Gallagher Elementary
Tanya sat at her assigned desk as she jotted down notes of her advanced math class, attended by the few kids that were advanced enough in their math to study the lessons; it was best she kept taking notes, it help her refresh her mind of how mathematics worked and it also allowed her to keep track of where her math teacher was going with her lessons.
Not far to her left, of course, was Valerie a few desks over, while surprisingly, that girl with the red hat she now knows as Abigail Lincoln. The roll call from her math teacher allowed Tanya to put the name to the girl's face, rather than simply her KND code name. Abigail herself sat to the far right behind her.
Currently, Tanya was in the midst of writing some notes down for the upcoming test, as Miss Antoinette was showing the algebraic formula for solving the two sides of an isosceles triangle. "-and with side 'A' being 35, we can appropriately solve 'B' and 'C' by using-" before the teacher could go any further into her lesson, the bell rang, signaling it was now lunch time.
Most of the class celebrated as Tanya's teacher spoke aloud as everyone began gathering their things, "Remember class, we'll be touching on the Quadratic formula within a few months, so be sure to study your math lessons as best as you can, that is my only warning!" she hollered over the cacophony of children speaking amongst themselves.
Miss Antoinette of course earned a few 'Yes Ma'am' from amongst her students besides Tanya, earning a small smile from the teacher as everyone began milling out.
As Tanya exited the classroom with her binder under her arm, Valerie caught up with her to walk to their lockers together, "I don't understand how you keep acing these math quizzes! I mean, I get around a ninety seven to ninety eight percent score on mine, but you keep getting hundreds!" she conversed, expressing some jealousy towards Tanya.
Tanya offered her friend a shrug as she reached her locker, and began fiddling with her lock, along with Valerie her own a few lockers down, "It's repetition, Valerie, and it doesn't hurt to try to apply these lessons to real world situations too!" She offered her advice as she finally unlocked her locker, and opened it up with a harsh metallic creak before putting the binder under her arm inside the storage.
Reaching up to grab her lunch box her mother packed for her, Tanya took it out and held it in her hand as she slammed the locker closed, before looking at Valerie with a simple gaze, "Like for example, if the average distance between our houses equals 'X', what would be the other two distances between our respective houses and the school be for the arcade?" she asked with a small smirk.
Valerie, while she shut her locker and took out her own lunch box, looked at Tanya with surprise, "You, at the arcade!?" she cracked up laughing, and stopped to notice Tanya giving a straight look, "Oh…you're serious…" she remarked.
Tanya simply raised her brow at Valerie, before taking off towards the cafeteria, "It wouldn't hurt to unwind with a few mindless games." She offered her reason for going to the arcade.
Of course, she rarely went there, as her schedule was busy, but she did like to see if this world had any equivalent to Street Fighter and the many other popular genres of games that were in arcades before the popularity of arcades died out.
"But of course, that is if I have the time." Tanya added with an amused smirk at herself as Valerie caught up with her.
Valerie laughed a bit at Tanya, before speaking her mind more on the matter, "Sheesh, next thing you'll be saying, you collect and read comics!" she joked.
Tanya shook her head, "Not in the slightest." she answered her, earning a relieved look from Valerie. She did of course keep her eyes on any manga that made it over, some of it was familiar, but others were new to her.
Valerie palmed her chest, as she breathed a sigh of relief that her friend wasn't some complete nerd that collected comics, played video games, and collected cards of that new Battle monster craze that was competing with Yipper cards. "You almost had me worried Tanya, I thought I was friends with a nerd!"
Tanya sharpened her gaze at Valerie, "There is nothing wrong with having a hobby, Valerie, so long as it doesn't interfere with one's life. You have one don't you at least?" she probed back.
With a softened look, Valerie offered her friend an apologetic look, "Okay, you have me there, I'm just saying, most of the kids that play with those things, barely bathe, dress weird, and barely study their school lessons!" She explained while the two of them approached the cafeteria, where the majority of children were milling in to eat their lunch.
A cacophony of conversation between children took place inside the large room as Tanya and Valerie headed left instead of right where there was a line for children to get their school lunch, "Valerie, I look after myself. It would be uncouth and unprofessional to do any of those things…and besides, that generalization!" she chided her friend.
Valerie rolled her eyes at her friend as the two of them found a table to sit at, and sat down to begin eating their lunch from out of their lunchboxes, "Look, all I'm saying is the majority of boys I see that have the hobby of collecting cards and playing video games, many of them share those qualities!"
Tanya reluctantly agreed, a lot of children that collected cards wore the standard look over what an american films showed how a nerd looked, and the kids that played video games were often portrayed as delinquents and kids that didn't pay attention in school.
As Tanya opened her lunch box, she saw that her mother had packed her some schnitzel with potato salad, slices of rye bread and a whole apple. While Tanya began undoing the lids to her schnitzel and potato salad, she glanced up at Valerie who pulled out a bologna sandwich with a container of salad, "Well…what are your hobbies, then? Knitting? Sowing?" she probed.
While Tanya finished unpacking her lunch, and Valerie finished swallowing a bite of her sandwich, Valerie herself replied back to Tanya with a smirk, "Easy! I go bowling!" she palmed her chest with a prideful look, "You're looking at the junior champion of my team!"
With a lifted brow of curiosity, Tanya spoke with an amused tone, "Huh…never put to mind you were a bowler…" She remarked, before she began eating her lunch in earnest.
Just as Tanya was in the midst of eating her own lunch her mother packed for her, a large shadow overtook her and Valerie, making both of them looking up behind Tanya to see the school head Lunch Lady, Grandma Stuffem; the old lady smirked down at the two kids while she herself held a large vat of unknown cooked meat bits hanging off the side, it boiled and bubbles as she lifted a ladle out from it.
"Guten Abend, little Tanya, again, your silly mother has yet again packed you a small lunch!" Grandma stuffum tutted at her, while Tanya offered the old lunch lady a passive look as she swallowed a bite of her schnitzel. "Here, let grandma Stuffum fill that lunch of yours some more! I got Schweineleber hot and ready off the stove!" she preened while taking out a ladle of her cooked food.
"I assure you ma'am, my mother has packed me enough food." Tanya answered her with an earnest expression, only to be ignored by the woman as one of her henchman that was a sentient liver hop up onto the table and place down a plate for Grandma stuffum to dish out a big heap of her school lunch for Tanya to eat.
"Eat, eat children!" Grandma Stuffum encouraged with a smirk down at the two as she plopped down another heaping pile for Valerie to eat as well, and looked at them expectantly afterwards, "It's full of protein and fat, just enough to make you full and stuffed, just like grandma stuffum!"
While Valerie did her best to hold back her gag reflex at seeing a cooked liver in the pile that was in front of her, Tanya frowned as she poked her at her food, "hmm…mother said I shouldn't eat more than what she packed for me…" she mused, earning a frown from Grandma Stuffum, before smiling once more.
"No worries, Granny can always pack you the meals for a nice snack at home!" Grandma stuffum said as she snapped her fingers, and the plates instantly turned into tupperware with the food she gave girls to eat at home, "Say hi to your mom for me, little Tanya!" Grandma Stuffum cheerfully walked off, leaving the two alone for the day.
Once Grandma Stuffum was out of hearing range, Valerie breathed a sigh of relief as the head lunch lady focused her attention on the next group of children that came to school with packed lunches; no one was safe from her cooking, even if their parents packed them their lunches.
"Nice save, Tanya!" Valerie smiled appreciatively at her friend, who only looked back at her inquisitively.
"Save? What, you're not going to eat your portion as well?" Tanya questioned with a brow lifted, earning a weird look from her friend.
"Wait, you actually eat her slop." Valiere asked with a surprised look, only to earn back an annoyed look from Tanya.
With a pointed look, Tanya spoke back to her friend, "Grandma Stuffum's cooking isn't that much different from my mothers." she shrugged.
"Oh…oh yeah…I almost forgot your family is German…" Valerie remarked with a nervous laugh, nearly forgetting her friend's family origins.
Just as the two were about to get back to eating their lunch however, the yellow haired kid from Sector V stood atop one of the lunch tables with his fists in the air, "Fooood Fiiiiggghht!" he yelled, before the entire lunch room began throwing the school lunch food around.
"Oh great, again already!?" Valerie groused with an annoyed look, as she and Tanya observed the room devolve into a war of food being thrown around.
Tanya on the other hand let out an annoyed breath as she chowed down into her lunch, ignoring the ongoing food fight behind her; swallowing down a bite of her food, she spoke plainly, "I'd just ignore it if you can-" she was abruptly interrupted as a large pile of mashed potatoes was thrown at her, she quick reflexes had her quickly moving to the side to dodge the mess, "-help it…" Tanya sighed at the end of her sentence, while the food fight continued on.
The last thing she needed to do was get involved with throwing food around like a monkey, "ooh ooh aah aah!" Case in point, a few kids were making monkey sounds and hanging off the ceiling throwing down banana grenades that exploded into other children's faces.
It wasn't long before Grandma Stuffum crashed through her doorway to her kitchen, and pointed her ladle out at all the kids, "Come my legions, attack those trouble making kids!" she shouted in anger, before an army of food flooded out from the window of the kitchen, all of the food itself ran on legs and feet as they aimed to stuff themselves down the gullet of the children and make them too fat to raise any trouble.
"Kids next door, battle stations!" The bald headed leader of Sector V yelled, before everyone gathered up to begin the counter attack against grandma Stuffum.
As the chaos unfolded, Tanya shook her head and grabbed her lunch to take it outside, "Come on, Valerie, I believe there are a few picnic tables outside to eat at." she announced, getting a nod from her friend as she too packed her things to eat outside to avoid the chaos between Grandma Stuffum and the Kids Next Door.
Recess
The period of school where all the kids finished their lunch, and went outside to play was nothing short of…wild. Yes, that was the most applicable word Tanya wanted to use as she sat outside on the picnic bench with her friend Valerie; while the two of them opted the time there to use for study, most of the other kids spent their time doing other things.
Over on another table, well, tables that is, were groups of boys showing off their Yipper cards to doing card battles with them.
Out on the asphalt, the children used an automatic ball shooter to play extreme kickball, while on another end of the playground, the children played dodgeball…it was more…absurd than you'd think it would be; From the strength of the throws the kids used to doing practically breakdancing moves to kick the balls back at the other side, to children getting hit by those dodgeballs and getting sent flying across the ground several yards away, it was all normal as one got with outside activity.
Then you had the children that played in the jungle gym to hunt down treasure.
Tanya's eyes drifted up from her math paper to look in the direction of said Jungle Gym, the entire creation of bars and all concealed an actual jungle behind all the metal, and that was where the chocolate Volcano could be found, according to rumors.
Tanya looked back down at her work, and nodded to herself, most of it checked out before she stuffed it into her binder.
Looking back over where the basketball court was, of which plenty of children were doing some sort of barbaric fight over the salad oil reserves that was supposedly underneath the court, it was just short of amusing to see them fight over the rights to dig for the salad oil.
Supposedly, that salad oil is so pure, it could make a kid's bicycle faster for days when applied to the bike chain…she wasn't sure how salad oil came into being buried beneath the basketball court, but she has seen the stuff get dug up, only for the following day to have the entire court back to normal…while still possessing more salad oil beneath it.
That salad oil was also good for dressing one's salad, go figure of the obvious.
Tanya looked back over to her friend, and saw she finished her own math study, "So heard any rumors lately?" she asked, thinking to strike up some conversation beside school work with her friend.
As Valerie stuffed her own work into her own binder, and looked back at Tanya, and candidly smirked, "Oh sure!" she answered, while she relaxed into her seat. Valerie leaned over a bit to speak closer with friend while cupping her mouth, "There's this rumor going around that the Delightful Children will be throwing a party, and everyone's invited!" she answered, expressing excitement, "Just think of all the fancy food they will be serving!"
Tanya however thought otherwise about the rumor, Mister Benedict hadn't said anything about that…then again, she was just moved under his employ from her former boss Mister Fulbright, so the man might have something in mind for her while that little event goes on.
Tanya nodded for her friend, "Hm, that Delight Mansion does reflect wealth, so yes, I can imagine what sort of high society snacks those Delight Children on a daily basis."
With a more devious smirk, Valerie began whispering to Tanya conspiratically, "Another rumor I've heard is Muffy Jenkins beat Wallabee Beatles in dodgeball in Gym class!" she giggled a bit at the rumor she spilled to her friend.
"Who?" Tanya questioned, trying to put the name to a face, she had after all just started school, and she yet to pay to mind the names of every kid in school.
Before Valerie could explain further of who she was speaking about, said boy jumped out from the nearby bushes while earning both girls' attention as he yelled, "grrr, that's a lie! She just cheated!" He yelled out with anger in his eyes.
Both Tanya and Valerie looked in confusion, before Tanya glared at the boy, supposedly Wallabee Beatles himself, "Were you eaves dropping?" she asked, annoyed and a bit peeved…then again, that kid was part of that KND group, so she shouldn't be surprised they'd go far enough to listen in on her conversation through school time.
Really a waste of time, she did not work during these hours!
From out of the bushes emerged Abigail as well as she pulled Wallabee off with her, "Idiot, now our cover's blown!" She chastised her friend, dragging Wallabee off with her; shortly after, Tanya watched the leader of Sector V just walk off out from the bushes, shaking his head, followed shortly by the asian girl that skipped merrily out from the bushes.
From the corner of Tanya's eyes, she saw Valerie glare at the KND operatives leave, "Sheesh, that Nigel Uno and his friends, always stirring up trouble!" she griped, giving Tanya another name to the faces of Sector V. "They really should keep their noses out of other people's business." she added.
"Hmhm." Tanya hummed in agreement, before she looked back at Valerie, "Well, beside the fact we were listened in on, do you know if Muffy Jenkins will be running for Class President as well, beside Jimmy?" she asked, since the person in question came into the conversation.
She'd deal with those KND operatives later, if possible…if not more than likely given who she works for now.
Valerie looked back at Tanya, and nodded, "Yup, why, plan on seeing if she'll work under us, to lessen the competition?" she asked, a curious gaze swept across her features.
Tanya smirked, "Exactly! If possible, she might help win part of the popular vote if she's in our party." she answered.
Valerie cupped her chin, before nodding, "Yes, that would help. Afterall, she was the third grade president last year…" she mused.