?"
"What are you aiming for with Jonathan?" She demanded.
"Who?"
She gave me a look. "Black curly hair, round specs, kinda ripped but in a kind of lean way? Like, surprisingly ripped kind of way? Like, imagine lying down on those pecs kind of way."
I waved a hand in front of her, but the girl was obviously in her own world by now. As entertaining as this is, we do have class. I cleared my throat, making her snap out of it. She regained her composure and glared at me.
"He's been talking to you, what's up with that?" She demanded.
I feel like I know who she's talking about. Jonathan… Jonathan… Oh right! Yeah, that guy! I know him!
"We just talk," I stated. "What's special about that?"
"Um… someone talking to you?' She gave me a look like I was the weird one in this specific scenario. "Hello? No one talks to you except bullies, and my Jonathan ain't a bully."
She poked me in the arm lightly. "So what's up with the both of you talking?"
I laughed and shrugged. "Who knows? You should probably ask Jonathan, hm?"
The girl rolled her eyes. "Duh, I already asked him, but I need to know the truth. What are you planning in that stinky brain of yours?"
"Stinky?" I pretended to be offended.
She crossed her arms.
We made eye contact for a bit before I decided to say to her, "You know, you look really huggable. Like, really really huggable when you're mad."
She got slightly madder, but I put my hand forward, stopping her from charging at me. "Promise, I don't have anything planned for your dude. I can barely remember my classmate's name, why would I use them?"
I smirked at her. "Unless you want me to, of course."
"Don't you dare!" She shouted. "If you harm Jonathan in any way, I will stab out your left eye and force it down your throat. I'll pull out each fingernail and soak your hands in vinegar before removing each finger at the joint! You'll be starved and left to bleed out in the middle of town, do you understand?"
"What in the bloody Hell," Was the only thing I could comment on.
I poked her in the forehead gently, a smile on my face the entire time. "You might just be crazier than me~"
"Wh-" She started, but I interrupted her.
"Honestly, no plans to do anything with your boyfriend. Pinky promise. But after such a threat, I am just so tempted to do something, you know? Who knows? Maybe that kind of treatment might be interesting."
"You better not be after him as a love interest," She threatened.
"Ew, Nah, I don't care what kind of pecs you fantasise about," I waved her off. "I got a much bigger fish."
Before she could say anything else, I closed the distance between us with a step, asking her, "Hey, you wanna exchange phone numbers? We can be texting pals, even though I hate texting! I'll even keep you updated about what goes on in class with your boyfriend. You know, just in case."
She hesitated.
"C'mon, we can be the best of friends, can't we?" I laughed, slinging an arm over her shoulder. "We're not the same, but maybe I can ask about love sometimes, eh?"
She gave me a face.
"Not about your boyfriend, about my own love life," I added on.
Before she knew it, we had already exchanged phone numbers. When she finally snapped out of her light trance, I was at the door, waving her off. "Bye! Let's talk again, okay? Maybe next time with a little less murder."
"W-"
"BYEEEEE!"
Now that that's settled, time to move on with my day.
So, as expected, after my short leave from school, I was summoned by Mr Dohl to his office. Seriously, it's like I talk to this dude every time I go to school.
"Did you miss me?" I asked when I entered his office.
"Is there a reason for your absence yesterday?" Mr Dohl questioned.
"I felt sick for some reason," I replied honestly. "No idea why it only lasted a day though. My Mom spent some time thinking about how idiots can get sick. It was a really funny moment yesterday."
The second part was made up, but you get my drift.
"I called you here today about your attendance…" He said bluntly. "Your attendance is horrific, to say the least. At this rate, you might not even be allowed to graduate."
"Huh, tragedy," I joked.
"Please, this is serious," he sighed. "You miss a couple more days and you might end up repeating a year. With your record, even worse, expelled. You need to think things through before you're forced to make that decision."
"So what if I have to repeat? Oh, and expelled too. Asking for a friend."
"Then you have to find another way to get your certificate," He shrugged. "Although, there is this one school that might accept you next year even with your history."
"The school that burnt down earlier this year? Yeah, no thanks," I told him. "Rather not go to school with those freaks."
He gave me a look. He cleared his throat before continuing, "That school will be out of town as well, so you need to make sure you think through your options, okay? For now, let's focus on getting to the Finals. From now on, have a perfect attendance record and don't cause any trouble. No assault, no truancy and definitely change your hair."
"No," I said firmly. "To the hair part."
Mr Dohl let out a long sigh. He then threw his hands in the air. "Fine, I won't bug you anymore. Finals are just a couple of months away, so I guess there's no point in forcing you to do something."
Wait.
Wait a goddamn minute.
"This isn't how things are supposed to go, teach," I told him, leaning back in the chair. "You have a responsibility to uphold the school rules, not allow specific students to break them. Are you going soft on me?"
"Honestly, the school has been discussing these matters," Mr Dohl said to me. "The school management has been considering allowing students to dye their hair any colour they want. It isn't final yet, but it seems likely to happen."
He then raised an eyebrow in my direction. "That is what you want, right? To start a movement or something."
No. No no no.
"You just don't get it, teach," I chuckled. "I'm not here to start a movement at all!"
I grinned. "I'm here to be a warning!"
"Everything I think the school isn't doing right, I want to make it apparent, I want people to see me. I'm here to be a warning to the school. Too bad y'all haven't exactly seen what I want yet."
Mr Dohl sat there quietly.
"Did I say too much?" I asked him.
"No. I'm just… thinking things through," He looked away. "You're right, the school does have a few flaws."
"Many flaws."
"Right, many flaws. But one person can't change everything, you don't have to do all this just to get the school's attention," He insisted. "Write a letter, start a petition, get support normally, this is radical!"
I tapped my finger on my knee, waiting for what he said to sink into himself.
"Teach, did you know I was being bullied?" I asked him.
"Yes, you've been bullied recently, I remember," He confirmed.
"Not just recently, you know," I added. "All of Highschool. All of Middleschool. Basically my whole life, I've been bullied for a myriad of reasons. I've been observing. Observing how every school works."
"It's a popularity contest if you want to get anything done. Do you think the school will listen to one sad, bullied girl when they're flooded by letters from other students suggesting the dumbest shit? Start a petition? As a bullied kid? Why do you think I never bothered to try it before?"
"We're listening to you now," Mr Dohl stated.
"Yeah, cause I'm being-"
I gestured to myself. "This."
I stood up, giving him as warm of a smile as I can manage at that point in time. "Well, nice speaking to you today, Mr Dohl! Just so we're clear, we are pals, right?"
I pointed between us. "Nice catching up with you, but I gotta head to class real quick. After that death threat this morning, it didn't really leave us much time to chat, eh?"
"Death threat?"
"Byeeee!"
Big news at school people! Candace is once again absent, which is absolutely soul-crushing for me specifically. It's probably a great day for literally anyone else.
Instead of someone I have a restricting order against, I'm faced with her lackeys who were just discount Candace-s.
"Hey ladies," I greeted them.
You see, it was the break. They waited for most of our classmates to leave the classroom before approaching me. I was pushed against the wall. I had just stood up in order to go have a meal, but now I'm faced with this bullshit.
"I'm serious, when's Candace coming back? I miss her," I told them.
One of them pulled me close. "We aren't playing around, bitch. Tell us what you did to her or you're dead!"
"Second death threat I've gotten today," I sighed. "I must be getting a ton of love."
I was punched in the gut. I put up a hand in the direction of the girl who had punched me, wheezing a little. "Okay, timeout. I… ha… dang that hurts, you never gave me time to prepare!"
I caught my breath and continued talking. "So, as I was saying. Even if I tell y'all, y'all would just beat me up anyway."
"Tell us and we don't stab you to death," The girl grabbing onto my collar scowled.
"You're going to penetrate me?"
There was an awkward silence between the four of us. I looked around. "Really? No one wanted to laugh at that?"
I got punched again.
Oof.
"You guys seem to have the wrong impression of me," I told them, clutching my gut. "I'm not someone willing to do anything that would harm Candace physically."
"What. Did. You. Do?"
I poked the girl who was grabbing onto my collar on the cheek. "You, sweetie, passed the information to Candace. I'm assuming she went to the cafe alone?"
"What cafe?" One of the other girls asked.
"You didn't know?" I beamed. "So, I told her to tell Candace that Mr Popular Otto was at a specific Cafe, and she actually went."
I was shoved into the wall. I knocked my head a little, which made me a little tipsy. I started laughing, shaking my head. "I would make a sex joke, but it seems way too inappropriate after the last one."
"Get to the point!" She demanded.
"So she went there alone, yeah?" I continued the story. "Mr Popular was there alright."
I pointed at myself. "I was there with him."
"She's lying," One of the girls quickly added.
"Yeah, no way that guy would hang out with a loser like you," The middle girl scoffed.
I shrugged.
"She's obviously lying."
"No way, let's just beat her up."
I put my hand up before they could do that. "Wait a minute. Before y'all gang up on me, I gotta ask, have y'all met Candace's friend group?"
"What?" The middle girl asked.
"Yeah, when I was at the town fair the other day, I saw her with a different group of friends," I told them. "I think it was last Wednesday or something like that. If you look in the background of the video of us making out, you can see them, I think."
"Gotta know," I stared the middle girl dead in the eyes. "Are y'all aware of this? That she has more friends outside of… you know, you three? Who knows? She's probably closer to them than you three are."
I was slapped by the middle girl.
I put a hand over where I was slapped. "My god, y'all are treating me like I have a slapping fetish or something."
"You're lying!" The middle girl exclaimed.
"What? About the slapping fetish?" I raised an eyebrow. "Oh right, yeah, the friend thing."
I inhaled sharply for comedic purposes. "Yeaaaaah, not looking great for you guys. She even got this older boyfriend guy that is totally a walking red flag."
"Candace never told us about this," One of the girls whispered.
I don't know which one whispered, I just know someone said something. The middle girl shoved me aside and stormed off, soon followed by the other two. While they were walking away, I shouted after them, "Make sure to ask her about it, okay?"
Crisis safely averted, if you ask me.
Dear Candace, you've really never thought your social life through, have you?
My oh my, what fun.
Also, I'm in quite a bit of pain.
Like, quite a bit.
"Are you… okay?" A girl from my class asked me.
She was that girl I'd been asking questions to whenever I walk into class. Most notable for giving me Jonathan's name, which then led to me getting my first death threat of the day. I shook my head with a smile. "Do I look okay?"
"I guess not?" She returned, looking rather uncertain.
"Hi, I'm ---, what's your name?" I asked her.
"Quiara," She replied.
"How do you spell that?"
"Q-U-I-A-R-A."
"Your name starts with a 'Q' but it's pronounced like a 'K'?" I asked her further.
"Yeah, people get confused all the time," She forced a smile.
I shook her hand forcefully and walked off, telling her, "Well, thanks for the talk Quiara, I'll be off to get a sandwich now, if you don't mind."
She just nodded and watched me leave.
If there's swelling in my head, that's bad.
I touched the back of my head. Well, fuck me, aye? I just had to get myself hurt like this. Who knows how long this thing will last?
Dear Candace, I miss you~
I really miss you. I think about you so much, so so much. I want to see you in school, I want to see you vulnerable, I want to see you be you. I want to see you with everything stripped away.
Dear Candace, your friends are after you, and you ain't gonna love what comes next.
Talk your way out of this one, please do.
Ring the school bell! I'm out of this place!
Let me see, right. Since I don't have to stay behind to do anything, I think I'll hop by Kaster's and pay my little friend Chloe a visit.
She must have been so lonely without me.
On the bus, I saw someone sitting at the back of the bus with his shirt off. I don't suppose many people would complain about it. I mean, sick pack, what else needs to be said? He was just watching a video on his phone with headphones on. Good on him, I guess?
I don't know, just something weird I saw on the way to Kaster's.
At Kaster's.
"Hullo," I greeted the receptionist person. "Please tell me they haven't gone to sleep yet."
"It's not their scheduled time to sleep," He confirmed.
"Great!" I clapped, startling him. "I'm going to visit Chloe. Oh, and while you're at it, please inform the Director that I want to speak with her around their nap time."
I filled in the form and stuff. I'm on my way!
I politely knocked on the door before bursting in. I hugged Chloe, who seemed pretty excited to see me. That's nice.
"Do you miss me?" I asked her, laughing.
"Where were you?" She asked.
"I go to school, you know," I told her, guiding her to her bed where we sat. "And I heard that you've been going to school too?"
"Yeah! It's really different from my old school," She commented.
I nodded. "Well, I wanted to bring tapioca pudding today, but I kinda forgot, sorry about that."
"Will I see you less?" Chloe asked me.
I patted her cheeks. "I'll always be back, okay? The next time I'll come to visit will be… say… Sunday."
"Really?"
"Yeah! I'll bring ice cream, if it doesn't melt first," I told her.
Ain't she such a fun kid to be around? We just sat down and talked about what's been going on in our lives. I let Chloe do most of the talking since I knew that this might be the last normal conversation we might ever have.
Eventually, one of the caretakers poked her head in telling us, "It's lights-out."
I hugged Chloe one more time. I then kissed her on the cheek, telling her, "Stay strong, okay?"
"You don't make sense," She giggled.
I walked out, waving her goodbye. I then immediately headed toward the Director's office, where Ms Granger was. Upon entering the room, Ms Granger looked up at me. She asked me in a tired voice, "What is it you want to talk to me about?"
I stood there, making sure the door was closed first.
Silence.
When Ms Granger raised an eyebrow, I let out an exhale. "I'm here to ask you to help me out. I can't bring myself to break the news to Chloe, so I'm asking you as politely as I can to help break the news to her instead."
"I thought you wanted the responsibility?" Ms Granger questioned.
"Not anymore," I said bluntly.
"Why the sudden change of heart? What was it about how you would ease the information onto her?" Ms Granger said, a smirk showing on her face.
I clasped my hands behind my back. "Ms Granger, despite my smile, this is a serious matter, and I would greatly appreciate your help."
She set her glasses down. "You're not joking?"
"As you said, I'm not capable of telling Chloe these things," I admitted. "I will admit, I may have gotten a bit more attached to Chloe than intended. But could you blame me though? She's like the little sister I never had."
"Fine, I'll personally break the news to her."
There were a few more seconds of silence as I stood there, Ms Granger just standing there. I opened my mouth and closed it again. She sighed, "Is there anything else you want to discuss? Or is that it?"
"Don't put her up for adoption," I begged her. "Oh, and she has a family funeral to attend next Saturday."
"I'll see how it goes."
After that delightful conversation, I left Kaster's and headed straight back home. Today's been pretty decent all around, I guess?
I was waiting for the elevator with a dude dressed as military personnel. After balancing on the balls of my feet for a couple of seconds, I commented out loud, "Sure is taking a while, huh?"
He perked up and face me. "Not really?"
Get a joke, man.
"Whatcha doing here?" I asked.
"Going home to my Mom," He replied. "She's been getting old, I just hope she lasts long enough to see me be successful."
He scoffed. "I've been disappointing her ever since she picked me up, but I've been trying my best to patch things up with her. Family, am I right?"
"Absolutely right," I agreed.
We entered the elevator.
"Do schools usually end this late?" He asked.
"Nope," I replied. "I want to Kaster's. Do you know about it? It's that foster home a couple of stops down."
"I know of it," He nodded his head. "I used to be from Medea's Foster Home. So, you there to do volunteer work?"
"To visit someone."
Ding.
I stepped out. I turned around and told him, "I hope you enjoy your time with your mother. Family, am I right?"
He chuckled as the door closed.
Home sweet home.
Come home to the sound of jittery conversation. I know what's up. Fable's birthday is tomorrow, so they're going around desperately trying to plan out his birthday. Knowing this family, Fable probably knows about it.
I wonder if Yin got the invitation. She would make a great replacement.
"---, we're having the birthday celebration at home," My Mom told me. "Make sure to look your best, okay? There'll be guests."
I simply nodded and walked to my room.
I had dinner and slept early, gotta wake up really early tomorrow. I gotta meet with my best friend Catherine~