Chapter Text
“Oh! Raven!”
The rebel stopped in place and sighed as she waited for the familiar Royal to catch up to her.
“Good morning, Apple.” Raven was polite but knew there was no reason to try and avoid the girl when they were going to the same class, and Apple sat directly in front of her.
Once the blonde was next to her, she gave the well-known Rebel a blindingly bright smile but didn’t notice the slight grimace on her walking partner’s face in reaction.
“I’m so happy I caught you before class! I was wondering if you might’ve given any thought to participating in the Evil Spells contest that Professor Baba Yaga announced?”
Raven gave her a deadpan expression, “You mean the contest that was obviously marketed to show students their true evil potential? And that she kept glancing at me throughout her speech? And how Headmaster Grimm even walked into the class after her announcement to encourage all villain students to participate in?”
Apple blinked a bit but at least blushed in embarrassment after hearing how obviously the Headmaster was pushing this on Raven… What if it was another setup for her like the wishing well? She didn’t want to be a part of something like that. Apple hadn’t noticed that this time she was the one to grimace but Raven did. Seeing how Apple wasn’t immediately hopping on their bandwagon really made her pause. It’s not like Apple was in her Dark Sorcery class, so it was highly likely she didn’t know that was how the announcement went down. And she could understand anyone else if they felt secondhand embarrassment from the headmaster’s actions, but Apple?
That girl was his biggest supporter at all times, no matter what type of schemes he pulled.
Finally, Apple gave a very forced laugh that caught Raven even more off guard. “I didn’t know he was pushing you that much, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to sit this one out. Wouldn’t want some strange repeat of the wishing well incident, would we?”
Raven’s face blanked. What? Out of everything she expected Apple to say, that wasn’t anywhere close. The Royal noticed the other’s confusion and gave a quick closed-lip smile before rushing ahead to their Crownculus class.
Raven didn’t stop walking; she still had to get to class within the next 2 minutes or so, but she would use those two minutes to process what she just heard.
————
Apple held back her very real urge to groan out loud when thinking back to her time with Raven that morning. Neither girl brought it up throughout the rest of their morning classes, but now that she was in Study Ball she couldn’t help but remember the other girl’s expression.
But it wasn’t like she would change her mind about what she said. Originally, she just thought it was a contest that Baba Yaga had set up and she had hoped Raven would join, but knowing Headmaster Grimm was involved really made her backtrack. Was it fair to immediately discount the contest because of his involvement? Maybe not, but she didn’t care; if he was involved it probably wasn’t for the best and she firmly believed that.
“Hey, Apple?” The young Royal noticed that Briar, the daughter of Sleeping Beauty, was looking at her with a slightly concerned expression.
“Yes?”
“You look a little… upset? Are you feeling okay?” She blinked a few times before turning her face into an easy smile.
“Thanks Briar, but I’m okay! Just thinking about how I’m going to study for the upcoming Chemythstry test.”
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Don’t worry too much, I know you’ll pass with flying colors.”
“Well that depends on if I get my studying in.” She winked playfully and Briar only rolled her eyes before nodding.
“Well, are you ready for Damsel-in-Distressing Class next?” Briar asked making Apple look up to the clock above the door of the Study Ball room and her eyes slightly widened at the time. She spent most of the period thinking but not actually studying. She sighed before packing up her bag and nodding at her BFFA with another smile.
“Yep, let’s head there early actually.”
Briar shrugged and just followed along.