Chapter Text

Tuesday, 4th March, 2003

Clipboard Avenue - Arizona

We had just moved to Arizona from Colorado for the purpose of finding a better place to live. Where we were wasn't all too bad. We just didn't like the neighbourhood. After weeks of searching for a place to move, we found this house of decent size at a bargain in this area. Another week of paying, moving, and planning later, and we finally live here. The main issue with moving homes was that I was gonna have to be pulled out of the school I was in prior to coming here, luckily my parents were able to find a school nearby and not even ten minutes away from our new house. We took a trip down to that same school on an open season to see what it was about, and it was just the thing I needed. It was elementary, middle, and high all in one building, so we didn't have to waste time or money to bounce between different places. 

A majority of the teachers were actually very nice; for example, Miss Sasha, the homeroom teacher for kindergarten, who also taught art and literature. I helped her with grabbing something she couldn't reach. As a small sign of gratitude, she handed me a piece of candy and a letter saying she hopes I come here. However, there are some others who, despite being good at teaching the kids, didn't really have the patience to deal with some of the students. An example of one of these was Mr. Raldi - he was very generous to those who paid attention and even rewarded them if they were exceptionally great, but would have the tendency to snap at students if they didn't behave nor score well on work sheets and tests. We had a talk after the tour with the principal, named Miss Grace, about what would be best for me and if it would be okay to come here all the time. After seeing what they had to offer and all that stuff, my parents said they'd look into it. It didn't take too long to come to a decision, and the day after, we took up the offer to go to Paper School.

That was all two weeks ago. It was now March the 4th, and we were still waiting for a message back from them saying if they would accept me or not. Today was the day that the verdict would be made. At around midday that same day, I was drawing people when I heard the voice of my dad.

"Ray. Come downstairs, we have something to tell you!" I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was ecstatic. I knew immediately this could only mean one thing, so I dropped my pencil and excitedly rushed downstairs without any second thought.

"Coming!" I happily shouted down the stairwell while I zipped down it. I stopped in front of my mom, who was holding her phone just hovering by the side of her head. Her grip on it was so loose that it looked as if she was going to drop it.

"Raven, we have great news for you." She had a grin on her face that just radiated relief and joy. "I've just got off the phone with Principal Grace, she told me you've been accepted into Paper School."

I was overjoyed with this news and immediately jumped and squealed in excitement. It was an amazing environment to be in, so I was glad to hear I was staying there.

"However you won't be starting this week, they said, but next week." My dad mentioned, still happy with the news but not too pleased with the remark.

There was a looming feeling of disappointment above me, but it was being drowned out by pure happiness.

"It's okay, I can wait." I said with a smile stretching unreasonably wide across my face. My parents smiled back at me in content and with ease, relieved that they finally found a place I could flourish in.

"I'm happy that you're happy with this." My dad said back to me in response, his tone lifting a bit from my charismatic personality shining through. We spoke a bit more about some less important stuff before I ran back upstairs at the same speed I came tumbling down them, I then sat back on my chair and continued drawing. The day continued as normal with me drawing people based on vague memories of other people I've met. Drawings based on my friends from elementary, friends like Troy, Sydney, Alice. Now, I was stuck with the thought of going to a place where I would thrive for the next six or so years. This played in my brain for the rest of the week.

Monday, 10th March, 2003

The shrieking sounds of machinery forcing itself together as the bus came to a stop in front of my house rung in my ears for several seconds. The noise was annoying, but it didn't matter to me all that much. What mattered to me was my first impressions in this place. So long as you had a collar on, you could wear whatever you wanted. I opted for a black shirt shield by a beige shaded jumper. This jumper was graffitied by a word print saying, "SHINING STAR" with a star in the middle. Despite not being the ideal whether for it, I chose to wear a pair of grey pants with a slightly dark patch on my left leg - this was meant to represent a pocket. To top off my appearance, I chose to wear a hair clip fitted with a pink heart. I know it sounds weird considering my gender but it's not like it sticks out to anyone. If anything, it blends in with my red hair, so nobody really notices it.

The door to my home swung open as my mom pushed it forward. My dad followed behind me, walking towards it.

"Goodbye sweetie, see you later." Mom said with glee. She was clearly proud I was going somewhere I was happy with. Dad gently ruffled my hair. This was his way of saying either "I love you" or "You're doing good."

"See ya, I'll tell you anything interesting when I get home!" I answered back with the same energy. I gave them both a kiss on the cheek and waved goodbye before sprinting towards the bus. I entered the bus and took a seat at the back, away from the other students so I could simply grow accustomed to their presence; that and I was too shy to talk to them at the time. A loud hiss shook the doors closed, indicating to everyone we were ready to move. I leant my head against the window as the bus begins accelerating, losing myself in my own imagination. Thoughts began filling my head as I wondered what it was like actually going to Paper School, I was imagining it to be a great time.

At some point, the bus had again slowed to a complete standstill. That loud hiss came back to force the doors open, allowing for another passenger to board. In my peripherals, I could see someone walking down the aisle of half-empty seats, eventually stopping right next to me.

"Uhh- excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?" They hesitantly requested. I was going to ask if they wanted me to take another seat.

"Yeah, sure. Do you want me to move or..." but was cut off by them.

"Oh, no. I don't mind sitting next to you." They objected before inviting themselves to occupy the neighbouring seat to my left. "Oh, thank you." I said in an awkward tone. Despite not knowing who this person was yet, they seemed to act nicely to me.

"You must be the new student the teachers were talking about." They said, a slight grin slowly forming on their face.

"Mmhm, that would be me." I answered them, slowly warming up to them.

"Well, I'm sure we'll get along just fine." Their happiness was seeping into their voice as they said this. They clearly seemed excited to meet someone they felt would get along well with them.

"My name is Engel." They added on before extending their hand out to me, gesturing for a handshake.

"I'm fairly sure we would, Engel." I replied to him, smiling back at him as I did. "And I go by the name Raven." I then added on as I swung my hand over to his, gripped it, and satisfied his current needs by shaking it.

I took some time, at most a few seconds, to gaze at Engel's face. We both had a lot of the same facial features; same hair colour, similar paleness, and freckles located just below the eyes. The only difference I saw was that he had dirt-brown eyes instead of emerald-green, and he wore a red hat with feathers poking out the side.

"Well, Raven, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time here." Engel calmly assured me, hoping that I would be happy.

"I'm sure I will as well." I happily stated. Not knowing much about the place, I asked him a question "If you don't mind me asking, what should I expect coming here?"

Engel stuttered for a bit as if he's trying to pick his words carefully. I searched his face in concern, clearly seeing how nervous he was to talk.

"Look, if you're worried about revealing something dark about this place, I should probably mention I come from a place in Colorado where a missing person report is filed every other day." I noted to him, assuring him that I dont care what he had to say about the school. I do admit I had exaggerated slightly. While there was a missing person report filed frequently, it was actually once every week rather than every other day.

Engel begrudgingly sighed and spoke. "Okay, so there's a core subject teacher who we call Mr. Raldi and is, for the most part, quite a nice person when students listen to him." Engel was struggling to keep himself composed when talking about this teacher. It was clear he was scared of him.

"But..." He then added, leaning in closer and toning his voice down to a whisper, possibly fearing he would scare another kid on the bus who was perhaps unintentionally listening in on their conversation. "...he would have a test on his subjects at random points on the week. This wouldn't sound so bad, but if you don't answer all the questions correctly, he would beat you with a long wooden ruler he owns, slapping you for every question you missed or got wrong."

I felt shivers run down my spine after hearing this, but, like the foolish person I was, pretended I wasn't bothered by it at all.

"And that scares you so much, you wanted to hide it from me?" I jokingly chuckled to him. He didn't seem to take it too kindly, though.

"So you're telling me you have no problem with what he's doing?" Engel sternly asked me, his expression changing slightly from worry to seamingly mild irritation.

I became flustered, regretting what I said. "Wait, no, that's not what I meant. Of course, I see it as a problem. I just grew up in a dangerous place. As mentioned previously, I didn't see it as that big of an issue." I cringed just thinking about my dumb decision. I felt so embarrassed that I swung my whole body to face away from him. A few moments passed of me pondering on what Engel thought of me now before I felt a couple of light bumps to the shoulder.

"It's okay, Raven." He softly spoke in an attempt to comfort me. "Look, I didn't mean it like that when I asked if you didn't see Mr Raldi's actions as a problem." I turned over slowly to listen to him. "I just thought maybe you didn't care about what he was doing."

This made me feel a bit better, but I still felt stupid for a different reason. "Ah, sorry for the misunderstanding. I thought you were upset with what I said." I said, head still bowed in front of me in shame.

"Don't be." He replied, patting my back a couple of times. "To be honest, I should've worded that better."

The rest of the time on the bus was spent talking about the other teachers and students, believe me when I say there are many of them. We were so engrossed with each other's interests and feelings towards people, and, in general, we didn't realise that the time flew by until the bus skid to a stop once more.

"Okay, kids, last stop. Everybody off!" The driver yelled down the isle of half-occupied seats before once again opening the doors with a loud, ear-peircing hiss. Everyone got up pretty much in unison and walked out onto the parking lot to the side of the school.

"I hope I'm in a good chunk of your classes, Engel. You're really fun to talk to." I happily stated, clearly comfortable around his presence.

"I hope so too, Raven." He calmly replied with a smile, seemingly feeling the same way. "But for now, let's just enter the building." He then added as he gestured to the bus door. We then grabbed our bags and walked out.

Nothing too special happened on my first year there, which was 7th grade, so I'll just skip to next year. That's where my life really gets interesting...

-- END OF PILOT --

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Wednesday, January 5th, 2005

12:37 PM

It was lunchtime, almost the whole school was in the cafeteria. It has almost been a year since Alice had transferred over to Paper School, and it seemed she was enjoying it here, though it might just be because she was with me again. Speaking of which, she was beginning to take a liking to my other friends. Engel was pretty uncomfortable around her at first, but after some time he understood that she wasn't a complete psyco like I made her out of be the year before (I admit, in hindsight, it was really shitty on my part) and became confident enough to eventually befriend her. Lana was practically the same, except she's really weird when it came to meeting new people. Alice was the one who started a conversation with her and eventually came to a consensus between themselves and befriended each other that way.

"So how do ya think you're doin' on that test tomorrow, guys?" Lana eagerly questioned the three of us, wondering if we were confident in our current knowledge.

"Oh me? I'm not too worried about it." Engel boasted. He thought he'd pass with flying colours (Spoiler alert: he did because he was a smartass).

"I'm not so sure myself to be perfectly honest." I answered playfully but also half jokingly. "I've been falling behind on my studying to focus on my art project."

Miss Sasha, seeing how impressive my art skills were, had instructed me to build set pieces for a play her homeroom class will be performing. I've allocated so much time to it, I barely had any time to focus on other important things.

"Oh Raven, you think you're fallin' behind? I haven't studied at all this week, I'm so gonna get my ass beat tomorrow!" Lana nervously laughed to herself, me and Engel were in hysterics while Alice just sat there confused.

"Haha, well, I hope you make it out alive." I responded, still giggling to myself. Every month, she would get at least one question wrong on a test, which was more than enough for Mr. Raldi to go berserk as he believed in perfection. 

"Wait. If these tests are supposed to be random, how are you guys figuring out when they're happening?" Alice asked, intrigued by our predictions.

"Well, it's actually Raven who managed to work out the test dates." Lana happily explained. Alice then turned to me, expecting an explanation.

"It's actually quite simple how I figured it out." I confidently stated. "The tests may seem random, but there's actually a pattern to when the next one will show up. I found this out a week ago when I started trying to predict when the next one will be." I won't go over the process of how I figured out the pattern, nor will I attempt to explain it because that alone could write a book.

"So you remembered when every test happened so you could prepare for the next?" Alice was having trouble piecing this together, but seemed to understand what I was trying to say.

"Yeah, that's the basics of it." I answered.

"This kid has been blessed with some unmatched intelligence." Lana proudly commented, notably surprised by my observation.

"Definitely not as intelligent as me, though." Engel bragged, smirking as he did. I darted my eyes over to him.

"Oh I am so waiting for the day you eat your words." I playfully remarked, causing the rest of the table we were sitting on to giggle to themselves. He had been so bold about his high grades since I enrolled, it got annoying at times but, being his best friend at this point, I couldn't stay mad at him.

We continued to converse about things we cared about and cracked jokes over our food. We had such a good time that we didn't hear the bell signalling the end of lunch, we only processed it when we saw everyone leaving the cafeteria. We all followed suit and continued our day. Not much happened after that until the next day, when things would begin to get a bit interesting.

Thursday, January 6th, 2005

11:45 AM

It was the day of the test, our papers were being handed out by Mr. Raldi. It was a language test, so it seemed like it was gonna be a breeze for me as I'm bilingual.

"Good luck on the test, you're going to need it." Mr. Raldi said to the class reassuringly. I looked around, everyone but Engel and Katie were sweating buckets over the test. I picked up my writing pencil, pressed it against my paper and started answering the questions.

A majority of the fifteen questions were on French or Portuguese, que je peux parler couramment, and it was mostly just translation questions. However there were a few which started to make me feel a little nervous, one such example being "Write 'What would you like to do today, good friend?' as its pronunciation in Japanese.". I can do these kinds of questions, but that language was the one I was still trying to learn. I wrote down what I thought was the answer as, at the time, I was confused.

This test went on for the whole period, however I was able to finish it in half the time.

"And that's time." Announced Mr. Raldi, who ascended from his seat to collect the papers. Almost everyone was hesitant on handing them back, and I wouldn't necessarily blame them. We were all free to go afterwards.

12:28 PM

Almost all of our papers were graded. I took glances around the room, those that took the test with me looked like they've witnessed an attack. Some kids were called up to have 'talks' about the test, and came back with visible marks across their bodies.

"So how did you guys do?" Alice asked us.

"Good, hopefully." I answered with uncertainty. "I'm a little bit worried I got a couple wrong, but other than that I think I sailed through." I was just hoping I did get everything right, or it would have gotten a little messy from there.

"Do I have to say it?" Engel and Lana sarcastically groaned in unison.

"Fair enough." Alice responded coldly, clearly not taking too kindly to the sarcasm.

"I honestly think I did well, even if it was a bit unfair." She wasn't wrong about the test being unfair, some of the questions were quite extensive considering what were learning prior.

I raised my voice to express my opinion. "Yeah, that's valid. I'm just hoping I didn't screw up at al-"

Just then, my voice was cut off by the crackling of the speakers, an announcement for the next students was being made. Mr. Raldi's voice echoed down the microphone. "Um, announcement for class 8C. Could Raven Matthews and Lana Artifices please make their way over to room 136? Thank you."

The air went stale, my heart froze and every other organ felt as if they were being crushed. I frantically spun around the room and saw half the cafeteria looking in my general direction. I then darted over to Lana. Her sock-puppeted hands fiddled with her ponytail. Her face was also painted with distraught although it wasn't anywhere near the level of fear I was experiencing at the time. I shakily brung myself to my feet, Lana following suite, as we stumbled out of the cafeteria. I took one last look at Alice, who seemed rightfully concerned and scared.

"I'll be fine. This shouldn't take long, I hope." I assured her, but with a hint of doubt in mind. We walked through the doors to the cafeteria and navigated this maze of a school. Since Room 136 was only a few minutes away with the pace we were walking at, we had a chance to talk.

"So uhh, what do I expect going into this? How badly does it hurt?" I asked, my body still quivering as we continued walking. This was the first time I soiled a question on a test here, so naturally I never understood the pain that some had to go through. Lana side-eye'd me before answering in monotone.

"Stings real bad for a while, but you should just take the hits." This made my fear climb slowly but surely as we walked closer, seeing how near we are already. Room 145. I shifted my focus on where we were going.

"So what, you're ambushed upon entering the room?" I continued questioning her, and she replied the same way.

"'Course not. Y'a get the usual speel about working hard, he belittles you a bit, then y'a get beat to death. Not literally of course." My heart continued to pound harder and faster, every step I took made it harder for me to breathe.

"I think you should go first, just to get it outta the way." She broke the silence as we stopped in front of a door. Room 136. I silently nod as I gently opened the door and walked inside.

Mr. Raldi, upon hearing the door open, flung his head upright to see me. The door shut behind me with a soft click. I slowly turn my own head to meet his gaze.

"Ahh, I've been expecting you. Please have a seat." He beckoned me over to a seat, positioned in front of his desk.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Bal- uh, Raldi." I stuttered as I sat down in the seat, maintaining eye contact while doing so.

"You said you needed me for something?" I asked, playing dumb. Mr. Raldi set down a sheet of paper on his desk, faced down.

"As a matter of fact, I did." He answered, aggressive enough to sound serious, but it's so subtle that he sounds unfazed. He took a sip of water from his mug before finally explaining himself.

"Remember when you visited during open season years ago, I said you'd be perfect for this school?" He calmly asked. I satisfied the question with a shy nod. I was a blur in my head at that time so I simply believed him.

"Well." He continued. "I meant it, and for a while, I was proven correct. You excelled in every class I taught you in. Even when faced with a challenge, you still persevered and triumphed over the perplexing problems." He paused for a moment, set down his mug on the desk and placed his hands on the sheet of paper.

"That was up until today." His voice started to become progressively stern as he finally turned over the paper and pushed it in my direction, the paper gliding smoothly across the wooden desk. I pick up the paper and quickly begin skimming over it.

It was today's language pop quiz.

Thankfully, the question I was most worried about was answered correctly. But, equally as annoying, the questions I got wrong were a couple simple questions that I lost because of small pronunciation and spelling mistakes.

"I don't understand." I pondered out loud. "I thought I'd got them all correct, what went wrong." I knew I'd probably answered some of them incorrectly, but it was all small mistakes that accumulated into something that had finally gained my attention.

-2

I folded the paper in half, written side inside, before averting my gaze back to Mr. Raldi, meeting his head on.

"I understand your dedication to helping other people with their work and I appreciate it as much as they do." He began speaking again, becoming increasingly agitated as his left hand began to twitch.

"But." He continued. "It's costing you your grades. Your aid will always be repaid in gratitude, but your education is not worth selling for something this insignificant." Mr. Raldi reached for his 12 inch wooden ruler, sliding it off his desk and catching it before it hit the ground. My throat began to feel dry, the tension in the desolate classroom punched holes in my lungs and tied my digestive track into various knots.

"Well there's always room for improvement, isn't there?" I stuttered. "I'll make sure this doesn't happen again." It felt like I was trying to plead with him, but he wasn't backing down. He rose from his chair and walked away from it, slowly striding closer to me.

"Oh of course you won't." He paused right in front of me, casting a shadow that loomed over me intimidatingly. Without warning, he swung his ruler over to his right hand, catching it as it made an ear-peircing crack that filled the room. "But not before I teach you a little lesson."

I rose to my feet on instinct, getting ready to bolt to the door, but based on what Lana said before we got here I didn't wanna test what would happen if I did.

"Wait, there has to be a better way to deal with this." I shakily begged, my breathing becoming just as unstable as my thought process at the time as I steadily coasted myself backwards.

"All mistakes have consequences, Raven." Mr. Raldi boomed, his face had scrunched itself into an unfiltered expression of rage. "And that's two mistakes you have made. So that means two strikes." I had my back up against the wall at that point. I had no other choice than to accept my fate, so I plucked up the courage to step forward.

"Just do it, make it quick." I egged him on, squinting my eyes and outstretching my left wrist in his direction, palm-side up. In an instant, my arm was grabbed and yanked so hard I felt wrist shift a few places. He pulled me close to him, my face almost pressed up against his.

"Oh it will be quick." He growled, grabbing the back of my neck and pinning me against a nearby desk that wasn't his own. I grappled to the sides of the desk out of fear despite knowing it wouldn't do anything.

"I shall begin the count now." He hissed, pulling the legs of my bleach white jeans up to my knees. I realised where he was planning on striking first and braced for impact. He then lifted his ruler above his head as if holding a baseball bat and, with all the strength he had, swung it with full force at the back of my legs.

"Strike 1"

The pain was immediate and explosive. My legs began to numb as I writhed in agony. The subsequent scream I had created was so loud, it rung back and forth and could be heard by passerbyers in the corridor. My mind was racing in all different directions as a throbbing, stinging sensation had found its way to my legs. I was violently hoisted to my feet and spun around one hundred and eighty degrees to face Mr. Raldi, who's face expressed pure fury. He had me tight in a fake chokehold as he winded up his next swing.

"Please, no mo-" I tried to reason with him, but was cut off from doing so as he swung his ruler at me again, this time aiming for the left side of my face.

"Strike 2"

I winced in agony. My face immediately went red from the impact. I felt like i had been freed from a tourture chamber when Mr. Raldi finally let me go, allowing me to falter to my knees. I was on the verge of tears, grasping the left half of my face with one hand. He stepped away from me gradually to let me rise to my feet. I couldn't bring myself to do so for a while, it hurt too much to stand. My calfs were scorched in the onslaught of nerve signals cosplaying as stab wounds. I felt as though one wrong move would break both my legs.

"And that concludes today's lesson." Mr. Raldi finally broke the silence once again, now having calmed down. "Remember this and take it to heart, neither of us would like to be in this situation again."

I finally braved the pain just enough to steadily hold myself high, and eventually bring myself to my feet. My vision was still disoriented and my face had begun to bruise. I silently noded to his previous statement and drag myself out of the classroom, barely managing to fight through the pain.

I swung the door open and stumbled through, letting it gleefully pivot around it's hinges as it closed itself.

"I fucking hated it." I said to Lana, brushing past her. I caught a glimpse of her reaching out for me, but then retracting, recognising that I needed space. I was limping all the way back to the cafeteria, fighting the urge to ball up and cry. When I finally made it back to the cafeteria, the agony was having a massive disagreement with shame. Pushing the double doors aside, I continued to stagger my way over to the table I'd usually sit at. Engel and Alice noticed me return and burned stares of concern into me. I slumped into my seat right next to Alice and cupped my face in my hands.

"Hey, you good?" Engel asked, noticing the damage visible on my face.

"Yeah, I good." I answered, barely able to hold a straight face.

"Raven, are you sure you're okay?" Alice followed up with another question, resting her hand on my shoulder. I was struggling to hold myself together.

"It's fine." I answered, tears now streaming down my face. I couldn't hold myself together anymore, the pain was just too unbearable.

"It hurt like hell though." I sobbed, the pain causing me to breaking down. I leant into Alice and hugging her tight while I cried into her chest. Engel got up from his seat and moved over to me, wrapping me in a comforting embrace. I pulled him closer by the straps of his dungarees, sandwiching him between me and Alice.

"You are a smart kid. You know that, right?" Engel said softly, brushing his hand over my heart-shaped hairclip. "You're lucky you won't have to endure this very often. You've gone two years, holding your head up high while you breathe in the knowledge like oxygen."

My eyes lifted to meet his gaze. I took into consideration what he had said, this was only my first time being mistreated like this.

"You've gone two whole years without this happening to you, if anything you should be proud." Engel added. I simply smiled weakly back at him.

I then turned my head over to Alice, who seemed to be worried about what Mr. Raldi was doing. Her eyes were narrowed and her breathing was frantic. I gently push her tiara back, readjusting it and halting it from sliding off her head.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." I reassured her, tears still streaming down my face. "This is only the first time. Who's to say it won't be my last?"

Alice simply squeezed me tighter, taking all her fear out on me.

"I'm scared." She stuttered, still trying to come to terms with it all. "What if I'm next? What if he plans to kill us?" She started to shake, scratching my back as her hands scribbled jagged shaped into it. Even Engel seemed to grow agitated.

"I don't wanna go back to that. I don't wanna go back to living in fear knowing today may be my last. I-" She stopped talking and shaking. Alice was clearly struggling to speak, she didn't like what she wanted to say next. She squeezed me even tighter, digging her nails into me hard enough to draw some small yet noticeable amounts of blood. This was her way of showing genuine worry for me, so even I was beginning to dread what she had to say.

"I don't wanna lose you again."

The cat had finally let go of her tounge. She began to cry with me after saying that. I clawed her hands out of my back and stared her in the face.

"Alice, listen to me." I spoke passionately and in a soft tone. "I am not going to let you get hurt. This isn't Colorado, we don't have to act like we're preparing for war." I continued talking, assuring Alice that she would be perfectly fine so long as she was with me. "While I do admit having a teacher who takes pride in beating their kids is quite troublesome, it's nowhere near as bad as having to pray you're not someone's full course meal."

Alice began to brighten up, tears still flowing like rivers. Mine had completely stopped by that point. She gave a silent nod of acknowledgement, gently pulling me away from her embrace. We both looked over at Engel, who looked like he had just read a horror novel.

"It was that bad, huh." He stuttered. He started to feel bad for us. Knowing what we endured when we were younger, he pulled us in for yet another hug.

"Yep. Don't worry, we're fine now." I said calmly, letting him know I was at ease. Alice noded in time with the end of my sentence.

This continued until the end of lunch when, like a jack-in-the-box that had just been set off, the bells rung loudly. All three of us pulled away from each other and started to make our way over to our lockers. Mine and Engel's were right next to each other, so we both walked the same way. Alice's locker was just around the corner from ours, so her walk was slightly longer. On the way, we heard yelling coming from the middle of one of the crossroads. Intrigued, we followed the sounds to get a better listen.

"P-Please.. stop, why are you guys so.. m-mean to me?" A shaky voice began to make themselves clear as we got closer.

"What, you want us to leaf you alone?" Another, easily recognisable voice responded smugly, causing an eruption of giggles from other students.

"Oh no, Katie's terrorising the other students again." Engel groaned. Katie was known for being annoying, but I don't think I've ever caught her bullying before that point.

"Let's go and help them." I replied energetically, speeding up in the direction of the commotion.

"C'mon, let him be. He wasn't hurtin' y'a so whats the big idea?" Lana yelled, not taking too kindly to the comments. When we finally got close enough to see and hear everything, it was anything but pleasant. Katie and another student were picking on someone, all while Lana was trying to defend the poor kid.

"Oliver. What the fuck is wrong with you?" I screamed furiously. I got a closer look at the victim. They had quite an unusual deformity, having an apple stem growing out the top of their head. Other than that, they looked like any other student here, aside from the fact their hair was a solid red color.

"Bullying your fellow peers? Didn't think you could be that much of a dick." I growled at Katie, not liking her attitude towards this kid.

"Woah there, didn't think your rage could stem from his issues." She cackled out loud. The other kid giggled in unison with her.

"And what are you laughing at, dinosaur?" Lana angrily scoffed at the kid behind Katie. The kid was quick to giggle, clearly thinking of something funny to her.

"Oh nothing, just amazed at how quickly we can make this apple crumble." They cackled, unable to contain themselves as they delivered the stinger. Katie rased her hand up at them, gesturing for a high five.

"Heh. Nice one, Zip." She said smugly. Zip, who this kid was apparently called, accepted the high five, connecting with a loud smack that pierced everyone's ears.

"C-COULD YOU BOTH PLEASE SH-SHUT UP?!" The kid screamed at the top of his lungs before collapsing into the fetal position and started crying. Lana was pissed off now. She felt the urge to punch them both square in the face, but stopped herself knowing it would only draw her more attention. Instead, without saying another word, she picked the kid up, hoisting him over her shoulder, and walked off.

Engel and Alice were distraught, hands cupping their mouths as their eyes widened. I was at my limit with Katie, and Zip wasn't helping the situation at all.

"What the fuck was that for Oliver? The pranks you pulled were problematic enough, this is too far." I hissed at Katie, feeling betrayed. I should've seen this coming from how she was acting prior, but it still hurt too see it.

"Like you're any different, clumsy." Zip angrily commented, seemingly bitter from just looking at me. "You walked right into me and expected an apology."

She had hit a nerve now. I gritted my teeth. Suddenly, I don't feel sorry for your loathsome ass. I took one more look at her before matching her appearance with a memory. This was the same girl I had knocked over last year, the same girl that I was millimeters away from commenting on based on appearance alone.

"Well it was genuine. But seeing as you still hate me for it, I guess I'll have to take it back." I growled through my constricted jaw, my blood now beginning to boil. My hand itched, I wanted to curl it into a ball and knock her jaw a few places to the right.

"As if I would take an apology from you anyway, twink!" Zip teased enjoying how I was reacting. Katie saw what my hands were doing and tried to stop her.

"Okay Zip, I think we've had enough with him." She said, starting to sound a little worried. Zip noticed me preparing for a fight and shut her down almost instantly.

"Oh don't worry, Katie. If he wants to throw hands, I don't mind getting a little dirty." She giggled, egging me on. Sadly, I was falling for the trap of retaliation. If she really wants to fight, I'll humble her in no time.

Out of nowhere, however, a hand grabbed mine the second I took a step towards Zip. I frantically shook my head to see who it was, and caught Alice staring me down.

"Don't hurt yourself, Raven. I'll deal with her." She hissed in monotone before yanking me backwards, almost stumbling and would've lost my footing if Engel didn't catch me. Alice strolled over to the troublesome pair, every step filling the hallways with a sense of dread. She halted in front of Zip specially, pushing Katie to the side.

"Leave him alone." Those were the only three words that left her mouth, spoken with no emotion whatsoever. They both just laughed at her, not taking her seriously at all.

"Or what, princess? I'm so afraid of what you'll do to me." Zip mocked sarcastically.

Oh you will be once I'm done with you.

Alice didn't say a word, all she did was pull on the thin string on her necklace. She brought it up for all to see, exposing it's pattern.

...₳...

I saw the necklace and my heart skipped a beat. That was the same pendant her mother was wearing before she went missing. It didn't take him long to piece together the string of events that would follow.

Is she gonna use her powers to scare them?

Before another thought could cross my mind, it was all happening. Alice's arms fell limp by her sides as she relaxed, giving a stare that burned through their retinas. Soon enough, the smug smiles on their faces were wiped away as they saw what was happening to her. Alice's body began to stretch out, slowly but noticeably getting bigger by the second. Her skin was darkening, writhing tentacles bursting out of her back, and her sclera fading to a solid red. By the time she was done, she was the same height as the corridor was tall, her body was so dark, all of her features where shrouded in shadow. What stood before me was the pure incarnation of malice. I should've been scared, but instead I was awestruck. This wasn't the first time I've seen this, but I've never witnessed Alice pull it off before.

I turn my head over to Engel, who, unsurprisingly, started hyperventilating from the amount of fear he was experiencing. I then looked over at Zip and Katie, and was met with a surprise. Zip was shaking, her eyes narrowed to mere dots, no doubt scared shitless for her life. Katie, on the other hand, was... blushing? Her mouth was agape from shock, but she seemed to enjoy the view.

Zip immediately gestured to Katie that they had to go.

"On second thought, nevermind. Well try this again at a later date." Zip stuttered, tugging on Katie's arm.

"Uhh, see ya later I guess." She said timidly, crumbling in her own embarrassment. They both wasted no time running in the opposite direction of where we were. That would be the last we would hear from them all week.

I was barely able to hold back my laughter, only letting it out once I was sure they were to far to her me. Alice chuckled along side me, her voice split and warped.

"Wow, that was a show and a half." I cackled, still in hysterics. It amazed me that by simply existing, someone could be scared of you.

"They really did piss themselves. God, I love this power." She said, still savouring the feeling of scaring someone like this. She walked towards me to set up a high five, but Engel instinctively backed up as she approached. I almost immediately snap my head around to look at him.

"Oh, come on Engel. She won't bite." I assured him, beckoning him closer. Alice turns to him too, shaping her face into something as innocent as possible in the form she was in. He was hesitant, but Engel slowly stepped forward to face her. She put her hand out to us, signalling the high five and I smack the hand with as much force as I could muster. She turns the hand over to Engel, expecting him to do the same. His motion was more jittery than mine, but he still made a clean connection. Alice gave herself room to relax, before transforming back into her usual self. Colour returned to her and now her face looked normal. The tentacles on her back had retracted and she was the same height as before.

"I see you were trusted with that pendant." I said, now becoming interested in when she got her necklace.

"Yep, and annoyingly it was days after you left Colorado." Alice responded gleefully, still impressed with herself for scaring two troublesome kids away. Suddenly, Engel intervened, still trying to process what was going on.

"I'm very sorry, but are we really just gonna pretend this never happened? Are we gonna just ignore who she really is?" He yelled, trying to come to terms with the fact that his best friend was a monster. He couldn't look at her the same way again, almost completely distrusting her.

"Oh I knew this before she came here." I calmly responded, trying to calm him down. "And it's completely fine, she's still our friend so it's not like she'll just kill you." Engel's breathing progressively slowed the more I assured him, the distrust lifting only slightly from him.

"Okay, I'm taking your word for it. If I die anyway, it's your fault." Engel stuttered, still feeling uneasy around Alice. She reaches out to shake his hand, her expression changing to display seriousness.

"What Raven said. I don't kill for the fun of it, so you have nothing to worry about." She also assured Engel. If it's coming out of her mouth, it's probably fine. He hesitently shook Alice's hand, returning a weak smile. He had finally calmed down enough to continue the day.

Out of nowhere, the second bell for class rang and we all panicked.

Fuck, we're late for class.

We wasted no time booking it to our lockers, rummaging through our stuff to find our history books and ran till our lungs caved in to get to history class. Thankfully, Miss Emily, our history teacher, didn't properly start the lecture yet. In fact, she was just about to mark us absent as we barged into the classroom. The rest of the day continued as normal, aside for a small lecture from Miss Emily asking why we were late.

While it was fun watching Alice use her powers for the first time, even if it was to scare someone, they would be the spark for the incident...

END OF CHAPTER 2

Chapter Text

Monday, January 31st, 2005

Paper School Courtyard (10:51 AM)

It was break period, and we had just finished a math test. Like last time, everyone was sweating buckets over if they got anything wrong. Some were smart enough to grab text books to check what they thought they put, and a few let out sighs of relief upon figuring out if they were in the clear. My first experience in Mr. Raldi still stuck with me harshly back then, so I was terrified of going back there. Engel held his head high as usual, Lana was doubtful, and Alice seemed worried. Now, the four of us sat in the courtyard, waiting for our names to be called or for our next lesson. The communication speakers crackled like crazy.

Seems like a lot of people fucked up real bad today.

I sat back on the bench we were all on, taking deep breaths to calm myself down. This little rhythm was disturbed when, once again, the speakers in the courtyard screeched to life, only it was for the wrong reasons.

"This is Mr. Raldi, could Engel Ficher and Alice Umbawood make their way over to Room 136 for a talk? Thank you." 

I looked to my left and right. Engel's smug, confident smile had faded to confusion, then narrowed once he realised what was going on.

"Not so cocky now, are y'a?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood. Engel just stared at me with indifference, not taking too kindly to the joke.

"Not now, Raven." He hissed. His mind was teleporting from place to place, the last thing he wanted was a comment on his grades.

"My bad, sorry." I said timidly before he got up and walked over to Mr. Raldi's office. Alice looked like she was having a panic attack. Her eyes were all but completely narrowed, she began hyperventilating and was biting her own lip from the stress. I reached my hand over to her to try and calm her down.

"Alice? You good?" I asked, concerned for her. I gently rested my hand on her back, causing her to break her gaze into nothing and turn to me. Without warning, I was pulled into a tight embrace.

She is paranoid. She thinks she's in danger.

"I don't wanna go." She stuttered, her voice was as shaky as herself. I was swallowing lumps of iron at that point, I didn't know what to say, I was shoved into jeprody. Do I send her there and have her scared out of her mind, or keep her here and risk getting into trouble?

"I'm sorry." I said, beginning to tremble. I hated seeing her like this, I hated hearing her cry. I tried to reason with her. "I can't do anything about it, you have to fa-"

"I DON'T WANNA GO!" Alice screamed even louder, professing the stress she was currently under. I couldn't find the words to sugarcoat the situation at hand, not without turning her against me.

"Listen, Alice." I started, thinking of what to say on the spot. I didn't know how to begin, but I also didn't want to say anything that would make her think I don't care. Unfortunately, it meant I had to give the harsh truth.

"As much as I wish I can help you, I can't pull you out of this." I told her, my voice going raspy with regret. It felt like I wasn't doing enough for her, but this was the best I can do. "I know you don't wanna go, but to save us both some trouble, you have no alternative options."

"And risk me getting hurt?" Alice sobbed. She didn't like what I had to say. She pulled away slightly and stared me down. "Do you really wanna just offer me up to him? DO YOU NOT EVEN REMEMBER WHAT HE DID TO YOU?" She was clearly getting agitated. She was guilt tripping me to get me to protect her. I knew what she was attempting, but I also knew it would only make the situation worse for her and catch me in the crossfire. Being stuck in a limbo of choices, I broke down, crying alongside her.

"I know, Alice. But if I keep you here, he'll come for me too." I stuttered, trying to let her go. She immediately pulled away, hearing what I said and taking it to heart.

"He'll come for you too?" She only became more and more nervous, trembling in pure anxiety. Realising what this had to mean, she stood up immediately.

"Not if you don't stay here and simply go to him. The sooner you get it over with, the better." I said, wiping my tears away. She said nothing more before simply looking down and hesitantly walked to his office. I couldn't help but feel guilty. She was probably having a moment to cope, and I felt like I shoved her into the deep end. Waves of regret washed over me as she walked out of the courtyard, eyes never leaving the floor.

I'm so sorry, Alice...

Now it was just me and Lana, who was stunned to find out she wasn't called up at all. I turned to her to make some conversation.

"So. Guess it's just us now, huh." I started, hoping to try and start some form of chat.

"Yeah, 'spose you've got somethin' to say?" She responded, thinking about what to say herself. Just then, I get curious about something. I see her hanging out more and more with that apple boy from the other week, when Alice first showed off her powers in front of me, and was wondering if she liked him.

"Hey, I was just wondering. You got any interest in that kid you hang around a bunch?" I asked, the enthusiasm returning to my voice. Lana perked up almost immediately.

"Oh, you mean Abbie? Yeah, sorta." Lana said excitedly before immediately running red. She clearly liked him a lot, and it really showed.

So his name is Abbie. That sorta makes sense.

"Well, have you told him?" I asked, wanting to know if at all she was thinking of them becoming a thing. She simply turned away and looked down, presumably pondering on what she could say.

"No, not yet at least." She sighed, deep in thought, or as deep in thought she could go at the very least. She placed her hand on her jaw, letting her sock puppet bite at her chin. "I don't really know how to tell him. Or maybe I'm just waiting for him to make the first move."

"Why don't you make it now, I'll be behind you for emotional support." I answered, trying to aid her. Lana seemed to really care about him, and I wanted to help her as much as I could. It felt like I was gonna be an adhesive to a relationship, the cement to two bricks if you will.

"I would, but he ain't here. He got called up a while ago, and I dunno where he is." She gave another sigh. She knows she wants to, but it seemed like she either didn't have the courage or couldn't muster a proper statement.

"Well what's stopping you from looking?" I exclaimed enthusiastically, willing to carry out this plan. "He might still be in the corridors somewhere, we'll most likely find him there!" 

Lana simply smiled at the thought, gave it some consideration, then stood up grinning. "Kay, let's get lookin' then." She said happily before skipping away, beckoning me to come with her. I got up and adjusted my walking speed to match her skipping, strolling gleefully as we both keft the courtyard.

...10:55 AM...

We began our search for Abbie, hoping for this to be the day that Lana potentially confesses to him. The first place Lana chose to check were his usual hiding spots.

"He'd usually hide in his locker after bein' confronted by Baldi, Imma go check there." She said excitedly. I branched from her path, planning to look someplace else.

"Okay, you do that. I'm gonna look in a few rooms where I think he'd be." I gleefully responded, taking a turn at an intersection. She nodded as I turned, trusting that id be able to find him.

"'Aight, good luck." She turned away and ran down the corridor, smiling blissfully as she did. I continued walking on, hoping to find Abbie.

That damn apple must be around here somewhere.

I first checked the library, where I'd see him and Lana talking a bunch. I tried my best to find him there, but the size of the library made it difficult to find him in the time we had left.

Not reading his favourite stories? Guess I'll check someplace else.

I decided to check the pool, a place where he would normally blend in amongst the sea of students. Surprisingly, not many people felt like swimming today. After being unable to find him sat at any of the bleachers, I checked the boy's changing rooms, figuring he'd be hiding away from everyone. To my dismay, I didn't see him in the main room nor did I head him in the changing stalls.

Not fancying a swim I suppose, there has to be another place.

I decided to pay the nurse's office a visit. Abbie usually likes to get the injuries inflicted by Mr. Raldi treated there. I asked Miss Mipsey, the school nurse, if he walked in here at all. He did, but he already left a couple moments ago. This excited me a little knowing he was close by.

Don't worry Lana, I'll make sure I find him for you.

My last thought given the information available was one of the nearby classrooms, so I opted for the science lab. I figured he'd be hiding there to get away from the others. Just as I was about to check, however, I spotted Lana and Engel down the hallway. Engel look a bit worse for wear. His arms were purple and he was clutching his stomach as if he was winded. It didn't take a genius to realise what had happened to him. Feeling scared for him, I dropped the search for Abbie briefly to help him out, frantically bolting it down the hallway.

"Engel, are you okay?" I asked out of concern. I stopped in front of him as he gave me a stare of annoyance. He thought I was messing with him and didn't like the question.

"I'm pretty sure that's very fucking obvious, Raven." He growled with the strength he had the patience to gather, which wasn't a lot considering how much pain he was in. I take a step back, noticing he needed space.

"I'm sorry. I'm just in a ton of pain right now, the last thing I wanna hear is you pointing out the obvious." He stuttered, regretting what he said. I wasn't all that bothered by it, just shocked. I positioned my hand in his shoulder, making sure to be careful not to hurt him.

"Nah, it's fine. Don't blame yourself." I said, my enthusiasm quickly drained the more I saw how badly in pain he was. He was barely able to stand up straight and had bruises lining sections of his body, it reminded me of what I was earlier that month and it sickened me.

"How many strikes?" Lana spoke up, asking how bad it was. I was terrified to hear it, but I wanted to know it's severity all the same.

"Five times. Five fucking times I was struck by that bald fuck." He angrily stuttered. I could see the fury in his face, he looked as if he wanted to barge into that room armed with a weapon. We were just about to take him to Miss Mipsey before we heard screaming coming from around a corner.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, startled by the sudden yelling. Within a few seconds, my question would answer itself. Alice came swinging around the corner at full speed and charged in our direction. Her harsh footsteps and heavy breathing was all we could hear as she rapidly approached us.

"Alice, calm do-" I was violently shoved to the side trying to talk to her. She pushed me to make a clear path for herself.

"I WONT LET YOU HURT ME YOU BALD BITCH!" Alice shouted down the corridor, terrified for her life. It became all to clear why she was so scared. Mr. Raldi rounded the corner after Alice had just passed us, flying down the hallway with his ruler in hand.

"You can't run from your own mistakes." Mr. Raldi yelled down the hallway, getting visibly more irritated through each passing second. He was so honed in on Alice, he completely skipped the three of us. Lana's face went deathly pale, knowing how this would eventually snowball.

"That idiot, she's diggin' herself real deep." She said, worried for her safety. Apparently, running away from Mr. Raldi's wrath will only lead to more harm than initially planned.

"Uhh, how so?" I asked hesitantly. I knew I wasn't gonna like what was going to be said, but I needed answers about this man and what his true intentions were.

"You run from him, he ain't just beatin' y'a. He's throwin' hands." She answered, swallowing lumps as she did. I froze, processing and fearing the worst. Alice was going to get badly hurt. I felt like a traitor, I told her she would be okay.

Stupid me, why didn't I go with her...?

I debated whether or not I should run after her, even positioning myself to sprint. I was just about to commit, but was grabbed last second by Lana.

"Don't do it." She said, her attitude going cold. I don't think I've seen her act like this up until that point, but I didn't like it one bit.

"Lana, she's in danger. If I don't go and help her-"

"You're puttin' yourself in harm's way doin' this." She was quick to cut me off. I was too blinded by me own fear to notice what I was doing, but I didn't care at that point. Alice was about to get hurt, and I was expected to sit back and watch it happen.

"You said it yourself. If you try to protect her, he'll hurt you too." Her voice remained in monotone. My eyes widened in realisation. Getting quoted like this set me straight, but it made me feel hopeless. She was right, if I tried to do anything, his attention would turn to me.

Maybe I am just being irrational.

I didn't know what to do. If I went and helped, I would've faced a fate beyond anyone's imagination. But if I stayed, Alice would be injured. Accepting that there was no happy ending to this story, I balled up on the floor and cried.

"Why can I never seem to help her." I stuttered to myself between ugly sobs. I sat up with my back against the wall, my knees pressed tightly to my chest.

"Look, we don't always get that happy endin' we all want. Least y'a can do is try." Lana spoke down to me softly, sitting next to me. I admit she wasn't giving the best advice, but I needed comfort knowing my best friend was being beaten by my teacher.

"But it seems today the harder I try, the worse it turns out." I sobbed, now coming to terms with the fact that maybe I'm not always the hero. Times have changed since I left Colorado, I can't always keep an upbeat stride like I could there. I didn't even dare look at her, how could I face anyone knowing I'll most likely be unable to help them?

"'Least you can say y'a tried, though." She continued, trying to emotionaly bring me to my feet. A light smile began to crack open on her face, she actually cared about how I was feeling. This only made me feel worse, however. It wasn't that I was trying too hard, it felt as if I wasn't trying hard enough.

"I wish I could say that." I said to myself. "But thank you." I then wrenched my head from my knees, finally forcing myself to meet Lana's gaze. I tried my best to form a weak smile while giving a nod of approval, starting to feel better about myself.

Just then, the sound of heavy, irregular footsteps began to reach my ears. I turned my head to my right and saw Alice stumbling towards us. She looked like a zombie with the way she was walking, clutching the areas where it hurt the most.

My heart sank as I examined her closer, there were visible cuts on her face. Lana and Engel noticed her and their mouths fell agape, even Engel especially had the energy to feel distraught through the pain. Her eyes were wide and narrowed and her breathing was irregular and frantic, it was clear that the experience had traumatised her.

As expected, she skipped Lana and Engel and went straight for me. It got harder for her to walk the closer she got.

"Alice, what the hell happened?" I stuttered. What I felt was uncomfortable, seeing her like this brought on a kind of stress I didn't know was even possible. It got so bad for her that her legs gave way, collapsing in front of me. I was able to catch her, but I felt her shakiness on me.

Her terrified eyes looked up at mine. I simply gripped her tight, feeling deep shame within myself.

"Help me..." She stuttered and sobbed through her uncoordinated breathing, tears streaming down her face while bathing in crippling pain. "It hurts." She quickly latched onto me, holding me and refusingto let go. I truly was her only dependency at the time.

It felt as if all the oxygen around me, I struggled to breathe while this terrifying sight laid before me. I'd have nightmares about this sort of thing, so of course I had a panic attack.

"I'm sorry. I should've gone with you." I sobbed with her, apologising for what wasn't really my fault. "If I had known this would've happened, maybe I would've been there." 

"You didn't do anything." She stuttered. Even when writhing in agony, she still had the energy to comfort me. I, however, saw this both ways.

I didn't do anything, nothing bad, nothing good.

"Why does it have to be like this?" She continued, still shaking, still trying to calm her nerves. Paranoia had taken hold of her. Every light tap she felt made her tense up, as if she was bracing for another hit.

"I don't know. I just wish this would end." I said calmly, trying to find a way to get him fired. But how do I do it? Should I tell Principal Grace, or does she already know and isn't doing anything? Do I say something to my parents, or will they even believe me? I was out of options, it was either endure this until graduation or convince my parents to move again. But I don't want to go, not with Alice here, not while I have a strong bond with my new friends.

Guess this is my life for another four and a half years.

"Are you good to stand up?" I asked Alice, confidence returning to me. She nodded meekly. I gripped her hands tightly as I helped her up, tugging her arms and supporting her weight. She could still barely stand up, her knees wobbled under her own weight.

"Got y'a." I rested her arms on my shoulders, giving her something to lean on.

"Thank you, Raven." She happily stuttered. She was still in lots of pain, but at least she was feeling better.

"Hey Engel, you okay walking or do you need support too?" I asked, wondering if he was also wanted some help.

"Yeah, a little." He stuttered, feeling like his lower half would give way any second.

"Lean on me, I'll carry y'a." Lana happily offered, to which Engel gladly wrapped his arms around her, clinging to her like a koala.

And with that, we went off to the nurse's office to get them both treated. As for our search for Abbie? Well, that was called off for that day, which sucked because I wanted to see him and Lana become a couple. Not much else happened that day, so we continued as normal. However, our next test was when life at this school would change permanently.

Wednesday, 2nd February, 2005

11:40 AM

Our science test was upon us. We were inside room 136, waiting for Mr. Raldi to arive with today's papers. In the meantime, we simply had a chat amongst ourselves. Can't remember what it was about though. After some time, Mr. Raldi came bursting through the classroom door, freshly printed test papers in hand. Everyone immediately fell silent and turned to face the front. Through the silence, I could hear the heartbeats of those who had been beaten after the last paper. Alice in particular looked stressed out.

I heald my writing pencil, waiting for the test to begin. One by one, the papers were being handed out. One lands on Abbie's desk, his nerves immediately set in. Another is slammed onto Kevin's desk, he's overjoyed at the sight. Everyone had mixed reactions to seeing these papers being handed out by Mr. Raldi, and mine...

Utter boredom.

Or at least it would be if it were not for Monday's events. Alice got her's before me and my first response was to silently and briefly pray, worried about a possible repeat. It then came around to me. I instantly scribbled my name into the paper to give myself a small head start.

"Okay, you may begin. Remember, you have until the end of this period to finish the test." Mr. Raldi spoke with indifference as he handed out the last sheet. He simply walked back to his desk, set a timer and began reading. Everyone put their heads to their papers and started writing.

So the first question. 'How many electrons do Group 1 elements have on their highest energy level...'

I chugged through question after question, making sure I didn't miss anything or get anything wrong. I flew through the paper so quickly, I was finished not even ten minutes in. However, there was also something else on my mind. In between checking over my paper a couple dozen times, I took periodic glances at Alice to see if she was okay. Every time I looked, she seemed a little worse. This continued until I felt comfortable announcing that I was finished. Five minutes before the end of lesson, I skimmed through the paper one more time. Just as I was about to stand up and hand the paper in, I was blasted by a shockwave...

...and was knocked out cold.

12:21 PM

It had only been three minutes, yet it felt like days had passed since I was last conscious. One by one, my senses started to come to, but it felt as if I was entering a nightmare.

My taste had come back, and the first thing I could taste was iron and plasma. The inside of my mouth had bled, probably from me accidentally biting something while going dark.

Hearing had returned to my ears. All I could hear were cries of desperation, spratic breathing and the crackling of flames.

Once I was able to smell again, I picked up scents that I liked the least. I could smell ash, probably from whatever was burning. But the smell that worried me the most was the smell of fresh blood. I knew something went horribly wrong, but I couldn't tell what it was.

Touch had returned to my body, and what I felt was anything but pleasant. A surge of fury swept through my nerves, coating me in a pain similar to getting punched several times over. Instinctively, I clutched at the parts where it hurt the most.

Finally, I opened my eyes. My sight was yet to come to, my vision was extremely blurry.

"What the hell happened." I said to myself, slurring my words. Slowly but surely, my vision came into focus. The scenery became clearer...

and clearer...

and clearer...

until I could make sense of what surrounded me.

Blood had stained almost every surface in the classroom and some of the lights had burst, causing a fire that would rage for weeks. Thankfully, it was all on a metal desk so it couldn't spread very far. The classroom looked devoid of kids. They had either fled the scene, hid somewhere or were mortality injured. Mr. Raldi was still out like a light, he probably got hit hard.

But the one thing that horrified me the most was what caused it. I looked around the room to see the origin of this disaster, and my eyes froze at who I found. There, Alice was stood at the heart of the chaos, however she didn't seem the same.

Her eyes were bloodshot and her clothes were torn. The tiara that would sit on her head had blackened, now looking like spikes that had impaled her head. Tentacles shot out of her back like beacons and her hands were completely dark and claw-like.

My eyes were narrowed, staring at what she had done. It was only at that point that I realised the damage she was capable of, but I didn't care. I still loved her, even if she turned out to be a monster.

"Alice?" I stuttered, trying to make sense as to why she would do this. Then, it had hit me.

She only kills whenever she's stressed out. Damn, Mr. Raldi really did mentally fuck her up.

Alice snapped her head over to face me, staring at her claws as if realising what she had done.

"I'm..." She tried to speak, but failed to find her words. I couldn't believe my eyes. She was breathing heavily, as if she was scared something was gonna happen. Eventually, she stuttered out...

"I'm sorry, Raven."

That was all I heard before she faced away from me.

"Wait, NO. ALICE, DONT!!" I screamed, jumping to my feet and sprinting to her. Before I could make it to her, she was enveloped in a bright red haze, and suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Mere seconds passed before the screams of children begun to flood the halls, some of them hastily and permanently muted by her own hands. Looking out the classroom window leading to the hallway, kids were being shoved to the side, some so forcefully that their bodies exploded from the impact. I could see it within her, she's too scared to realise what she was doing.

I had to calm her down, I can't let her do this.

Wasting no more time, I ran out of the classroom. Giving chase in the direction I last saw her run.

Just follow the sounds and smells of murder and I sould find her.

I charged down the now death corridor at full speed, following the distinct bloodstains and the trail of corpses littering every surface. All the children that had lost their lives due to one little girl who was stressed out for reasons beyond her control. The more bodies I saw, the faster I got, the adrenaline kicking in as I was determined to find her before she caused more damage.

The blood began to feel more fresh, the screams were growing progressively louder. I was getting closer, I just knew I was. I rounded corner after corner, shoved myself through door after door. I didn't care where I was going, all that mattered is that I caught up with her. Even through exhaustion, I didn't want to stop running. Eventually, I regained sight of her. Pushing myself further beyond my limits than I already was, I sped up even more.

I had finally caught up with her. I went to grab her, skidding to a complete stop as I did.

"Alice, listen. This can't go o-" As I was trying to talk to her, she turned around and swung her claws at me, scratching at my right eye. I yelled in retaliation, almost falling to my knees, but I couldn't falter now, not while I'm this close.

"ALICE, PLEASE STOP!!" I shouted at her in desperation, hoping it was enough. Sure enough, she immediately froze in place upon registering my voice.

"Don't you see what you're doing? I know you wouldn't do something as drastic as this." I kept pleading with her, stepping closer as I clutched my face, blood spitting from my right eye.

She finally made sense of her surroundings, looking around at the horror scene she had single handedly created. Her eyes widened in shock, her claws now held over her own mouth.

"Did I do that? I didn't mean to, I swear I didn't know what I was doing. I-" Alice panicked. She had never been responsible for a death before, so she was instinctively scared of what would be to come.

"Shhh... I know you didn't mean to." I hushed her, hugging her tightly. I tried to comfort her, but it became quite difficult knowing what she had done. "I just wanted to stop you before you caused anymore damage." 

"No, I-" She was about to speak, but then she took a closer look at my face. She noticed the injuries she had inflicted, gasped in shock and started to cry.

"I hurt you. I could've killed you." She stuttered, clearly showing remorse for her actions. She had attacked me, but I don't care.

"That doesn't matter. Trust me, I would literally die if it was required to help you." I calmly said to her, letting her know that I'm okay. I really didn't care if it meant putting myself in harm's way. So long as I knew she was safe and sound, I was at ease.

"You would really throw your life away just for me?" She seemed confused, but was flattered that I cared that much. She turned her head away from me a little, feeling like she had cheated life.

"You're too nice, I dont deserve any of this." She kicked herself for being such a terrible person. How I ended up as her best friend was a mystery to her, but it was times like this that brought us together in the first place.

"Dont say that. You deserve it from me. You're not as bad as you think you are, even when you pull shit like this." I kept trying to convince her that she isn't the bad guy here. I really didn't care about the destruction she caused now, all that mattered to me was that she was okay.

"Thank you. Even in times like this, you make me feel secure." She said, finally seeing the gratitude I give as a gift instead of a curse. We held each other in an embrace for another few moments, letting our surroundings fade away to enjoy our time together. It was a good minute we'll spent, and I would savour it...

...because it would be the last minute we spend together for a long while.

All of a sudden, Alice was yanked from my grip so hard, I fell to the floor. My smile evaporated in an instant as I looked up. I saw Principal Grace restraining Alice, scarily with very little effort. Alice was struggling against her grip, but Principal Grace would not let go. She simply stood there, cuffing Alice's hands together with her own, staring through her as if she didn't even exist.

"Principal Grace? What are you doing?" I asked hesitantly. I could see how angry she was, she knew what had happened and was pondering on what to do with Alice. On the other side of this coin, Alice was horrified. She didn't know what was going on, and was uncontrollably squirming in an attempt to break free.

"She's responsible for the death of roughly a couple hundred kids here, she needs to be dealt with." Principal Grace said coldly. Her eyes were lit up in a rage, she didn't like what Alice has done.

"Wait, let me go, I didn't mean to." Alice objected, still tugging against her restraint. She began gritting her now saw-like teeth together, her eyes narrowed in terror.

"That doesn't matter, you're still a threat to everything." She was hushed by Principal Grace, who continued to hold her mercilessly. Without another word, she dragged her down the hallway. Alice's feet could be heard scraping against the floor, desperately fighting back against her, but it was all in vain. I sprung to my feet once more and sprinted to catch up with Principal Grace.

"Where are you taking me?" Alice stuttered, still pulling against her restraint. Tears ran down her face, the possibilities of whatever was going to happen to her made her feel sick from fear.

"To your new home." Principal Grace answered coldly, staring blankly at her. Eventually, they stopped at the end of the hallway where a lone, single blue door lay desolate from the rest of the classrooms. It became all too clear what was happening now.

She's gonna lock her in there...

I didn't even think twice before I ran as fast as I could to get there, but they had a ton of distance on me so I was on a tight timer. I watched as Principal Grace opened the door wide and shoved Alice into the abyss on the other side. Why they even have that room in this school is beyond my best guesses, but if I had to assume what it was for, it was most likely a tourture chamber.

"ALICE, GET OUT OF THERE!!" I desperately shouted, trying to get her out of that room as quickly as I could.

Alice tried to run out the door as quickly as she could, but Principal Grace was simply quicker. Not even giving her so much as a chance, she lent for the door handle. The last thing I saw of Alice was the petrified look on her face, knowing it would be the last time we see each other, before the door was slammed shut in her face. Only then did I reach the door, ramming against it with force enough to cause a concussion.

I fell to my knees in front of the door, sobbing instantly as I tried to come to terms with it all. I could hear her banging the door from the other side.

"LET ME OUT, PLEASE LET ME OUT!!" Alice screamed, begging to be set free. The door couldn't be opened from her side, and Principal Grace had already locked it. I could hear her trying to teleport out of the room, but without any success nor progress. She truly was trapped in there.

"What was the point in trying to save her?" Principal Grace glared at me, looking worried for me, and partially mad at my attempt to protest. I slowly rotated my head to meet her sharp gaze, eyes red from the tears and my face still bleeding.

"I just wanted to keep her safe. She was scared, she didnt know what she was doing." I stuttered to her, explaining what happened in the best way I could. "For all we know, she could've thought she was just pushing them to the side, clearing the path to run as far as possible."

"I understand that, but she's too dangerous to be kept out in the open." She sighed, not understanding why I tried to help such a monster. I glanced back down the hallway, reminding myself of what she did. It's true, she's too dangerous, she'll probably do this again. But at the same time, she didn't mean to, and this probably wouldn't have happened if I had simply been with her a couple days ago.

You don't deserve this, even after what you did.

You don't deserve this, it doesn't matter if you're a threat.

I'm sorry for not protecting you like I said I would.

Tears continued flowing down my face like waterfalls. I felt like a traitor, I had broken a promise I had made all those years ago. After Alice's mom died to Carlos, I told her with a flaming passion that I would stick by her side, keep her safe for as long as I live for. Now she has been locked away, and I couldn't do anything about it.

"I hope you understand this is for the safety of everyone." Principal Grace added, before calmly walking away. I picked myself up off the ground, turned to face the door and gently placed my hand on it's surface. I tried to apologise through the door, hoping she would hear me.

"Alice. If you're still listening, I would like to say a few words."

"You don't deserve this magnitude of punishment. I wish I was able to help you more. I gave you my trust, the one promise I swore to keep, and I broke it in the blink of an eye."

"I wish you didn't have to suffer through this, I wish I'd never let this happen."

"The only thing I'm hoping for is for you to be safe. I want to know I'd you're doing okay, but it's impossible to know from the other side of this door."

"I'm so sorry, Alice, for being such a bad friend."

I dropped my hand from the door and stared at the ground. Shutting my eyes, I imagined hugging her tightly, caring for her like a sister. I imagined the warm embrace that I grew so used to. I would always be the first person she turned to for advice, even if there were people around her that actually knew that to do. She was almost entirely dependent on me since elementary, like a shadow on an object.

Then, although faint, I could hear it. Through the door, I could hear the muffled cries of the girl who saw me as their God. It hurt too much to hear, it burned my ears having to hear this. Knowing there was nothing I could do, I walked away, my gaze not leaving the floor once.

I made my way over to the nurse's office to get my eye treated. Miss Mipsey was waiting there and immediately rushed to help me. Was given a patch to wear over my eye until it healed, even then I was now partially blind in my right eye. The rest of the day fell apart. All the surviving kids were sent home and parents were called to give a heads up. I didn't say anything until I got home.

12:55 PM

I gently opened the door to my home, and slowly walked inside. I hadn't even stepped foot off the welcome mat before my parents came rushing towards me.

My dad was the first to reach me, as my mom had to be careful holding Emily, my 1 year old baby sister.

"Raven, we got a call from the school, they told us exactly what happened." He said frantically. I could see he was worried, he probably thought I was badly injured, or worse, killed.

Well, that saves me trying to explain it.

Soon enough, my mom followed behind. All the joy she would usually contain was all but drained away, now replaced with shock and horror as she surveyed my face.

"Sweetie, you look a mess. What happened?" She asked concerningly, noticing the patch on my eye.

I could barely bring myself to say something, tears begun welling up again. I ran forward and hugged them tight, crying into them.

"It was Alice." I started, sobbing and stuttering. I was going to give it to them straight.

"She got scared, and started killing kids without noticing." This was exactly what they were told, as I could tell from their unchanged expressions.

"I tried to stop her, and succeeded, but not without nearly losing my eye." I pointed at the patch on my face, showing the damage. I didn't dare try to remove it even just to show them, as I didn't want to cause any more bleeding.

"Then Principal Grace... she locked her away. I tried to stop her, but i couldn't get to her in time." I barely finished before breaking down again. They weren't told that Alice was being confined to a mostly unknown room, so naturally they were surprised.

"Please don't be mad at me. I was just trying to help a friend, even if she turned out to be a monster." I continued stuttering, hoping they would believe me and take my side. I've never told a lie, and some of the most obscure things you could think of have happened before our eyes. Plus, I've had a habit of helping seemingly threatening individuals in the past, so it wasn't all that new for them to hear this.

"Raven, we're not mad at you. Just happy that you're alive." My mom assured softly, sifting her free hand through my hair. The other hand cradled Emily, who had only just woken up from a nap.

"Although, I will say this." My dad started, his worry being professed in a stern expression. "Don't try to put yourself in this situation again. You don't know how much worse this could've been."

I silently nod as I continue walking with them, gently shutting the door behind me. Once we got to the living room, I asked if I could hold Emily for a little while. My mom happily obliged and handed her to me.

I had always wanted a proper sister, and Alice was a major reason for that. That and sometimes it would get a bit lonely at home. So when I found out that mom was expecting, I was more than overjoyed. I swore to be this kid's guardian angel at any possible turn I can. If for whatever reason mom and dad died tomorrow, I would be ready to fill the role that they once controlled.

For the rest of the week, Paper School was shut. After what came to be known as "The Incident", they've decided to keep the kids at home until they can confirm that the school is safe. Losing Alice was devastating and I withdrew myself for a couple days after. However, of course, things can still get worse from here...

END OF CHAPTER 3

Chapter Text

Monday, February 7th, 2005

Paper School Gymnasium (8:45 AM)

This school isn't as busy as it used to be. At least half of the students were gone, the culprit being the slaughter that caused a site wide lockdown.

Following the string of events that occurred the week before, a whole school assembly was called by Principal Grace to announce some changes that would be made.

She stood eerily still in front of the dwindling crowd of children, waiting for them to settle down so she could begin talking.

"May I have your attention, please." She groaned down the microphone. It sounded as if she didn't want to be here but was forced to.

"In light of... recent events... we have made it acceptable to make a few changes." She grabbed a piece of paper off her pedestal and read from it. On the paper, it listed everything that would be different.

She cleared her throat and started talking.

"To start, Mr. Raldi has decided to step down as head of fundamentals and will no longer be a teacher at this school." She said surprisingly cheerfully.

Immediately, the while gym went berserk, erupting into a sea of 'yay's and 'boo's. I was one of the kids who was positive about this change, as we no longer had to worry about spoiling a single question on our tests again. After a few seconds, she hushed the roaring crowd before she continued reading.

"However, we have made an effort to hire new teachers to fill his role." Principal Grace continued, her smile disappearing as she read out the next part. "They have requested to remain anonymous because they want to introduce themselves in class."

Wait, isn't that not even a tiny bit suspicious?

I was wondering why they wouldn't want to introduce themselves now, but that's probably how they operate, so I cut them some slack.

"There's only one more thing to mention which is vital to everyone." She continued, seemingly trying to keep herself together. Seemed like she's was having some sort of PTSD.

"While the school was shut down, we found out that the lock on our isolation room was broken and replacing it was too much of a risk." She gripped her tie and yanked it, trying to calm herself down.

"We have labelled it accordingly, and we advise only one thing." I could hear her gulping. The experience seemed to have traumatised her.

"Do NOT open Δlice's room."

The gym once again erupted into chatter, probably confused as to who she was. Engel and Lana looked clueless as to what had happened. They were pushed into a state of deep thinking in mere seconds.

"Wait, Alice has her own room now?" Engel questioned himself, confused as to why she took over the isolation room. (After seeing the inside of that room, it makes sense and is terrifying)

"And why'd she say her name like that?" Lana asked herself. I had only just caught on that she said Alice's name differently. I found it even weirder that she didn't even bother telling them where it is.

Both their gazes then fell on me, thinking I knew more than what it looked like.

"You know anythin' 'bout this?" Lana questioned me, looking somewhat serious for the first time in ages. I felt nervous and pretty sad about this, knowing Alice was being ostracised like this was heartbreaking. Lana was suspicious of me, and it started to catch Engel's attention too.

"You've been awfully quiet since this was said. Are you sure you're okay?" Soon enough, it felt like I was being interrogated. I thought maybe lying on the spot would get them to stop asking, but whatever I lied about would raise even more questions.

"I'll tell you during transition to math." I said nervously, trying to stop them asking. However, this would mean I'd have to tell them regardless after assembly.

Principal Grace kept yapping about the usual speech about the school and all the boring stuff before finally dismissing us to get to class. Engel and Lana were walking close to me, eyeing me as if expecting me to say something. I lowered my voice to a whisper before explaining the situation.

To save myself the tears, as I've already spilt enough of those onto this book remembering the incident, I won't go over what the incident was again. As I was explaining it, both their faces went pale, and they began to tense. They were both still knocked out cold while it was all going on and came to when everyone was being evacuated.

"So from now on, she won't be with us." I said, nearly on the verge of tears again. Lana rested her hand on my shoulder, making her sock puppet nibble at my neck.

"I dunno what to say. Deserved, but that's a real messed up punishment." She said softly, eyes dropping to the floor. She was such a good friend, and Lana would always cheer her up with her jokes and little puppet shows. This hit her hard. For the first time, it looked like she was gonna start crying in front of me.

"Well, to be honest, I am not surprised in the slightest." Engel remarked, almost looking as if he was going to laugh. I immediately felt displeased, face now scrunched up into an expression of annoyance. This was the biggest "I told you so" moment for him.

"Okay, that's uncalled for. Now you're just being a dickhead." I snapped back at him, lightly slapping the back of his head. Even Lana looked at him, her face painted with disappointment.

"Well it's not like this wouldn't have happened anyway, I saw this coming a mile off." He continued mockingly, almost as if he didn't care. I could feel myself getting both upset and very angry with him. However, I had no other options but to suppress it.

"You're actin' exactly like Katie right now, s'not somethin' y'a sould be proud of." Lana interjected, now growing sick of hearing him berate Alice for both reason. Soon enough, they both started arguing with each other over her. Engel throwing almost every insult under the sun at her and Lana trying with all of her strength to defend Alice's actions.

Just from behind me, I heard a sharp clearing of the throat coming from one of the other students. I look behind me to see Katie walking with Zip, beckoning me towards her. I was suspicious at first, but the other two are too deep in their petty argument to notice me.

Despite everything, Oliver would be a much better person to talk to right now.

I subtly slow my walking speed slightly to purposely fall behind them. Once I was somewhat in line with Katie, I sped back up to match her pace.

"Do you need me for something?" I asked, confused as to why she would like to talk with me now.

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk a little." She said, looking at me as if she was feeling sympathy. I raised an eyebrow. She never wanted to willingly talk to me this badly, it's usually me that has to start a conversation.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?" Considering how eager she was to speak to me, she must've wanted to get something off her chest.

"Just wanted to know, how long have you known Alice for?" She asked, intrigued but masked with a blank stare. She can't seem to look at me, maybe she's avoiding eye contact because of Zip?

"Several years, maybe longer." I nervously answer. I already knew that Katie had a crush on Alice, so I began wondering if she needed help scoring some points with her.

"Since you both were chained together since the beginning, wanna lend me a hand?" Finally, she turned to face me, a wide smile plastering her face. I looked at her with indifference, I saw this question coming a mile away. I had no problem with helping her out, but getting into that room to make a move was going to be an issue.

"I care less honestly, but I don't mind helping you out." My enthusiasm once again returned to me whilst slating myself into deep though. "However, her room will be a bit tricky to get to."

Katie simply burst out laughing. I had clearly missed something, but what?

"Did you not hear what the fossil said? The lock on her room is busted, so you can just walk in." She managed to cough out in between giggles. I felt like an idiot, but this also gave me a few ideas. 

"Oh, so we just walk in during break period?" I asked cheerfully. Would it actually be this simple? No, of course not. After asking my question, Katie began to grow nervous.

"Hold on, let's plan this out first. You don't know if Grace is keeping watch." She nervously answered, assuming the worst from my initial plan.

"Okay, we'll think about it in between classes." I said happily, looking up to her whilst grinning. She gave a shy nod as a response. I would've asked Zip if she wanted to help out, but she refused to look at me the entire time and I'm pretty sure she was still mad at me.

We continued talking with each other until we got to Room 136, the place of all our former nightmares. Here is where we would meet one of the new teachers. I only hoped they weren't as far gone mentally as Mr. Raldi was.

...8:58...

We walked into the classroom and were immediately greated with a surprise. One noticeable difference we could see was the desk arrangement; they were placed in groups of three rather than being in rows of five. It felt like I was back in elementary school, and it was surprisingly a nice change of pace. The desks being labeled with our names was not changed at all, so it didn't take long to find our seats. My desk was placed with Katie's and Lana's, which I didn't mind considering they were my friends anyway. We all sat down and waited for our teacher to arrive. While waiting, some of us began crafting some theories.

"I wonder what this new teacher is gonna be like." I pondered excitedly. Having a permanent replacement for a teacher was news to me, so I was understandably interested in who is will be.

"Hopefully, not abusive. I'm tired of getting my ass smacked for a wrong answer." Katie answered nervously. She was worried that we'd get someone similar, and the potential fear was getting to her a little.

"I'm hopin' they're a warm ol' soul, maybe they could interact with us durin' breaks 'n' stuff." Lana said happily. To some extent, I agreed with her. A little kindness from the teachers never ceases to make a child's day, and it's sad only a couple of them here did that.

We kept talking, wondering what our new teachers would be like, before Abbie flung the door open and bent to his knees. He looked like he was in a rush, but after a moment, it was clear he had seen some things.

"T-There's some big, tall woman i-in the halls. She's.. c-coming over here." Abbie sounded exhausted, only talking in-between violent gasps for air.

Had he been running from someone?

He slowly trembled as he made is way over to his seat, which was placed with Engel and Zip.

"Tall woman? Is that our new math teacher?" Katie asked, confused as to why he would be so worried over someone new. Maybe she just intimated him to much? Already setting a bad first impression here is that's the case.

Right after she asked the question, loud, rhythmic thuds could be heard outside of the classroom. Peeking outside of the windows just revealed a moving bush of jet black hair, it almost looked like a giant porcupine.

"Well, you're about to find out." I nervously answered, eyes widened in shock. The shadow of hair stopped at the classroom door and violently kicked it open. She was so tall, she had to duck really low to fit through the door.

Everyone froze solid when they realised what they were looking at, everyone was intimidated by her appearance. Her head just barely touched the ceiling, and her hair was so bushy, one would mistake her for a tree. Unlike Mr. Raldi, she was more formal, wearing a baby blue polo shirt and grey pants rather than pajamas. All the thudding didn't come from her enormous weight (despite her diet, which I will discuss later on), but the black army boots she was wearing. Considering her size, they were definitely custom made.

But the two things that caught my attention the most were her horns and arms. Her horns stretched out of her head so far, she was leaving a trail on the ceiling of where she was going. Her arms were what surprised me the most though. Her right arm was completely blackened and clawed. She could probably fit an entire person in that claw. Her left forearm however was missing, instead an equally long and large compass was mounted where her arm would've been. The needle was abnormally long for a regular compass, which began to terrify me a little.

With loud thuds, she slowly walked over to her desk, every step she took made everything vibrate. By this point, everyone was straining their necks to get a good view of her face. She walked in with a large grin. Her teeth were like sawblades. She stopped right in front of the desk, which barely covered her knees, and turned to face the class, now looking down at us.

"Good morning, class!" She said in a playful tone. She genuinely looked happy to be here. The whole class echoed her greeting in unison, some enthusiastic, others in monotone.

"It's so nice for me to finally get to see you! I'm sure we'll all get along just fine!" Her playfulness was kind of patronising, but it also put me at ease. She picked up the chalk and started writing, getting onto one knee so she was at eye level with the board. Once she was done, she stood back up and faced us again.

"My name is Miss Circle, and, as I'm sure some of you are aware, I am your new math teacher!" She said, stepping to the side to let us read what she wrote on the board.

Miss Circle's Math For Dumdums

A small chuckle left Katie's mouth, she could tell Miss Circle wouldn't be taking her job seriously. I looked around the class briefly. Some kids were confused, others just had smiles on their faces. I've never seen this class be so happy to be in math.

"Now, it says you're supposed to have a test today. But since it's my first day, I won't pressure you!" Her joy was unmatched throughout the entire school so far. I would've guessed the teachers would skip out on tests considering we've only just come out of a lockdown. "And don't worry. I've heard everything about your previous teacher, and I can assure you I am nothing like them!"

Principal Grace must've said something to her before anything else, so I'm not surprised she knows about him. I just sat comfortably, pulling out my notebook, awaiting for a lecture to begin.

"Now, let's begin, shall we?" She grinned before staring at the curriculum timetable on her desk and lectured the class. Nothing too noteworthy happened that period until the end, where Miss Circle decided to crack a niche joke in the form of a stupidly easy math problem.

"So! If a town has 300 people, and I show up and kill 4 of the residents, then throw a party where only half of the survivors show up, how many people attended excluding myself?" She said cheerfully, desperately holding back a laugh. I was as well. The problem reminded me of a disturbing yet hilarious moment of my childhood. I was at a party after something like that had happened the day before, and I remembered exactly how many people were there.

A few kids looked disturbed, and I wouldn't blame them. That problem would probably raise a few suspicions to anyone with a shred of common sense. Like an idiot, I raised my hand to answer.

"You, ketchup kid! Your answer?" She pointed at me, staring me down, waiting for me to answer. Still holding back a laugh, I try to speak without it coming out.

"37 people, because a lot of them would've been scared shitless of you." I said, trying my best to hide my smirk.

The whole class erupted in laughter, probably soaking up the stupid answer I gave. However, Miss Circle seemed amused by it. Her smile grew wider and she immediately looked away. Through all the class giggling, I could hear a muffled chuckle emiting from her.

"You're not wrong, but that's not the answer I'm looking for!" She said happily. We both smiled at each other before she turned to someone else. "Who else wants to give it a crack?"

Engel's hand shot up like a bullet, eager to answer.

"Detective Labrador, you got an answer?" She gleefully asked, her gaze locked on him like a spotlight on a stage performer. He gulped, feeling the pressure of having to answer in front of a crowd.

"198, Miss Circle." Engel stuttered. He hastily sat back down after giving his answer.

"Ding ding ding, you're correct!" She imitated a bell as she joyfully congratulated him. The whole class sarcastically clapped for him. They knew it was easy, but they tried to match the mood Miss Circle was showing.

Just then, an actual bell rang, signalling the end of class. Everyone jolted to their feet and saw themselves out the door.

"Don't forget to study for tomorrow's test! I may not beat you for one wrong question, but I don't take kindly to failures!" She grinned, a sinister tone began seeping through the cracks. Some kids looked disturbed upon hearing this, only fearing the worst of what it could imply.

As I was about to leave, Miss Circle noticed and stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Nuh-uh, you're not leaving yet! I want to speak to you!" She boomed, grabbing my arm and pulling me to the teacher's desk. Everyone was oooo-ing an giggling as they left.

Great, already setting myself a nice first impression on the new one.

She grabbed a chair and sat down. The wood began to crack, barely able to hold her weight.

"What's this about? Am I in trouble?" I asked, confused as to why I was being held back. I was only hoping I wasn't kept there too long, as I didn't want to be late for language arts.

"Relax, you're not in any shit! I just wanna ask you something!" Miss Circle gleefully responded. Even duing a serious lecture, she's still hellbent on her playfully tune. Quite a lot of guts to present foul language in a school environment too.

"Uhh, sure. Ask away." I lent froward and rested my elbows on the desk, awaiting the question she was so desperate to ask.

"That party. I wanna know how you knew exactly the number of people attended." Her smile began to fade a little. She hadn't been serious about anything up until that point, so maybe I accidentally struck a nerve?

"Because I was there. I did a headcount of who was there and, including me and excluding the host, there were thirty-seven." I began explaining myself. Now the nerves were starting to set in, I was growing more and more worried by the minute. "Why'd you ask?"

Miss Circle just stared me down, not to intimate me, but to examine me. Having spoken my piece, she began recognising small details in memories she didn't notice before.

"No reason, just wanted to find out how you knew!" She shrugged it off, her cheerfulness returned to her very quickly.

That's... kinda suspicious...

I sat up again, waiting for her to say something else. Easing myself slowly, taking deep breaths, my worries melt away and my usual smile was drawn on my face once more.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Run along, wouldn't wanna be late for your next class!" She said, shooing me away. I happily obliged, shooting up from my seat and b-lining it for the door to catch up to my class.

...9:46...

I was almost exhausted. My class had nearly made it to their next destination without me. Room 148 was only a minute away, so I tried to find someone to talk to. And, sure enough...

"Hey you doof, what's with that little mishap? I thought you were meant to be the nerdy one." Katie chuckled to herself, beckoning me closer. I was partially embarrassed, but it was masked by a smirk I never thought I could pull off.

"I am, I just thought I may as well crack a little joke." I said, trying to hide how stupid I felt. She simply patted me on the back.

"You've got a weird taste in humour, I like it!" She continued letting out scoffs, my little stunt stuck with her like tape sticks to surfaces. Zip was still walking with us, and I could clearly see she also enjoyed it as well. She didn't feel comfortable enough to talk to me yet, but I could tell she was starting to warm up to me.

We continued talking until we reached our next classroom. One by one, we funnel our way through the door. We got inside, and it was exactly how the math room was laid out with the desks. The one difference was where people were sitting. Me and Abbie had swapped groups, which was a nightmare for the both of us. While Lana would get to sit with each other, he seemingly felt uncomfortable sitting with Katie after last month. For me, I would be able to possibly form some kind of friendship with Zip, but I would have to endure Engel belting me with 'morality' and stuff like that.

Everyone sat down and waited patiently for the new language arts teacher to show up. Conversation began to spark as it normally does when we're waiting.

"So, have you come to your senses yet?" Engel asked aggressively, sounding agitated. I already knew what he was implying and groaned in annoyance.

"Seriously? You're still pissed about that? I really couldn't give a fuck anymore, Engel. At this point, you're just being rude." I said angrily without even thinking. While what I said wasn't at all bad, it did seem to tick something inside of him.

"You don't care, you say? You don't care if you die? Because if you keep hanging out with her, that's what will happen." He hissed in a desperate attempt to sway my mind in his direction. I understood that he was trying to protect me, but he was also belittling Alice, and I couldn't let it stand.

"And so what if I die? At least it's with the one person outside my family that actually cared for me for half my life." I tried my absolute hardest to defend her. Even though she clearly made a big mistake, I still loved her to the depths of the ocean. By this point, I realised I'm putting my friendship with Engel on the line having this argument.

"Yeah, what he said. If he wants to die due to his own stupidity, let him." Zip interjected, backing me up in a unique way. I was shocked that she'd take my side despite everything, even if the defence was backhanded.

Just then, a shadowy figure emerged from a corner of the room. Once people began noticing it, they all fell silent. The figure immediately crawled on all fours, scuttling it's way over to our group and standing up behind Zip.

"Taking the corner of a fellow classmate in distress? How sweet of you." The figure spoke menacingly, sending shivers down her spine as it placed a furry claw on her shoulder.

"T-Thanks, I guess." Zip stuttered. She didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or scared. The figure slowly removed their claw from her shoulder and slowly walked over to the teacher's desk, the light seeping into the room subtlety revealing their true appearance.

She had golden, silky hair surrounded by layers of vines. Tied to these vines were ABC blocks you'd expect a toddler to play with. She wore a bright yellow dress which contrasted against her pale skin. This would make for a seemingly pretty woman, but her lower legs and forearms were completely coated in gold-ish fur. That combined with her animalistic behaviour made me suspicious of her.

Once she made it to the blackboard, she elegantly pivoted to face the class. We didn't have to strain our necks as hard as she was reasonably sized, but she was still intimating. Her face was stretched into a wide grin, riddled with saw-like teeth.

"Good morning, class. May you day sail smoothly like a boat on a lake." She said calmly, grinning to the class at if to hint at some form of irony. Everyone said their good mornings to her, however I could tell some of them felt waves of discomfort.

"You may call me Miss Thavel. I'm sure we'll all get along through the art of languages." She continued, keeping up the same calm and calculated attitude she had despite being the weirdest teacher in the school so far (followed very closely by Miss Circle).

"Are all the new teachers just nutcases or are they just trying to freak us out?" Engel whispered to me and Zip. I simply give a silent nod in response, I too found it odd that they were acting strange. Zip just shrugged her shoulders, just as confused as the rest of us, but too unbothered by it to care.

Without giving him so much as a chance to breath, Miss Thavel snapped her head and stared at Engel.

"Nutcases, crazy people, "asylum patients" so to speak. Usually, the insane tend to be pioneers of speech." She said, her eyes twitching in annoyance. Already, Engel made a fool of himself, and Miss Thavel hasn't even begun her lecture. He was sat there flabbergasted for a brief moment, wondering how she was able to hear him.

To be fair, you weren't exactly quiet about it.

"Let's start ourselves off on how to recognise emotion based off what you see alone." She continued, displaying what closely resembled a shit-eating grin as she pointed at Engel and beckoned him closer to her. Letting out a worried sigh, he reluctantly rose from his desk and stumbled to the front of the class.

Ohh, Miss Thavel is gonna humiliate him in front of everyone.

"We'll use this eager beaver as an example." She said the moment Engel was by her side, placing her claw on top of his head.

"Would you mind telling me your name, mister?" Miss Thavel asked politely, now ready to expose his meek insides to the rest of the class.

"E-Engel Ficher, Miss." He stuttered nervously, stressed out that he was put on the spotlight. I watched intently as she began to rip into his true self.

"Well, can anyone tell me how Engel is feeling in the current moment?" Miss Thavel turned to the rest of the class, awaiting an answer from someone. I immediately shot my hand up, presenting a grin of my own to the class. Sure enough, I was called upon.

"From the body language he expresses and the noticeable stutter in his voice, I would assume that Engel is afraid." I said, my grin never leaving my face. For all the grief he's been giving me today, this felt satisfying. My eyes locked on him, examining his face as closely as possible. I could tell he was displeased with me, but I didn't care at all.

Miss Thavel just blinked at me, slightly taken aback by what was just a simple analysis to me.

"You already know how to recognise a thought through expression. Even with half your sight, you can still see the whole picture." She said, her jaw being damn near close to hitting the floor. As swiftly as possible, she collected her bearings again and continued her lecture.

"As stated already, Engel's current emotion expresses shades of uncertainty and distress." That wide grin reappeared on her face, only making him slip further and further into panic.

"One would assume he's afraid of meeting new people, or he's been found guilty of something." She droned on, picking apart his emotions, making sure he was ashamed of himself.

"However, just because what you see here is true, doesn't mean you must take these words of wisdom for fact. Looks can be deceiving, and sometimes what people are actually feeling is completely irrelevant to what is being expressed." My mind was silently blown apart. I couldn't have imagined having a teacher that was so good at making fun of a student and masking it as the actual lecture.

"That concludes this segment of the lecture, we will shortly begin with the planned curriculum once everyone has their textbooks out." She said, taking a deep breath as if putting herself at ease.

Everyone reached into their bags, grinning to themselves at what they just witnessed. I was desperately holding back an explosive wheeze. This was one of the funniest things I've ever seen up to this point.

Engel went to go back to his seat, but was thrusted backwards by Miss Thavel. Her claw never left his head, and she grabbed his hair the second he moved. I looked back up to see what was going on. She was in his face, staring him down.

"And don't even think about trying that again, or I'll make sure to be the last thing you see as you draw your final breath." She growled at him, causing him to shrink. Without another word, she shoved him forward, letting him go. He then promptly tumbled back into his seat, scared and frustrated. He didn't talk to me nor Zip for the rest of the period.

Class flew by just as math did. Before we knew it, the bell awoke from it's power nap and screamed down the halls.

"Class dismissed. Make sure you study for your test tomorrow, or else." Miss Thavel said gleefully as she spun a pencil around her nails playfully. Everyone promptly arose from their seats and marched their way out of class. This time, I wasn't stopped from leaving.

Just before I walked through the door, I noticed her pull out a picture in my peripherals. I caught a glimpse of a tear rolling down her eye. I was considering staying back and asking what was wrong, but it wasn't my business to pry into, so I just left her alone and exited the classroom.

On our way to science, me and Zip had a ton of thoughts playing on repeat. What's the deal here with Miss Thavel? Why was she acting the way she was? And more importantly, why would she approach Zip at the beginning of class?

As we were about to ask each other questions, Katie caught up to us, having lagged behind a little leaving the classroom last. She saw our confused faces and looked puzzled all by herself.

"What's with the faces?" She asked, wanting a clue to what was wrong.

"I don't know. I just think there's something amiss about the teachers." I said, letting out a defeated sigh. I've been trying to crack their weird behaviour, but it's too hard for me to see through them.

"Yeah, they're really creepy. This Thavel weirdo was breathing down my neck specifically for half the class." Zip added, annoyed and suspicious about these two.

Why Zip specifically? Did she know her?

"That's strange to say the least. Let's just hope our science teacher isn't like that." Katie lightly tapped her chin before shrugging it off.

"Honestly, I hope so."

"I'm praying that too."

Me and Zip agreed in unison. With all the sharp turns today has given us, I'm just praying we still have hope.

...10:27...

We were just about to walk past the windows to the science lab. Now was the moment of truth, one more weirdo and I might just go insane. Strolling side by side with the windows, I notice Zip peering into the classroom and her face running cold with dread, as if she's seen a ghost.

"Huh? What's up, Zip?" Katie asked her, surprised to see her getting wound up by seemingly nothing.

"Wha... What's my mom doing here?" She stuttered, scared and confused. Apparently her mom was in that classroom. Peeking into the window myself, I notice a woman sat at the teacher's desk, sorting through the papers of what seemed to be today's lesson.

That's her? Our new science teacher is Zip's mom?

"Ah. Well, it's been nice knowing you." Katie chuckled out loud, causing Zip to go red in the face. Now that apparently her mom was working here, she'll be on her case a lot more.

"Come on. It can't be that bad, right?" I said assuringly. I couldn't imagine anything crazier than what happened already today, so whatever Zip was worried about was probably mild.

Or so I thought.

Our class swung the door open, startling the woman and causing her to jump in her seat. Once again, we all funneled our way into class. She laid down the paper, pushed them to the side and stood up to face our desks.

Speaking of, this was the only room where the desk arrangements haven't changed. This was because they were bolted to the ground, so you couldn't move them without completely reworking the classroom itself. My seat was sandwiched between two other kids that just tolerated my existence; Skell the bat and Petunia the rabbit.

I took the time to analyse the woman's appearance from heat to toe. She had brown hair that was combed down from all angles, tied into a small ponytail by a white bow. She was the only new teacher that did this, so it was quite refreshing. Funnily enough, she also wore a headband closely resembling Katie's. It would be weird to me, but im in my late twenties writing this wearing the same hairclip ive had since I was three, so I cant be one to say anything.

Armouring her was a pitch-black office suit complete with a bright, crimson red skirt. She also took pride in wearing high heels, probably to compensate for her laughable hight (for reference, Engel was just about as tall as her).

One interesting thing that caught my attention was her hands. Her right hand was perfectly find, albeit shaped as if it were a claw, but her left was cloaked by a large white cloth, as if she was trying to hide it. I theorised that she was holding firearms under that cloth in case of a shooting, so I didn't bother questioning it.

Looking back at her face, she wasn't as cheerful as the previous two teachers. In fact, she wasn't smiling at all. She just held a cold stare, a look of authority, a hypnotising glare that made anyone obey her with the slightest glance. She sharply cleared her throat, and we all faced her without question.

"Good day class. I am your new science teacher for the rest of the year." She said. The class returned her greetings without another promt. Her authority was so entrancing, some of the kids actually thought they were in the army periodically.

"You may refer to me as Miss Bloomie for the time you are here, or Ma'am if for whatever reason you're too stupid to remember." She continued. This almost felt a little personal, it now began to feel like we had someone who was treating us like they're above us.

"If you have any questions, you may raise your hand and I'll answer." She didn't expect anyone to ask anything, but was spitballing just in case. Just as she was about to turn away to start the lecture, Lana's hand went up into the air faster than a rocket.

"Ugh, already? What's your question, sock puppets?" Miss Bloomie prompted, pointing at Lana. Now she was expecting a question, and Lana thought of something to ask immediately.

"'Sup with the cloth? Any reason for it, or is that confidential?" Lana asked, seemingly just as confused as I was. However, she was met by a stern look.

"The latter. That's the one question I won't answer." She hissed at her, not liking having her time wasted. This only raised more suspicions. Not wanting to say something is fine, but being rude about it?

You're definitely hiding something important.

Lana slowly lowered her hand, sinking back into her seat while Miss Bloomie turned to the board to start the lecture.

"Let's begin, shall we?" She said, upholding her authority. Everyone unknowingly nodded as she put the chalk to the blackboard and began writing.

Throughout the whole lecture, Zip was on her toes. It seemed as if she knew more than us, and I was too suspicious of Miss Bloomie to not want to ask. I signalled her to talk to me after class.

Like last time, nothing too noteworthy happened, it was simply an introduction to something we were meant to start last week (I honestly can't remember what it was for the life of me). Just as we were finishing up, as if on cue, the bell rang for our free period.

"Remember class, there's a test first thing in the morning. Don't. Fail. Me." Miss Bloomie said through gritted teeth. This was even more threatening than when the other two said it. She had made it clear that she was one to be feared the most.

But I was calm, and didn't care. In fact, I found her attempts to be scary... cute in a way?

"Class dismissed." She concluded, directing us out the door. Everyone then snapped back to reality and hastily left the class one by one. We all decided to spend some time at the courtyard, and took the opportunity to share our thoughts on the new teachers. But before that, I had a bone to pick with Zip.

"Hey, you got a moment?" I asked her, wanting to know more about Miss Bloomie and why she's so defensive about that cloth.

"Yeah. I already know what you're gonna ask." Zip sighed, anticipating my request. I was quite surprised, but it was a matter of is she was willing to say anything.

"Oh, okay. Do you mind telling me what's under that?" I continued, almost choking on my own words. She gulped a lump down her throat before stepping closer to me, snatching my ear.

"There's a giant box cutter under that cloth. It literally is her entire left forearm." She whispered to me, making sure to not attract any attention. This only raised even more questions. Why would she need a blade on her arm, let alone one that big?

"Uhh, any reason why?" I asked, curious to know more. Zip just stayed silent for a moment before speaking again.

"Can't say. If she found out I said anything, I'll be grounded forever." She stuttered. While curiosity was beginning to consume me, I didn't want to pry any further into it if it was making Zip feel uncomfortable.

"Fair enough." I said, staring at the floor. I left her alone for the rest of the day.

The rest of the day was relatively normal, nothing too out of the ordinary happened. If I had to name one thing that happened, it's that Abbie and Miss Circle seem to be getting along with each other, despite Abbie looking terrified for his life standing next to this giant.

Later on that week, we were told we'd be getting some transfer students coming to Paper School, most likely due to Alice killing a good chunk of our old kids. We wouldn't see them until the week after, so there was little excitement for a little while. However, it would also be the week after that we make a horrifying revelation about the new teachers. One that would turn my already stressful life into actual. living. hell...

END OF CHAPTER 4

Chapter Text

Tuesday, February 15th, 2005

Paper School Main Hall (8:51 AM)

Another day, another stress-free work moment at Paper School. Everyone was buzzing out of their minds that day, as this marked the day when the new students would finally be starting permanently. My only hope was that they had a much better time than we had all those years ago.

We were allowed to wait by the front gates in the main hall. A large chunk of the school was there, even some of the teachers. Miss Circle and Miss Bloomie were especially excited (Miss Bloomie masked her happiness, but I could notice subtle hints), however, I couldn't put my finger on why.

As time passed by, shadows of the new kids would be seen peering through the windows on the doors. I silently waited with Katie. She was quietly judging the kids, and I was deep in thought. Eventually, I broke the silence to pass the time before Principal Grace opened the doors.

"So, Oliver. What are you expecting from the new students?" I asked, wanting to hear a second opinion. She simply shrugged at me, not knowing what to say.

"Dont care, not fuss. So long as they don't give me grief, I can tolerate them." She answers indifferently. I smirk a little, using this time to start some conversation and also crack a bad joke.

"Fair enough. What if they do? Should we feed them to the princess?" I said, almost chuckling to myself. Katie nervously followed suit, not knowing how to feel. I was, of course, referring to Alice, and she clocked on, blushing a little.

"Yep, we'll give her something to toy with." She stuttered, going visibly red in the face despite willing herself to be menacing.

Switching topics again, I bump her waist with my right elbow, hoping her attention to me.

"Yeah, I know that look. Are you making any progress with her?" It felt like an interrogation at this point. With the way I've been asking her, it sounded like I'm poking fun at her, but I was genuinely curious.

"Well, she seemed to like my valentines gift, so I'd assume so." It was clear she was ashamed to go into detail about it.

Honestly, I found it quite amusing. On Alice's first day, Katie kept making bad comments on our close friendship, saying we were dating. Nowadays, she's using that friendship to do the very thing she accused me for.

We continued talking, changing subjects every five or so sentences, before Principal Grace showed up and unlocked the doors and lightly pulled them open. As she did, an ocean of kids came flooding into the school building. Quite a few of them stood out to me, and there was some... interesting characters, to say the least.

For starters, there was some girl in a crown that ran straight to Miss Circle. From what I heard, Miss Circle was her mom, and her name was Lizzy (I found out so soon because Miss Circle shouted her name). I never really spoke to her all that often, so we didn't become friends. She did end up making friends with Petunia, so that's a plus for her.

There was also a boy who was dressed in what seemed like a lab coat and had a ton of homemade remotes hung on his collar. Principal Grace immediately took him by the hand, seemingly assuring him he would have a great time here.

But the weirdest one that struck me for a little while was a single girl in the crowd. They had almost identical features to Miss Bloomie; similar head shape, same colour hair, same hair style. The one thing setting her apart from her was the attire. Rather than wearing a suit, she looked to be wearing actual school uniform.

However, there was one feature about her that surprised me very greatly. Her left hand was missing, and fastened in its place was what seemed to be an exacto knife. I found it quite odd that a child would feel the need to wield a sharp object, but she seemed non threatening, so I just didn't ask. 

Her eyes eventually fell on Miss Bloomie, who was attending to Zip and what looked to be her little brother. Upon feeling her gaze, her head was turned to face her. The girl slowly approached her, presumably to greet her.

I, however, paid no mind to it and just waited for our classes to start. I was puzzled for sure, but it's not like it mattered all that much.

That claim is going to age like milk soon, isn't it?

Come the time where language arts is meant to start. Miss Thavel immediately panics, realising she has a class to teach, and... sprints off on all fours? I followed her, as her class was first on my timetable, while scratching my head. Her animalistic behaviour, the way she ran like a dog. Was she some kind of hybrid?

I pushed my questions to the back of my mind, knowing I'll never get an answer for them. We have more pressing matters to worry about. We had a test today, and passing it was of top priority.

...8:59...

We were all sat in class, waiting for the second bell to ring. Despite getting a head start on us, Miss Thavel wasn't there yet. The moment we stepped into the classroom, all of us had learned that the seating arrangements have been rewritten again. That's when I came to realise the new kids I saw as "Out Of The Ordinary" had their timetables synchronised with mine.

Engel was placed with two new girls, one with oddly soapy hair and the Bloomie lookalike, and Katie and Zip were moved to sit with Principal Grace's supposed son, leaving me with Abbie and Lana. It was kind of a letdown being separated from my new friends, but I tried not to let it bother me all too much.

I didn't really know what to talk about, so I mostly just sat in silence while they engaged in some conversation I paid no attention to. I was more or less reading from my language textbook in between spacing in and out of reality.

One or two minutes pass by before Miss Thavel finally shows up, visibly exhausted from the rushing around. Apparently, she forgot where the classroom was and only remembered once she was right next to it. Catching her breath momentarily, she turns to the class, fresh test papers in hand.

"Good morning, class. The day is sunny, and you should be too." She happily exclaimed to the class.

"Before we begin today's test, I would like to introduce you to our new students for our class." She began beckoning the fresh faces to the front of the class. As she did, I notice six kids leave their seats and walk to the teacher's desk. Miss Thavel stepped to their left as they lined the front, completely blocking the view of the board.

"Starting with the student closest to me, why don't you introduce yourself to your peers?" She asked, patting the kid closest to her on the head. One by one, they began disclosing their names and not much else.

"My name's Robby Qerbart. Its nice you meet you all." An unusually small kid said with a smile. He had a propeller hat you'd see on nine year old boys, so he was probably very childish.

"Y0U M4Y C4LL M3 RU8Y. 1'M 50 6L4D W3'LL 83 7H3 8357 0F FR13ND5." A robotic voice coordinated from the crowd. It was an obnoxiously tall droid, barely stretching to eigth feet in height. They dont have a last name, and I fully expected that.

"Sup, everyone. I'm Edward Grace, and you'd better do as I say!" A smug voice boomed from the labrat. It had been confirmed that he was Principal Grace's son, and it was clear from the get go that he would be a major nuisance.

"H-Hey. I'm Lizzy Circle, a-and I am proud to be here." The only other tall, timid girl in the crowd of six spoke up to introduce herself. It was clear that Miss Circle had embarrassed her the second she stepped foot here, and she didn't like it.

"Heyaa~ I'm Bubble Swandor, and I wish you a wonderful time with me." The soapy hair kid called out from the front. Her name was the most abnormal out of the rest, but considering she looks like she doesnt know what a towel is, it kind of fit her.

"Good morning. I'm Claire Reeves. I just want to thank you for letting me be here." The Bloomie lookalike spoke out as if she was preaching a speech. Her eyes were lit up from excitement, but hidden behind was a hint of uncertainty.

Once all their introductions were finished, Miss Thavel shooed them back to their desks and began handing out the test papers.

"The unfamiliar faces will get a spot of leniency as it's their first day. For the rest of you, make sure you answer everything before this period is over. Should you fail, I'll be seeing you during your free period." She said, keeping her smile as the last of the papers were gently pressed onto our desks. She returned to the front of the class and sat down before announcing the start of the test.

Absolutely everyone was silent for the whole thirty minutes

As this was a relatively simple test, I had absolutely no trouble answering any of the questions. We all handed in our tests several minutes before the test was meant to end, so Miss Thavel let us go to our next class early.

As we were about to leave again, I look over my shoulder and notice her welling up again. Every time class is dismissed, she pulls out a picture the size of an ID photo and soaks the desk in tears. For a while, I've just left her alone, as this wasn't my business to pry into. But this time, it got to me, and I couldn't pretend I dont care any longer.

"Hey, Oliver. You and Zip walk on, I'll catch up with you." I alerted Katie, inadvertently telling her that I'm staying back for a little while. The next class isn't on for fifteen minutes, I've got time to kill.

"Aight." She responded, walking off without me as I stayed with Miss Thavel for a little while.

I walked over to the teacher's desk where she was, grabbing a chair from a nearby student desk. She noticed I was still here and was sort of surprised.

"What are you doing here? I dismissed the class already." She asked, raising an eyebrow. Her face was still stained with tears and she was having a hard time breathing.

"I just wanted to sit with you for a bit, you seem pretty upset with something." I answered, showing concern as I slid the chair right next to her's and sat down.

"But why? Why would you want to stay?" She was very confused, but seemed glad someone wanted to be with her.

"Why would I let someone dwell on something alone? After all, I'd hate seeing you sad." I smiled softly. I wanted to pat her on the back, but I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Thanks, kid." She said, staring blankly at the desk. Her eyes fell on the picture again, and she began sobbing, cupping her face in her claws and letting them catch the tears.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's wrong?" I asked, speaking softly as to not startle her. In response, she handed me the photo to look at for myself.

It was a picture of her and what looked to be a humanoid dragon holding a baby. I was baffled, I wasn't expecting something like this at all.

Miss Thavel had a family?

I turned to her even more puzzled than before, expecting answers. She immediately picked up on  composed herself to began explaining.

"That is, or was, my daughter I'm holding in that picture. The other person you're seeing used to be my boyfriend." She stuttered, almost crumbling to tears again thinking about something.

"That's very sweet. But why are you speaking in the past tense? What happened?" I asked, slowly growing more and morw worried for her. Little did I know that I was about to have an entire life story dumped onto my shoulders.

She took deep breaths, rested a claw on my shoulder and explained everything.

"It's a long story. You see, you won't believe me at first, but that baby I'm holding was Zip. That photo was taken a couple of weeks after she was born, she was the most beautiful thing I ever had the privilege of holding." She smiled, reminiscing in the somber memories of her past. That smile quickly faded as she continued talking.

"However, my now ex-boyfriend found out what I truly am and left me out of fear that I would attack him. He even took Zip away from me before she could be claimed as a Thavel. She never even got to know me, she was only three weeks old." Her eyes were watering yet again, her tears now falling onto me.

"I thought I would never see her again. I had lost my most prized treasure the moment I gained it. I tried to live a normal life afterwards, but I couldn't cope with the loss. Everything I've tried, everything I did, it could never fill the missing piece of me." I started to feel very bad for her. Even thought I've only known her for a week, it feels like we could get along very well.

"Just as I was about to give up hope, I was given the opportunity to work here by Principal Grace. After learning that Zip attends this school, I immediately accepted the offer and was given the role of head of language." This explains so much to me. I now understand why Zip was the first student she interacted with and why she kept hanging around her so much.

I couldn't hold back what I was feeling any longer, so I immediately lent in closer and hugged her tightly. The only other person I've done this to was Alice, so it was clear from the start that I cared for her more than most would.

"Wha... What are you doing?" Miss Thavel instinctively recoiled, taken by surprised by my extensive gratitude.

"You need this. You're not the only one who waited years to see someone special again, I know how it feels to have given up hope in seeing someone you love so much again." I said, trying to hold back tears of my own. She let out a faint gasp, realising what I was entailing.

"You do? I didn't... how?" She stuttered, wanting me to explain myself to her this time. Considering how well she's been treating me so far, I happily obliged.

"I have a friend that... well, lives in this school now. I dont really need to explain who, I think you were told on your induction. We hadn't seen each other for years, and I basically accepted that I'd never see her again." I said, staring into her eyes, showing her I was genuine. Her tears from earlier made her ocean-blue eyes sparkle like sapphire.

She silently nodded, knowing what I was referring to and taking into account that I knew how she was feeling. While I've not been apart from Alice for nearly as long as Miss Thavel has been from Zip, it still hit me hard and has made me a tad more clingy towards her.

"Well, its nice to know you two are back together again, and I'm happy to know you've already walked a mile in my shoes." She said softly as she accepts my embrace, pulling me off my chair and into her arms. I was stunned to say the least. I didnt think she would break down this easily, but considering the tough life she's lived for a decade and a half, I couldn't blame her for it.

"I needed this." She continued. It was at that point that I realised I've become a favourite student. Not through smarts or dedication, be through simply being therapeutic. To be honest, it was therapeutic for me too. I didn't want to say anything in case she got uncomfortable, but she was the softest person to hug. Her golden fur made it feel like cuddling one of my stuffed animals. It made me feel at ease, like I was safe around her...

I want to be safe around her...

I glance up at the clock after some time and panic. It was five minutes till next period and I had to catch up with my class.

"Ahh. I need to catch up with my class now. Sorry Miss Thavel, but I need to go." I said in a hyperactive tone, patting her back and letting her go. She understood that I had somewhere to be and released me from her grasp, letting me climb off her. Sliding the chair I was using back under the desk it came from, I turn to leave the class. Just before I go, I turned back to her and smiled.

"Thank you... uhh... what's your name again?" She cut her thanks short with a question. I realised I never introduced myself properly to her.

"Oh. I'm Raven." I answered cheerfully. She smiled back at me, taking in what I said.

"Raven... That's such a pretty name. Well, I appreciate you coming to see me." Her spirits had lifted. She now had two people to look forward to coming here, and I was already thinking of a way to bring her and Zip closer together.

"Thanks. Welp, see you tomorrow, Thavy." I said, giggling out loud as I left the room. As I left, I saw her blush red while placing the tests that were handed in on her desk, ready to be graded.

I just pray that I don't have to see him again later. He's such a nice kid.

...9:41...

I burst into the math room, exhausted from all the running to get there. As I walked in, I got some dirty looks from some of the other students, especially the new ones. I paid no mind to them as I tried to locate my desk, which had been moved again because of the new kids. I found my desk almost instantly, and found out I was sat with Zip and Claire.

Huh, the convenience of that is amazing.

As I sat down, Zip sharply clears her throat, averting my attention to her. I look at her indifferently, almost annoyed but not bothered at all. Zip on the other hand is using all her strength to hold in a laugh, seeing what I did as an absolute joke.

"Staying back with the language teacher for some extra study? Damn, you really have geeked out recently." She said, giggling to herself. She meant it lightheartedly, she knew the reason, but wanted to annoy me for the hell of it.

"Yeah, totally. Gotta stay on top of school." I reply, letting out a small chuckle. The dynamic between me and Zip at that moment was the same as it was with Katie before she met Alice. We would annoy each other, but we never meant anything by it.

"Fucking teacher's pet. Guess Miss Thavel really likes you now." Claire scoffed, chiming into our little joke. My eyes immediately dart to her and catch her in her little scheme.

"Me? The teacher's pet? Didn't you run straight to Miss Bloomie this morning?" I yelled, not for the whole class to hear, but loud enough to get my point across. Claire went red from embarrassment while Zip was in hysterics.

"Touché, I'll give you that one." She stuttered as she hid her face in her desk. I didnt really appreciate being called a teacher's pet, so she was asking to be called out like that.

Me and Zip kept talking until Miss Circle arrived, which only took a few minutes. While we were waiting, I explained the real reason why I stayed back, since she asked. She simply shrugged it off for now, not thinking much of it. To her, I've made someone's day by helping them through a tough time.

Not much happened during math, other than Edward acting high and mighty to Miss Circle, who promptly humbled him by simply standing in front of him. Other then that, nothing noteworthy to share, up until our free period of the day.

...10:33...

My thoughts were racing a hundred miles an hour. Me, Katie and Zip were sat by the poolside anticipating our calling. Miss Thavel's words to the class rung through my ears on repeat.

Should you fail, I'll be seeing you during your free period.

She seemed like a nice person, so I dread to imagine the implications of what that meant. I tried to take my mind off of it by listening into the conversation happening next to me.

"You really think he's got a shot with her? Last I checked, he didn't give a shit about being in a relationship." Katie said to Zip, sounding displeased with a comment that was made. It didnt take long to figure out the topic here.

Oh, for fuck sake...

"Stop making it weird, I never said he had a shot. I'm just saying I believe this kid has some kind of crush on the language teacher." Zip stuttered, defending herself. She's probably gone and shipped me with Miss Thavel, and Katie wasn't too happy with it.

I was not all that impressed by it myself.

"No the fuck I do not. I just stayed back to talk with her, at what point did the thought of us both becoming a thing cross your mind?" I chuckled annoyingly. Both of them turned to face me, clearly not noticing I was still here.

"Shit, didn't think he heard." Zip whispered. Too bad for her, I heard that as well. She was never the best as whispering.

"Hey Ray Ray, mind if I talk to you now?" Katie asked me, but in a way that sounded quite forceful. It was clear she needed some questions answered, and wanted to ask me about it.

"Sure, hit me." I answered nonchalantly. She moved closer to me and lent to my ear.

"What actually happened in that room?" She lowered her voice, knowing this is meant to be private. I took a deep breath before grabbing one of her ears.

"Don't tell Zip this. Okay?" My voice was lowered to a mere whisper. So quiet, only she could hear it. She nodded, and I continued.

"I heard Miss Thavel crying so I stayed back to see what was up. Thats when I found out that Zip was actually her daughter by blood." Katie froze. She had no idea about this. She had always thought Miss Bloomie was her mother, she even went to her house a few times. This answered why Miss Thavel was acting creepy around Zip, but it destroyed what Katie thought she knew about her.

"Wait, how?" She continued asking me questions, holding her best impression of a whisper she could muster.

"There was a picture she had on her that she handed to me. It was a photo of her, Thavel, and a dragon which I assume to be her father." I continued, giving more details that shattered the illusion of knowledge.

"And her father now is still a huge ass fucking dragon. Are you saying that Zip was stolen from Miss Thavel and given to Miss Bloomie?" She cupped her face in the palms of her hands, trying to wrap her head around everything.

After hearing what Katie had to say all I could do is nod. Now I actually had the evidence to confirm Miss Thavel's story. But what did Zip's dad find out about her to take her away?

We continued exchanging minor thoughts on this before Zip was catching wind of us purposely keeping her out of the conversation.

"Hello? Are you just gonna leave me hanging?" She called out to us, causing us to jump. We let her back into the talk and changed the subject. We thought this free period would go smoothly, no problems or inconveniences whatsoever. That was, at least until...

"Hey, what do you think you're doing around her?" A crazed voice shrieked from just beside us. Katie now looked pissed while me and Zip were confused. We both turned to see a short girl pointing a small kitchen knife to our faces. We both nearly screamed, it caught us both off guard.

"Don't scare me like that." I growled, still breathing heavily from the sudden rush of energy. The girl looked really angry as us for seemingly no reason.

"Back away from Katie, and nobody gets hurt!" She shouted, her knife wobbling in her hand. Very overprotective for someone who couldn't give less of a damn about them.

"Ugh. For the last time, Riley, could you fuck off. You're getting on my nerves." Katie sneered at her. This girl had some weird obsession with her, and it was clearly bugging her to the point of saying something. Riley clearly was not taking no for an answer.

"Aww, come on. You know you like me too, stop denying it~" She teased, hiding the knife away in her uniform. She lent in closer to Katie, which caused her to recoil and shoved her away.

God I wish she died, she is such a pain in my ass.

Katie was desperately holding back her urge to fight Riley at this point, even me and Zip were begging for her to go away. Just as we were thinking of pushing her into the pool, a voice crackled through the intercom.

"Good morning, this is Miss Thavel. Could Riley Amber please see me in Room 148? Thank you."

She was annoyed with being pulled away from here, but she was required to be somewhere now.

"Well thats a shame. See you later, my dear Katie~" She said, waving goodbye as she left the pool area.

"Finally! Peace at last." Katie sighed with relief. With Riley gone, she can now continue her conversation in peace. I, however, was still wondering what the teachers will do to you if you fail, so I stood up to follow her.

"Hey, where are you going?" Zip caught me leaving and asked why. I simply looked back to her before returning a weak smile.

"I just wanna see their method of punishment. I know she fucked up, let me see what they'll do." I said, my eyes darting between the two. Katie shrugged it off, now used to me doing this. Zip, however, looked worried for me.

"Okay, be careful." She stuttered just as I turned around and followed Riley out the door.

...10:36...

The halls were almost devoid of students. The only ones left were either 'lost puppies' or outcasts of their groups. I managed to catch up to Riley very quickly, but I made sure not to make my presence known to her. We just continued walking, she was internally throwing a tantrum that she had been pulled away by a teacher, while I was eager to learn what happens this time.

None of us knew the true weight of the situation at hand.

Before we knew it, we made it to Room 148. As Riley walked inside, gleefully swinging the door open, I stared through the window to watch the fireworks display that would unfold.

Miss Thavel had her stand up in front of the teacher's desk while she verbally shook her down. The conversation was muffled out, so I couldn't tell what was going on. She must've said something threatening, because I noticed Riley quivering just forty seconds into the talk. Finally, Miss Thavel slowly lifted a sheet of paper off her desk and showed her the written side.

14%, F-

Riley's arms dropped to her sides, now terrified of what's to come. She seemingly tried to plead with her, begging of a second chance. For the next few seconds, one lone thought crossed my mind...

How does one fuck up language arts THAT badly?

Within the next blink of an eye, Miss Thavel scrunched up the failed test in her claw and slammed in on to her desk, the force was so great you could see wood splintering. She took deep breaths, clawing at the desk as something horrific befell my eyes.

Miss Thavel went pale, more than she already was, and her claws crew longer and sharper. The fur on her body became puffier, each individual hair was standing up on its own. Even more so, a tail had now grown behind her and her head had been moulded, having deer antlers protuding from both sides.

I was awestruck and petrified at the same time. She had become a sight to behold, I had never seen anything like it until that point. But, at the same time, I'm reminded...

Principal Grace really hired a WENDIGO TO WORK AT A SCHOOL?!

Riley took a couple steps back, now realising the gravity of the situation at hand. I too had figured out what was going on, and I was excited to see. Miss Thavel said one more thing to her, which caused to to make a run for it.

She burst out the door and ran to he left, hoping to lose her. Sadly for her, Miss Thavel turned that way too and was tracking her down. There it was, she was sprinting at her on all fours.

Suddenly, it made sense why her ex left her and took Zip.

I, like the twisted kid I was, wanted to see how this ended, so I ran after Miss Thavel while also tracking Riley. Corner after corner was rounded, but I never lost her, and if I'm able to keep her in sight, she definitely is able to. Me and Miss Thavel very quickly caught up to her. All my constant running had made me faster and more agile overtime, and she had it from birth because of instinct and evolution.

Eventually, the chase had to end. Riley was finally cornered in a storage room as Miss Thavel slowly approached her. Desperate to find a way out, she threw a spare book at her, only for it to be destroyed with a single swipe of her claw. She makes a b-line for an opposite corner of the room to make some sort of distance to escape. It was no use, she never stood a chance.

WRAAAWRR

Without any forewarning, Miss Thavel pounced at Riley, pinning her to the ground. Both their eyes were wide, one with fear and the other seering with rage. Miss Thavel was salivating, hungry, bloodthirsty. She raised her dagger-like claws into the air, ready to strike.

This is it. Our new form of punishment is death...

She dug her claws into Riley and started scratching away, tearing skin and flesh apart. Her screams of agony ricochet through the halls as veins and arteries are torn to shreds, painting the storage room in steaming red blood. Through the destruction of bone and tendons, I could hear the blood curdled cries for mercy, mercy she would never receive.

Miss Thavel hastily sifted her hands through the now exposed chest cavity, puncturing her lungs in the process. The violent cries turned to frantic gasps for air that Riley would never take in at all. She couldn't breathe anymore. Her heart was torn out, shown to her, dangling in her face mockingly, before the important blood vessels still clinging on were ripped away. Riley had gone still, laying in the middle of the room, breathless and covered in layers of her own blood and tissue, all while Miss Thavel was chewing on her heart.

There was no doubting it anymore...

Riley was dead...

Despite how much I enjoyed it, I was sickened by the sight of the aftermath. I slowly moved away from the vile scene in front of me. After I was far enough away from the scene, I sprinted the rest of the way back to the pool. On the way back, I took the time to reflect on what I saw and what it meant for everyone.

Should you fail a test now, you would be brutally killed then and there. This was a non issue for me, as I never failed a single test in my life. I just feared for everyone else, knowing some of them will blunder one at some point. The scariest part of this was Miss Thavel wasn't the only one, they will all kill you if you fail even just one test. This will definitely prove to make things troublesome for my plans to bring her back together with Zip, but that wasn't an issue for today.

I arrived back at the pool and found Katie and Zip again, rushing towards them as I waved at them. They both noticed me and smiled.

"So, how was it?" Zip asked me as I sat back down. Despite how horrific it was, I was the most giddy I've ever been since grade three.

"Oh, it truly was a sight to behold!" I said excitedly, holding the widest grin you'll ever see.

"Let me guess, she died?" Katie joked, giggling to herself as she did. She half expected it to be true, but wasn't hoping for it.

"Well don't I have news for you then!" I said, upholding my cheerfulness. Both their mouths fell agape once they realised what I meant, leading to some mixed reactions. It was mostly positive as we won't have to worry about being annoyed by her anymore. But there was some discomfort, as they pondered if they will be next.

"Don't worry, they only kill failures. You should be safe." I placed my hands on their shoulders to calm them down. It worked, but it was a slow process.

Nothing much happened for a little while after, it was just a little uneasy for a while. Despite how much of a murderer Miss Thavel turned out to be, I was still on her side and loved being around her.

I want to help her rekindle with Zip as opposed to hovering around her eerily, and I believe I have the perfect first step towards that.

Even if they turn out to be complete sociopaths, I believe the teachers will help us grow into the people we desire to be. Secretly, I think their new punisment system makes sense.

I am ready and eager to learn more, but for now, it's time to pay the princess a visit...

--END OF CHAPTER 5--

Chapter Text

"I'd say the same, but for a similar reason why Bubble likes Circle. She's fun to be around, even if her classes can be boring." Claire grinned, talking childishly as if she were around several years younger. It was definitely creepy, but it didn't seem to bother me all that much.

Katie happily strolled over and gently knocked on the door, awaiting a response.

"Who is it...?" A muffled, slightly distorted voiced called from behind. I could immediately tell who it was and stepped closer to the door.

"It's me, Katie. I'm here with an old friend as well." She stuttered, seemingly flustered. I could feel a smile creeping onto my face, happy to finally get to see her again.

There was a long pause before the door was opened from the inside.

"Come in!" The voice beckoned welcomingly. While faint, I could hear it wavering, as if it was happy. We both slowly stepped inside, into the empty abyss on the other side.

The moment we had entered, the door shut behind us. Whatever light that was in the room with us had disappeared. I was about to look around before I felt something... a claw lightly rested on my shoulder.

"Wait... is that...?" The voice spoke again, even raspier than before. It almost sounded like it was about to cry.

"Alice?" I glanced back and saw a shadowy figure... at least three times my height. I knew who it was, stating up to meet it's gaze. It's bright red eyes, which would signify death in any other scenario, fell softly on mine with joy.

"Raven... it's really you!" She stuttered, lost in a moment of bliss it seemed. She kneeled down to my level and pulled me into an embrace.

I was stunned for a moment. She welcomed me in and was happy to see me. She seemed to want me here, and that made nearly me cry. This, however, only made me feel bad. This whole time, I could've gone to see her without consequence. But instead I kept my distance, fearing the plausible rejection.

"I'm sorry... for not coming to see you..." I sobbed, squeezing her as hard as I could. I couldn't even begin to fathom how hard it was for her not to see me. Even being with Katie, she was probably lost without me.

"Don't be. I understand why you wouldn't want to see me... especially after what I did..." She loudly muttered, now on the verge of breaking down. After the incident, it turns out she viewed herself in a bad light. She hated herself for it.

"Oh come on. It's been two weeks, I've already moved on from that." I looked at her, mildly annoyed. The fact that she still blames herself for something out of her control was triggering and disheartening.

"No, I mean what I did... to you. I hurt you, and I can never forgive myself for that." She shut her eyes and looked away, tears streaming down her face. I placed a hand on my rig eye, feeling fabric instead of skin. I lightly tapped her to get her to look at me.

"So what? Im alive and breathing, right? It was an accident anyway, you didn't know." Despite her telling me otherwise, I wanted her to see that I was okay and that everything that happened didn't matter to me. She finally looked back to me and opened her eyes again, and we both held our embrace for a little while longer.

"I... don't understand. Why, even after everything, are you... so nice to me? What did I do... to deserve a friend like you?" She seemed to be puzzled by my kindness. Through her greatest struggles where she was in the wrong, I helped her be optimistic, kept telling her the grass is greener on the other side. She never understood me or my moral compass, but she loved me regardless.

You didn't have to do anything.

"Hey, don't forget about me. Now I'm starting to feel lonely." Katie interjected. She seemed to be enjoying your reunion, but felt a little jealous that she wasn't any affection.

I didn't want to leave her out, so I stretched my arm out in her direction, welcoming her into the embrace.

"Be lonely no longer. Get over here y'a goofball!" Alice smiled invitingly, allowing her to join in. Sure enough, she leaped into our arms.

We all held the embrace for an extra minute or so. I was reminiscing in the touch of my past, the warm cuddles I missed for so long. Katie was savouring this moment, wishing for this all the time. Alice was doing botb, still teary from seeing me again.

Eventually, we had to break free from the group hug. I wasn't entirely sure what to do for a little while, so I left it up to the both of them to start.

"Now that our... extended greeting is out of the way, let's catch up. What's been going on outside?" Alice asked, wanting to know what's happening. Being trapped inside of this prison, it's very difficult to keep up to date with everything.

"Well, for starters, this one stole a heart." Katie chuckled smugly. Alice giggled at the idea while I, understandably, went red in the face for the umpteenth time this month.

"I wouldn't say I 'stole their heart' but they do like me quite a lot." I stammered, trying to hide the heat radiating off of my cheeks. Alice smiled at me, finding my initial reaction... amusing.

I've missed this so much...

"Ooh I'm interested. Who is it?" Alice eagerly asked. Now she knew I was with another person, she decided to poke further.

"It's... uhh... one of the new teachers." I trembled, ashamed. I braced myself for the humiliation, not realising who I was with. Alice just giggled while Katie sat back and watched the fireworks.

"Hehe. So you're a teacher's pet now? That's cute." Alice teased. Even in her form of pure darkness, I could notice a tinge of pink slowly creep into view on her cheeks.

Why does everyone keep calling me that?

"What's even more fun is he's not the only one." Katie's smile went from playfulness to genuine happiness. I knew she was eluding to Claire, but i also noticed her trying to score so points with Miss Circle too. I kept my smug smile down, so as to not make it so obvious that I knew.

"It seems you two have a lot to talk about to each other then." Alice's eyes darted between us both, feeling at ease for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

"What about Engel and Lana? How are they doing?" She asked, intrigued to know what's up with them.

I felt my heart sink a little, calling back to our first day back after the incident. Do I tell her what's he's been saying behind her back?

No, I'd have to make up a false truth.

"Me and Lana have been distant for some time now. Not because we're not friends anymore, but because she prefers spending time with her crush." I said, still maintaining my smile. It nearly cracked however when I thought about how to describe Engel's recent behaviour towards her.

"Engel and I are still friends, we just dont talk all that much anymore." I quietly flinched as I said that, now expecting questions from her. Surprisingly, she didn't ask anything.

"I'm sure the silence is temporary, he'll come back around." She said happily. All she wanted to know was if she was okay.

Yeah... eventually...

It was at this moment I noticed Katie blushing a little. She looked like she wanted to ask something, but was too flustered to get the words out.

"Uhh... A-Alice.. C-Can I... ask you something..." Her voice trailed off, embarrassed with what she said. Alice and I looked over to her, interesting in what her question was.

"Mmhm, what's up?" Alice invited her request, now expecting a question to answer.

"Can I... ummm... c-can.." She had become a stuttering mess, struggling to find the proper words.

"...can I.. k-kiss you?"

Even Alice was going red in the face now, this came from nowhere. It had been apparent that they haven't moved to this part in their relationship yet, so this was news to both.

"Oooo, this will be interestiong." I giggled to myself, standing back and enjoying their little love session... or so I thought.

"You can have one as well, Raven."

My eyes widened in surprise, then my face went red as well. She wasn't serious, right? Regardless, Katie became competitive, still flustered by what she had to ask.

"Hey, I-I asked first!" Katie was quick to defend herself, not liking the idea of "sharing out love". I saw this as an opportunity to bug the everliving crap out of her, and egged her on.

"Nonono, it's fine. You don't seem like you want it anyway." This amused me, she was getting annoyed and Alice was laughing to herself. She had then come up with an idea to settle the score.

"You know what? Since you both dont like sharing. How about a little competition." She giggled confidently. Me and Katie were both deep into the rivaly and none of us were willing to back down now.

"Deal! What is it?" Katie asked smugly. She was full of herself now, so anything she did would become an interesting sight.

"Simple. First to climb to my shoulders gets the kiss." She stood upright, presenting the challenge to us in it's full glory.

Alice in her current form was around twenty feet tall. While that's also counting the head, its still quite a height to climb. However, none of us cared anymore. I mean, would you turn up the opportunity to free climb a demon? Well, saying that out loud, maybe you would.

We both stood at her feet, waiting for the starting whistle to blow. Alice just stood facing forward, arms down by her sides. She took some deep breaths, before bracing herslef.

"On your marks..."

Katie was already itching to start while I tried to keep calm. That is quite a height we were climbing, and I was more afraid of falling off than anything else.

"Ready..."

A smile had crept onto her face once again. She knew she was about to enjoy seeing, or rather... feeling, what was about to happen.

"Set..."

I took deep breaths, preparing myself. Then looked up, planning my ascent. Maybe this wouldn't be too hard...

Maybe she woul-

"Go!"

My thoughts were disrupted as we both lept forward, jumping at Alice's ankles just as we started climbing.

The race was on.

I noticed Katie looking for safe spots to climb to, being hesitant to climb without falling off. This worked in my favour, as I could focus on grabbing at the most secure parts I could find.

Soon enough, I was flying up her body, already standing up on her hip. I continued climbing, using the tentacles on her back as supports to help my way the rest of the way up.

This was it, I was gonna make it.

C'mon, I'm almost there...

However, what I didn't notice what that Katie had stopped climbing at her waist. Of course she was trying to sabotage me, but what was she about to do?

"Hehehe... hahahAHAH, STOP NOT N-HAHAHA-OW..." Alice was laughing herself silly as she jolted, knocking me off and making me lose my balance just before I grabbed as her shoulder. Before I had realised what was going on, I was freefalling.

Oh that sneaky... she tickled her!

I was just about to hit the ground, thinking I'd have to start all over again, when Alice caught me, possibly saving a few shattered bones. The sigh of relief I had released as a result could be heard across quite a distance.

"Whoops, sorry about that. Hehe." She giggled, holding her hand out flat. I hastily thrusted back to my feet and continued climbing faster.

Since I was now climbing her arm, it was easier for me to catch up as it was narrower than the rest of her. Katie saw me catching up and tried to match my pace, only to slip and fall a couple feet herself.

We both clawed our way through the distance we lost, and before we knew it, we were down to the wire. Katie and I were grabbing at the spikes just below her shoulders. We were so close, but who would win?

Finally, I had reached the finish line, taking triumphed breaths of exhaustion. I sat on Alice's shoulder, looking around myself, only to notice Katie doing the same thing.

"Well well well, it seems we have a draw." Alice's eyes were wide in shock, even she couldn't believe how it happened.

Color me surprised, we made it at the exact same time.

Katie held her face in her hands, embarrassed knowing she came face to face with defeat.

"You. Have. Gotta. Be. Fucking. With. Me. How the hell?" Katie groaned at the idea of losing. She knew now she wouldn't be getting that kiss anymore...

I was more confused than anything, wondering how this will turn out. What will happen now? Will there be a tiebreaker or something? Alice just simply looked at me, then at Katie...

...and then grinned widely.

"I guess I'll just have to kiss you both~"

"HUH?!"
"I'm sorry?"

She was joking, right? There was no way she would award a draw without a tiebreaker. Well, I was disproven. She picked us off her shoulders and turned us around. We were both facing her, held at eye level to her, left even more dumbfounded than before. Sometimes I forget how generous she can be.

"You both did well during that race, and I got a good laugh out of it, so I think you both deserve this!" Alice smiled, lightly rubbing both our faces with her thumb. I honestly had a ton of fun with that little contest, and I'm sure Katie did as well. I turned to her, grinning happily.

"Well pucker up, Oliver. You still got what you wanted in the end." I giggled, both teasingly and excitedly. I could see a pink tinge on Katie's face grow brighter and larger as my words sunk in. She may not have won, but she was willing to accept the reward regardless.

Anything for my princess...

"Fuck it, I'm not complaining." She shrugged, her face now going from pink to red.

Alice let out a soft chuckle before pulling us closer to her. We both shut our eyes as we made contact with her lips, our own mouths forming rings as we braced.

This was my first kiss with a girl outside of my family, and it felt... nice for the lack of a better word. I could only imagine the thoughts going through Katie's mind during that moment.

Alice held us there for another few seconds, letting us savour this moment for just a little longer. I took it all in, reminiscing in this... new feeling...

I'm not actually... there's no way I'm ... actually in love with her now...

"Mmmwaah~"

She finally broke the kiss, pulling us away and placing us back on the ground. I was left in awe, while Katie was left weak in her legs.

"Hehe, I'm happy you enjoyed that!" She seemed to be amused by our reactions. I gave a light chuckle back in agreement.

Only then did I snap out of my thoughts and check the time, only for my somber sanctuary to break.

"Oh fuck. Sorry Alice, but we have to get to class now. See you soon!" I worriedly stuttered as I rushed to grab Katie and leave, not wanting to be late for math class.

"Aww, I wish you could stay a little longer. But I understand you have places to be." Alice sighed disappointingly. She didn't want this to end, but knew we could end up in trouble if we stayed any longer. "You'll come back tomorrow, right?"

"Of course I will. I'll come and see you whenever I cam from now on!" I said excitedly, happy that I will be able to see her again regularly. I looked over to Katie and bumped her shoulder.

"Come on, we need to go now."

Katie snapped out of her little fantasy and turned around frantically.

"H-huh? Oh, yeah, okay. C'ya soon." She was only half awake, but she knew what was going on. We both waved goodbye as we opened the door once more. Katie reluctantly walked out first while I looked back for an extra second.

Stay safe, please...

I smiled as I slowly left her room, softly shutting the door behind me.

"Now, lets get you both to class. I should be there very soon myself anyway." She scooped us off our feet and ran off to her room with us in her arms.

On the way there, I was curious to know something. The newer teachers seem to have favourite students. Miss Bloomie has Claire, Miss Thavel has me, but who does Miss Circle have?

"Excuse me. Miss Circle, do you have a favourite student student all?" I asked, intrigued to know more about her. Despite being the loudest of the three, she never really said much about herself.

Miss Circle had to think about that question. There wasn't many kids she was fond of, let alone consider favourites.

"Off the top of my head, Katie I guess." She said with uncertainty. This was true to some extent, as it's become apparent that she likes to have fun on the job.

"Huh, any reason why?" My eyes dart to Katie, then back to Miss Circle. I knew I joked about this earlier, but I didn't think it would actually be true.

"Because she's fun to be around. It's not that much of a secret that this job is fucking boring, I need to entertain myself or I might just kill someone." She groaned, infuriated by her responsibilities. Considering the way she acted, I dont doubt even for a second what she said.

Katie very quickly caught onto the current topic and stared up at her in awe.

I'm a... favourite student?

"Whenever I see her show up to class, I know things are gonna get interesting quickly. She gives me a good laugh in this shithole of a building." She chuckled to herself.

Now she was finally being open and honest with me. She felt like there was nothing to do, and Katie seemed to be a shimmering beam of hope in the dull grey.

Out of the blue, Katie grappled at Miss Circle's waist, hugging her as tightly as possible. Miss Circle was taken aback by this so much, she slowed herself to walking speed.

"I didn't know you thought that of me. I'm happy I can make you laugh." Katie smiled through teary eyes. She couldn't hide her happiness any longer and sobbed into her chest.

For the rest of the walk, Miss Circle patted her head, running her claw through her hair, until we reached Room 136. She had to put us down and we followed her inside. Thankfully, the second bell rang the second we made it to our desks.

The rest of the day continued as normal. The only notable difference was how differently Katie and Miss Circle were acting around each other.

For the rest of the month, not much happened that was too out of the ordinary. If I had to name one real change, Zip and Claire have been getting closer to each other. It was quite cute to watch, it was as if a love triangle was forming between her and the Bloomies.

Speaking of Miss Bloomie, I would soon come to realise something. Something that would change my perception on her forever. The realisation...

...that my family may have shared more history with Miss Bloomie than I initially thought...

Chapter Text

"So, my daughter asked me if your daughter could have a sleepover at with us. I would like to ask you if that's okay with you."

Zip held her hands together and Claire had her fingers crossed behind her back.

Please... please say yes...

Mister Reeves looked annoyed. He wanted to get home as soon as possible, but this woman was keeping her here for what seemed like a stupid question.

He also seemed to consider this very greatly. He looked like the kind of parent that hated his kid, and would do anything to get rid of them as fast as possible. An opportunity like this is a dime in a dozen for him, so...

"Alright, she can stay with you for a night."

Zip and Claire squealed in excitement, this was actually happening. Miss Bloomie giggled, finding their reactions cute. She looked at the two of them, and then back to Mister Reeves.

"What time would you like her to come around?" She asked, smiling to him now. It made her day knowing her two favourite kids were very happy to see each other outside of school.

"Expect her around seven o'clock, and I'll be picking her up at four in the afternoon tomorrow." He started to feel mad with how long he had to stay there, but he knew the quicker he dealt with this, the better for him.

"Okay, see you then!" Miss Bloomie says as she Zip wave goodbye to Claire. For the first time it would seem, she was happy to go back home. Usually she dreads it, so this rose some red flags in my mind.

Mister Reeves took Claire's hand and they both walked back to the car.

"Bye Zip! See you later~!" Claire cheered as she stepped into her father's car and drove off.

It was just me, Miss Bloomie and Zip left together at the front gates. I was still waiting for my parents to come and pick me up, while Miss Bloomie looked like she was waiting for... someone else. I was confused, wondering who she was waiting for. That's when I remembered...

slam...

The main entrance door flung open with great force enough to create a loud thud. What followed were heavy footsteps and frantic panting as somebody rapidly approached us. The three of us turned around in surprise, startled by the slamming, and saw one of the teacher's sprinting towards us with a child in her hands.

The teacher in question was Miss Sasha, and she was returning Miss Bloomie's youngest kid after school. This kid was in kindergarten, so he would be handed to Miss Sasha at the beginning of the day.

"...phew... here... you go..." She stuttered through exhausted gasps for air, placing the kid on the ground and letting him waddle over to Miss Bloomie.

"Thank you Sasha, you're always a great help when it comes to him." Miss Bloomie smiled while still looking at her kid.

"Hey Chip, how was your day today?" Zip asked the kid, who was apparently named Chip, in a soft tone.

"It wuth show mush fhun! I triw yew gies! (It was so much fun! I drew you guys!)" Chip beamed, showing us a picture he drew during the day. It was a picture of him with his family. The people drawn on the paper were squiggly, but it was a really well made picture for someone his age.

"This is so cute, I love it!" Zip squealed, staring at the picture with teary eyes.

"W-weely? Fanck yew, thith!" (R-really? Thank you, sis!)" Chip handed Zip the paper and she held it close to her heart, showing him how much she loved it.

I smiled at it all. I loved how close my relationship with Emily was with Zip and Chip, it made my heart melt at the first sight.

...

"Hey, Raven. Are those your folks?" Miss Bloomie asked me, pointing over to a crossing nearby. I look over, and see the faces I've grown to love so much.

That black hat and sunglasses sitting comfortably on my dad's head, the vibrant long red hair flowing from my mom's scalp and the constant overjoyed curiosity glimmering from my sister's wide eyes. It was as if on cue for them to show up now.

"Yep, that's them. See you next week, Miss Bloomie!" I said happily as I sprinted towards my family.

They had just stepped back onto the sidewalk when they noticed me running at them. Emily was the first one to swing her arms open, while my mom and dad smiled at seeing my presence.

"Yay, beg bwufew ith heaw! (Yay, big brother is here!)" Emily cheered, leaning out of my mom's arms to try and hug me. For someone who was two years old at the time, her speech was really good. I mean, while with some difficulty, she can pronounce fairly lengthy words for her age.

"Hey little Emi! Did you miss me?" I asked, lowering my voice and kissing her forehead. Her hands pressed against my head, squishing my cheeks.

"Off corse I ded, I aweis mess yew! (Of course I did, I always miss you!)" Emily giggled, grabbing at my hairclip and rubbing it. She's always been fascinated by it's texture and it never really bothered me, so I just let her play with it, sometimes I even take it off to let her hold it.

"We missed you too. Me and your father." My mom spoke softly to me, opening her arms to me. I take my opportunity without so much as a thought, hugging her and Emily tightly.

"I missed you too. All of you. You, Emily and..."

I had only just noticed that my dad wasn't part of the embrace. In fact, when I looked at him, his attention had been diverted elsewhere. Normally, he'd be quick to jump at the chance to hug us, so he clearly saw something that surprised too much to notice us.

"...dad? Are you okay?" I asked, small hints of concern dotted my voice like spots on a ladybug. Even my mom was confused.

"There's no way she's actually here." He said, his mouth blown agape in shock. I finally find who he's been looking at and break away from the embrace, walking closer to him.

"Checking out my science teacher I see?" I chuckled, bumping his shoulder. His gaze quickly oscillated between me and Miss Bloomie before he finally spoke.

"Wait, what? When we're you gonna tell me Agent. C is your science teacher?"

Who the fuck was...
Oh God, this again.

Layers of confusion plastered my face while my mom just looked done with it all. Who the hell was this Agent. C my dad was so obsessed with all of a sudden?

"It's been so long... I'm going to say hi to her again!" He let out an excited chuckle as he sprinted off in Miss Bloomie's direction.

"OI, TED, HOLD ON!" Mom yelled as she made a mad dash to catch up to him, being careful so as to not drop Emily.

I of course followed suite immediately after. I needed to know what all of this was about.

I eventually caught up to my dad, who had stopped Miss Bloomie just as she was about to walk to her car.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Could you spare a second?" He asked, still holding his nostalgic smile. Miss Bloomie just stared at him in confusion, while Zip and Chip seemed concerned.

"Uhh, sure?" Miss Bloomie seemed coated with uncertainty. This was certainly creepy, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she remembers his voice.

"Do you happen to be known as Agent. C?" His voice begins to tremble, unsure if he's even speaking to the right person. It had apparently been years since he's seen this Agent. C person, so he was going off by memories.

"Yes. Why, do you need a job done?" I could tell that inside, Miss Bloomie was begging for him to say no. She just wanted to go home and rest, not do some job for someone else.

"No, I just wanted to see if you still remembered who I was." He breathed a sigh of relief inside as he took off his sunglasses, revealing his reflective emerald green eyes.

Miss Bloomie looked at him for a few extra seconds, then her jaw hit the floor in a shocking realisation.

"Oh my goodness. Chance, is that you?" She gasped, letting her arms go slack and nearly allowing her cloth to slide off her left arm.

Me and Zip just looked at each other in confusion, and turned back to our respective parents.

What the...

"Wait. Miss Bloomie, you know my father?" I asked, trying to make sense of everything. Miss Bloomie just looked at me with mild confusion.

"You father is Chance? And you we're planning on telling me when?" She nearly yelled in shock. This was the most emotion she had shown to me in... ever, honestly. This was new waters for me, and I'm not sure if I liked it.

My mom just stared at him, dumbfounded, as if she had just been proven wrong on something.

"Do you know anything about this?"  At this point, the whole conversation had devolved into me asking questions, with not one of them being answered.

"Not really. He kept talking about this person as if it were some story. I didnt think he was being serious at all." She answered, shrugging her shoulders while watching them both stare at each other.

Miss Bloomie started crying tears of happiness, reminiscing in memories she dug up for the first time in years.

"It's so good to see you again." She sobbed, stepping closer to my dad. It almost felt as if the frozen soul I knew in school was non existent, a figure of my imagination.

"Yeah. It's been, what, fifteen or so years? We've probably got a lot to catch up on." He said, a hidden joy I've not seen very often began to seep through his voice.

This completely shattered what I initially knew about my family. If my dad really shared that much history with Miss Bloomie... maybe Zip and I becoming best friends was written in the stars after all.

"I'm sure we do. Do you want to talk it all over at my place?" Miss Bloomie propositioned, inviting him to her home.

Bitch, you're married. Don't do this.

There's no way she just asked him out.

My thoughts were running just as wild as my mom's. I didn't want to ruin whatever moment they were having, but it was sure as hell weirding us out.

"Oh, sure! Is it fine if my family comes around as well?" He said, hiding his evergrowing excitement. It really felt like I was staring into a mirror, seeing my dad act this way over someone he hasn't seen in a while.

"Of course they can. I was just going to my car anyway, you can all come with me!" Miss Bloomie smiled, placing her claw on his shoulder.

Me and Zip snapped our heads to meet each other's gaze and scoffed in shock. I cupped my mouth in one hand while Zip just smiled excitedly. We noticed my dad and Miss Bloomie walk off to her car, my mom sighed as she reluctantly followed.

"Trust me, you're gonna love it at my place!" Zip beamed once again, taking my hand and rushing me along to the car.

This is the first time I've been over to someone else's home in years, so I was planning on basking in this feeling for a while.

Little did I know, the second I stepped into that car, my Friday afternoon would become a little more interesting...

"Fair enough. I guess I feel the same way." I shrugged, not knowing what to do in this situation as of then. Zip looked at me and nodded in agreement, it seemed there was a lot on her mind as well.

I sat there quietly, slowly tuning into the conversation behind me.

"...anyway, how is your family treating you?" Miss Bloomie's voice faded in as I decided to listen in.

"Really well, believe it or not. Just knowing they exist makes me smile." My dad's voice also eased into the air, softening as he spoke to her.

"I could say the same for you. Every passing second with you is a happy moment." Her voice also softened slightly, locking her left arm in the steering wheel and planting her right on his shoulder.

They both giggled at each other, it felt like they were right at home.

"Thank you, Agent. C."

"You're most welcome, Chance."

Growing tired of going unanswered, my confusion began morphing into irritation as I smacked the seat I was secured in.

"Okay, can someone answer my fffff.....rreaking question?! What are these nicknames for?" I silently growled, now asking for an explanation out loud.

Dad and Miss Bloomie jumped slightly, not expecting me to break the conversation so suddenly, and laughed with each other before they spoke again.

"If you want to know, mine came from the initial of my middle name, Caroline. It's about as basic as you can get." Miss Bloomie answered, finally putting me at ease. Why she was adressed as an agent is a question which will have to be asked later on.

"And you?" I turned to my dad, expecting an answer from him too.

"It wasn't me that chose it. People kept calling me that apparently because of how lucky I was on my missions in the military." He sighed, almost hesitant to tell me his nickname's origin.

I already figured he had served in the military, I found the badges on his old coat from fifteen years ago (Or maybe it was sixteen. Either way, it was before I was born.).

"Wait, your dad served in the military?" Zip whispered, surprised at this sudden revelation. Considering both our families had seemingly shared some history together, I was a little surprised she wasn't told anything about him.

"Yeah. He was really good at it as well!" I beamed, matching her tone of voice. She decided to raise her voice, showing gratitude to him.

"Well, Mr. Matthews, thank you for your service."

He turned to Zip and smiled, taking appreciation to her gratitude.

"Thank you."

Just then, a question began forming in my mind. I wasn't entirely sure if they felt comfortable with providing an answer, so I was hesitant on saying anything. After a few seconds, I committed and-

"So, if you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you two meet each other?"

My mom beat me to the punch as I had opened my mouth, causing me to slump back into my seat.

There was no answer for a while, they were seemingly trying to think of ways to explain their first meet up. I looked at their faces, and it seemed like they were reliving a nightmare. Was it during a traumatic time?

"It's a... long story..." Dad started off, taking pauses to breathe while stifling his worries.

Miss Bloomie also took time to calm her nerves, focusing most of her willpower to string together a coherent sentence as she began to explain everything.

"So, Chance was sent on a mission to clean out an entire narcotics cartel by himself. And because the military didn't trust that he could pull it off, they called me up to assist him." She began explaining to us, but dad cut her off to speak his mind.

"I was a little peeved. I told them I would be perfectly fine all by myself!" His words were empty, knowing everything he said was wrong.

"And, wouldn't you know it, our first interaction was me saving your ass from being gunned down on the spot." Miss Bloomie's face briefly contorted into a smug smile as she looked at him, before returning to a straight face as she stared blankly at the road ahead.

"Did you at least complete the mission?" I asked, intrigued to know more about this past.

Dad took more deep breaths.

"Barely..."

Oh god, what the fuck happened...?

I was dreading what would come next. If he was saying that he barely completed a life or death mission, it made me sick just imagining how close he truly cut it.

"We were at least able to take down the head of the cartel all by ourselves. I think their name was something stupid like Gordo, but thats irrelevant. For the rest, however, we had to call for backup because of how intense it was all getting." Miss Bloomie continued for him, seeing the distress in his eyes as waves of his own PTSD hit him like cinder blocks.

"The last thing I remember was passing out on a beach, as this was on an island, being held in Agent. C's arms and having armed soldiers mere feet away from us." Dad spoke up, still hyperventilating as he struggled to speak.

"Backup did arrive to kill the rest of them for us, but they just saved us by the very skin of their teeth." Miss Bloomie began tearing up. They were literally knocking on death's door, and were only barely able to keep it shut.

I nearly yacked up yesterday's lunch from the stress, just imagining seeing their broken bodies on the hot sand of that island caused headaches for me. Had things gone south for them sooner...

...maybe I wouldn't even exist today...

"Wow... that's rough. I really don't have much else to add, I'm just glad you both are alive." Mom spoke softly, staring down at the floor of the car.

"Thank you, Patricia. I'm just happy to see days like today." His eyes fell on mom, fear emanating from his stare as he tried once again to climb over his mountain of past trauma.

Zip simply chose to stay silent, knowing anything she'll say would turn the conversation into a frenzy.

The silence continued for the rest of the journey, after which it was broken by the sudden jolt of the car as it skid to a stop. We had stopped in front of a gate, leading down a long driveway.

Miss Bloomie rolled down her window and leaned over to the keypad controlling the gate to input a code. Once that was done, it promptly opened long enough to drive through it. I was wondering why someone's home needed a driveway as long as her's, until I took a peek out of the car window.

"What. The. Actual. Heck. Zip, you LIVE HERE?" My jaw hit the floor as my eyes found her house, Zip nodding her head in response. Miss Bloomie and her family owned and lived in a three-story mansion with at least several bedrooms. From glimpses of what I saw, her backyard was landscaped and was size enough to fit at least half the students of Paper School in.

"WOW! I knew you were rich, but FUCK, I didn't think you were THIS RICH!" Dad was cackling to himself, even he wasn't expecting this.

"Huh, so this is your neck in the woods? Impressive." Mom's brain was fried, she didn't know how to react to this.

"Yep, this is where I live." Miss Bloomie giggled as she pulled up in front of her door.

"Uaaau, beg hauth... (Wooah, big house...)" Emily was awestruck, not used to seeing a home of this scale before.

Everyone had gotten out of the car and stepped closer to the door. We were just about to knock before we heard something drop on the ground, a fabric of some kind.

"Finally, this thing itches my arm." Miss Bloomie groaned as her cloth had fallen to the ground...

...revealing what it was truly concealing.

I looked behind myself after hearing the noise, wondering where it had come from. The first thing I was greeted to was the sight of a box cutter at least a quarter of her size, extending past the length of her other forearm.

Zip had already told me what was there, but I didn't realise how big it actually was.

"Damn, you didn't tell me it was THAT big." I whispered to her, feeling a little intimidated by it.

"Couldn't really fins the right words to describe it, I'm sorry." Zip chuckled as she ruffled my hair, messing up all of my morning's hard work. Ehh, I can't stay mad at her, we're friends now anyway.

Not much else was said as Miss Bloomie stood at the doors, sieved through her bag to find her keys and unlocked those doors, allowing us to enter.

Me and my family followed behind the Bloomies as we all stepped foot into their home. However, this would also mark the moment where I would learn another think about Miss Bloomie...

...the she was hunting down the thing I feared for a long, long time...